Čestmír Loukotka (12 November 1895 – 13 April 1966) was a

Czechoslovak Czechoslovak may refer to: *A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93) **First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38) **Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39) **Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60) **Fourth Czechoslovak Repub ...

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

. His daughter was

Jarmila Loukotková Jarmila Loukotková (14 April 1923 – 29 October 2007) was a Czech writer who was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Her father was Čestmír Loukotka Čestmír Loukotka (12 November 1895 – 13 April 1966) was a Czechoslovak linguist. H ...

Career

Loukotka proposed a

classification Classification is a process related to categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated and understood. Classification is the grouping of related facts into classes. It may also refer to: Business, organizat ...

for the

languages of South America The languages of South America can be divided into three broad groups: * the languages of the (in most cases, former) colonial powers; * many indigenous languages, some of which are co-official alongside the colonial languages; * and various ...

based on several previous works. This classification contained a lot of unpublished material and was therefore superior to all previous classifications. He divided the languages of South America and the Caribbean into 77 different families, based upon similarities of vocabulary and available lists. His classification of 1968 is the most influential and was based upon two previous schemes (1935, 1944), which were similar to those proposed by

Paul Rivet Paul Rivet (7 May 1876, Wasigny, Ardennes – 21 March 1958) was a French ethnologist known for founding the Musée de l'Homme in 1937. In his professional work, Rivet is known for his theory that South America was originally populated in p ...

(whom he was a student of), although the number of families was increased to 94 and 114.

References

1895 births 1958 deaths Linguists from the Czech Republic Paleolinguists Linguists of indigenous languages of the Americas 20th-century linguists {{Czech-linguist-stub