James Peter Timothy Clackson (born 13 September 1966) is a British

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

and Indo-Europeanist. He is a professor of Comparative Philology at the Faculty of Classics,

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, and a Fellow and Director of Studies at

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Jesus College was established in 1496 on the site of the twelfth-century Benedictine nunnery of St Radegund's Priory, Cambridge, St ...

Biography

Clackson was born on 13 September 1966 in

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

. His father is Andrew Peter Clackson and his mother is Anne Claire Clackson (''née'' Bramley). He attended

Loughborough Grammar School Loughborough Grammar School is a 10–18 Private schools in the United Kingdom, private boys' school in the town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England, founded in 1495 with money left in the will of Thomas Burton (merchant), Thomas Burton. To ...

and then

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, where he received his BA in 1988, his MA, and his PhD in 1992. While at the

, Clackson studied under Robert Coleman. His Ph.D. thesis served as a basis for his 1994 book ''The Linguistic Relationship between Armenian and Greek''. His research interests include ancient languages of the Italian peninsula (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, Sabellian,

Etruscan __NOTOC__ Etruscan may refer to: Ancient civilization *Etruscan civilization (1st millennium BC) and related things: **Etruscan language ** Etruscan architecture **Etruscan art **Etruscan cities **Etruscan coins **Etruscan history **Etruscan myt ...

), Indo-European linguistics, Latin linguistics,

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

linguistics and

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

. He was a junior

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...

at Trinity College, Cambridge from 1991 to 1995, a lecturer in classics at the University of Cambridge from 1997 to 2012, and a reader in Comparative Philology from 2012 to 2016. Since 1998, he has been a fellow of

. He was awarded a

Philip Leverhulme Prize The Philip Leverhulme Prize is awarded by the Leverhulme Trust to recognise the achievement of outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future career is exceptionally promising. The prize sche ...

in 2001. He is currently the editor of the Transactions of the Philological Society, the oldest scholarly journal devoted to the study of language that has an unbroken tradition. Clackson is the current Secretary of the Friends of the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground, where there is a memorial to his first wife, Sarah Clackson, who died in 2003. He has been married to the sociologist Veronique Mottier since 2005.

Publications

Books *''The Linguistic Relationship between Armenian and Greek'' (Oxford, 1994) *''Indo-European Word Formation'' (co-edited with Birgit Anette Olsen, Copenhagen, 2004) *''The Blackwell History of the Latin Language'' (with Geoff Horrocks, Oxford, 2007) *''Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction'' (Cambridge, 2007) *''A Companion to the Latin Language'' (editor, Malden MA, 2011) *''Language and Society in the Greek and Roman Worlds'' (Cambridge, 2015) Others *Clackson, J. and Meißner, T. eds, (2002) Nominal Composition in Indo-European Languages. Transactions of the Philological Society, Vol. 100, issues 2–3. *Clackson, J. with A. Boud'hors, C. Louis, and P. Sijpesteijn eds, (2009) Monastic Estates in Late Antique and Early Islamic Egypt, Durham: American Society of Papyrologists. * Clackson, J., (2013) 'The Origin of the Indic Languages: The Indo-European Model' in Angela Marcantonio and Girish Nath Jha (eds.) Perspectives on the origin of Indian civilization, New Delhi, 259–287. Published by Center for Indic Studies and D.K. Printworld (P) Ltd.

References

Linguists from the United Kingdom Living people Linguists of Indo-European languages Fellows of Jesus College, Cambridge Members of the University of Cambridge faculty of classics 1966 births Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge People educated at Loughborough Grammar School People from Gloucester {{UK-linguist-stub