Emmon Bach Professor Emeritus | |
|---|---|
| Born | 12 June 1929[1] |
| Died | 28 November 2014 (2014-11-29) (aged 85)[1] Oxford, England |
| Nationality | American[3] |
| Occupation | Linguist |
| Spouses |
|
| Children | 2[4] |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Chicago[1] |
| Thesis | Patterns of Syntax in Hoelderlin’s Poems[2] (1959) |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | University of Massachusetts Amherst |
| Website | Faculty page |
Emmon Bach (12 June 1929 – 28 November 2014) was an American linguist. He was ProfessorEmeritus at the Department of Linguistics,University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Professorial Research Associate at theSchool of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), part of theUniversity of London. He was born inKumamoto, Japan.[3]
His interests includedsyntax,phonology, the languages of British Columbia (especiallyHaisla), problems of tense and aspect insemantics, and formal problems and semantic issues in themorphology ofpolysynthetic languages. In November 2014, he died inOxford.[5]
Bach's parents, Ditlev Gotthard Monrad Bach and Ellen Sigrid Bach - originally fromCopenhagen,Denmark - wereLutheran missionaries in Japan.[6][4] Bach – and all but the oldest of his five siblings – was born in Kumamoto on the island ofKyushu.[6] Since his father taught Japanese to the American Navy language officers during theWorld War II, they were considered to be American nationals, and received warnings to leave Japan in 1941. As a child Bach spoke Danish and some Japanese.[6] When he was ten, Bach was sent to the International Canadian Academy inKobe. InFresno, California his father was a "pastor to Japanese-Americans interned during the war."[4] Bach attended Boulder High School inBoulder, Colorado and Roosevelt High School inFresno, CA.[4][1]
He "did his undergraduate and graduate work at theUniversity of Chicago, with a Ph.D. inGermanic studies[2] in 1959."[1][3][4] He was aFulbright scholar at theUniversity of Tübingen from 1955 to 1956.[3][6]
His first regular academic job was at theUniversity of Texas at Austin where he taught from 1959 to 1972. He started in the German department and gradually switched to linguistics. He was part of the newly formed linguistics department.[4] After spending a year teaching at Queens College and the Graduate Center of theCity University of New York, he began teaching as professor of linguistics at theUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst in 1973.[1][3][4] "He taught syntax, semantics, typology and field methods, and supervised 12 doctorate dissertations in semantics, syntax and phonology."[4] Following his retirement in 1992, he continued to be active in academia.[citation needed]
Emmon's numerous publications included reviews, articles and books on "syntax, phonology, morphology and semantics, including on problems of tense and aspect in semantics, and on formal problems and semantic issues in the morphology of polysynthetic languages."[4][7]
During the 1980s and 1990s Bach worked extensively in British Columbia.[4] From 1994 to 1999 he worked as a visiting professor with the First Nations Programme of the University of Northern British Columbia where he went to local First Nations communities to teach and co-teach primarily for First Nations students. He also worked as a language resource for theHaisla Treaty Commission.[6] By 2003 Bach had already nurtured "longtime involvement with theHaislalanguage community in the coastal village ofKitimaat in British Columbia. His work with the Haisla has included preparation of a new dictionary and two volumes of traditional stories and life stories; transcription of biblical and homiletic materials produced by Christian missionaries in the 1940s; and the creation of an extensive archive of linguistic work on Haisla."[8] When he first arrived in Kitimaat, Mike Shaw, a Haisla speaker, asked "Why should we help you, what good will all that do for us?" "From this exchange Bach formulated what he has come to call Mike Shaw's Principle: Time and resources for community-relevant research and activities should equal those devoted to community-external aims."[8]
Bach was elected president of theLinguistic Society of America (LSA) in 1996.[4] In 2006, he was inducted as aFellow of the Linguistic Society of America.[9] In 2015, the LSA created the Emmon Bach Fellowship fund, which provides awards for students to cover costs of participation in the biannualInstitute on Collaborative Language Research (CoLang).[10]
Both his first wife, Jean Bach, and his daughter, Meta Bach, predeceased him. He is survived by his wifeWynn Chao of London, his sonEric Bach and grandson Stevie Bach of Madison, his stepsons Morriss, David, and Joel Partee, his stepchildren Christopher and Gabriella Lewis, step grandchildren Sean Partee, Sara Davis, and Rachael Davis Partee, his second wife Reed Young of Houston, and his third wifeBarbara Partee of Amherst.[11] He moved to London, England in 2002.
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