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Aleksandar Belić | |
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 Aleksandar Belić in 1934 | |
| Born | 15 August 1876 Belgrade,Serbia |
| Died | 26 February 1960(1960-02-26) (aged 83) Belgrade,PR Serbia,Yugoslavia |
| Resting place | Belgrade New Cemetery |
| Occupation | Writer and linguist |
| Language | Serbian |
Aleksandar Belić (Serbian Cyrillic: Александар Белић,pronounced[aleksǎːndarběːlitɕ]; 15 August 1876 – 26 February 1960) was a Serbian linguist[1] and academic.[2]
Belić was born inBelgrade.[3] After studyingSlavic languages in Belgrade, Odessa, and Moscow, he received his PhD atLeipzig University in 1900. He worked at theUniversity of Belgrade and Belgrade Higher School during his academic career.[3] He was a member and longtime president of theSerbian Academy of Sciences.[1] His membership lasted between 1937 and 1960 with the interruption in the 1941-1944 period of theAxis occupation of Serbia when he was suspended.[3]
Belić is generally considered the leading Serbian linguist of the first half of the twentieth century. His research dealt with comparative Slavic studies, general linguistics,Serbo-Croatiandialectology, and syntax.[3] He authoredPravopis srpskohrvatskog književnog jezika (Standard Serbo-Croatian Normative Guide, 1923) which was based on a strictly phonological spelling principle. He wrote extensively onČakavian andKajkavian dialects and made a significant contribution to Slavic accentology with his discovery of the Slavic neoacute accent in Čakavian. Belić introduced the tripartite division of Kajkavian based on the reflexes ofProto-Slavic*tj and*dj, which was first published inStanojević'sNarodna enciklopedija srpsko-hrvatsko-slovenačka (Serbo-Croatian-Slovene National Encyclopedia, 1927), although disproved by later dialectology studies. He contributed to the acceptance of the so-called Belgrade style of standard Serbian. During his entire life he was a consistent advocate of a unified Serbo-Croatian language.[1]
Belić's selected works have been published in 14 volumes in 1999.[4] He died in Belgrade.
| Academic offices | ||
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| Preceded by | President of Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts 1937–1960 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Rector of the University of Belgrade 1933–1934 | Succeeded by |
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