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Larry Trask

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Larry Trask
Born
Robert Lawrence Trask

(1944-11-10)10 November 1944
Died27 March 2004(2004-03-27)(aged 59)
Brighton,England
Spouses
  • Esther Barrutia (divorced)
  • Jan Lock
Academic background
Education
ThesisSynchronic and Diachronic Studies in the Grammar of Basque(1984)
Doctoral advisorCharles Ernest Bazell
Academic work
DisciplineLinguist
Institutions
Main interests
WebsiteThe Larry Trask Archive

Robert Lawrence Trask(10 November 1944 – 27 March 2004) was an American-British professor oflinguisticsat theUniversity of Sussex,and an authority on theBasque languageand the field ofhistorical linguistics.

Biography

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Born inOlean, New York,he initially studiedchemistryin his home country, but after a brief stint in thePeace Corpshe took an interest in linguistics. He received hisdoctoratein linguistics from theUniversity of London,and thereafter taught at various universities in theUnited Kingdom.He became a professor of linguistics at the University of Sussex.

He was considered an authority on the Basque language: his bookThe History of Basque(1997) is an essential reference on diachronic Basque linguistics and probably the best introduction to Basque linguistics as a whole. He was at work compiling anetymological dictionaryof that language when he died; the unfinished work was posthumously published on the Internet byMax W. Wheeler.[1]He was also an authority onhistorical linguistics,and had written about the problem of theorigin of language. He also published two introductory books to linguistics:Language: The basics(1995) andIntroducing Linguistics(coauthored with Bill Mayblin) (2000), and several dictionaries on different topics of this science:A dictionary of grammatical terms in linguistics(1993),A dictionary of phonetics and phonology(1996),A student's dictionary of language and linguistics(1997),Key concepts in language and linguistics(1999),The dictionary of historical and comparative linguistics(2000) andThe Penguin dictionary of English grammar(2000).

Some of his other books include:

  • Language Change(1994)
  • Historical Linguistics(1996),ISBN0-340-60758-0
  • The Penguin Guide to Punctuation(1997)
  • The Penguin Dictionary of English Grammar(2000),ISBN0-14-051464-3
  • Time Depth in Historical Linguistics(co-editor) (2000),ISBN1-902937-06-6
  • Mind the Gaffe(2001),ISBN0-14-051476-7
  • How to Write Effective Emails(2005),ISBN0-14-101719-8

References

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  1. ^Trask, R. Larry (2008), Wheeler, Max W. (ed.),Etymological Dictionary of Basque(PDF),Falmer, UK: University of Sussex,retrieved2 March2020
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