Ellen F. Prince (February 29, 1944 – October 24, 2010) was an American

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 ...

, known for her work in linguistic

pragmatics In linguistics and the philosophy of language, pragmatics is the study of how Context (linguistics), context contributes to meaning. The field of study evaluates how human language is utilized in social interactions, as well as the relationship ...

Education and career

Prince earned her PhD from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

in 1974. She served on the faculty there from 1974 until her retirement in 2005, including serving as chair of the department from 1993 to 1997. During her career, she contributed to more than 60 publications, 150 talks and presentations. She supervised 20 doctoral dissertations and served on dozens of dissertation committees at

and other universities around the world.

Research

Prince pioneered in the area of linguistic

. Her research contributed largely to pragmatic borrowing, syntax and discourse functioning, and centering theory. Research on centering theory was one of her main focuses later in her career, which marries the three areas of

information structure In linguistics, information structure, also called information packaging, describes the way in which information is Formal semantics (natural language), formally packaged within a Sentence (linguistics), sentence.Lambrecht, Knud. 1994. ''Informati ...

psycholinguistics Psycholinguistics or psychology of language is the study of the interrelation between linguistic factors and psychological aspects. The discipline is mainly concerned with the mechanisms by which language is processed and represented in the mind ...

, and

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

to produce one theory on

discourse Discourse is a generalization of the notion of a conversation to any form of communication. Discourse is a major topic in social theory, with work spanning fields such as sociology, anthropology, continental philosophy, and discourse analysis. F ...

. She is well known for her

typology A typology is a system of classification used to organize things according to similar or dissimilar characteristics. Groups of things within a typology are known as "types". Typologies are distinct from taxonomies in that they primarily address t ...

of information statuses in discourse, basing her conclusions on the study of naturally occurring data. Many of her papers have been – and remain – highly influential in the field of pragmatics. She analyzed the pragmatic functions of syntactic constructions in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

and

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

, including varieties of cleft and left-periphery constructions, such as

topicalization Topicalization is a mechanism of syntax that establishes an expression as the sentence or clause topic (linguistics), topic by having it appear at the front of the sentence or clause (as opposed to in a canonical position later in the sentence). T ...

and left-

dislocation In materials science, a dislocation or Taylor's dislocation is a linear crystallographic defect or irregularity within a crystal structure that contains an abrupt change in the arrangement of atoms. The movement of dislocations allow atoms to sli ...

. Her interest in

was so strong that between 1985 and 2001 a considerable portion of her academic publications were focused on some aspect of Yiddish linguistics or syntax.

Honors and distinctions

Ellen Prince was a visiting professor at numerous universities, including

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

Tel-Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a Private university, private Modern Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City.

and many more. Prince served as the

President of the Linguistic Society of America The Linguistic Society of America (LSA) is a learned society for linguistics founded in December 1924. At the first meeting, the LSA membership elected Hermann Collitz as their first president. Since then, there have been presidencies, with diff ...

in 2008. She was elected as a fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

in 2009, and a

fellow of the Linguistic Society of America A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned or professional societies, the term refers ...

in 2010. She was born on

leap day A leap year (also known as an intercalary year or bissextile year) is a calendar year that contains an additional day (or, in the case of a lunisolar calendar, a month) compared to a common year. The 366th day (or 13th month) is added to kee ...

of the month of February and was therefore able to celebrate only 16 birthdays in the 66 years she lived.

Selected publications

*Prince, Ellen. 1978. ''A comparison of wh-clefts and it-clefts in discourse''. ''Language'' 54, 883-906. *Prince, Ellen. 1981. ''Toward a taxonomy of given-new information.'' In Peter Cole (ed.), ''Radical Pragmatics.'' New York: Academic Press, 223-254. *Prince, Ellen. 1992. The ZPG letter: Subjects, definiteness, and information-status. In William C. Mann and Sandra A. Thompson (Eds.), ''Discourse Description: Diverse linguistic analyses of a fund-raising text''. John Benjamins, Philadelphia, pp. 295–326. *Prince, Ellen, 1997. On the functions of left-dislocation in English discourse. In: Kamio, A. (Ed.), ''Directions in Functional Linguistics''. John Benjamins, Philadelphia, pp. 117–144. *Prince, Ellen, 1998. On the limits of syntax, with reference to topicalization and left-dislocation. In: Cullicover, P., McNally, L. (Eds.), ''Syntax and Semantics'', vol. 29. Academic Press, New York, pp. 281–302

References

External links

Yiddish Linguistics - Ellen Prince's Home Page
*2011
''Ellen F. Prince,'' obituary in ''Language''
87: 866-872. (By Gregory Ward, Betty J. Birner,

Laurence R. Horn Laurence Robert Horn (born 1945) is an American linguist. He is professor emeritus of linguistics in the department of linguistics at Yale University with specialties in pragmatics and semantics. He received his doctorate in 1972 from UCLA and for ...

Barbara Abbott Barbara Kenyon Abbott (born 1943) is an American linguist. She earned her PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarde ...

, Pauline Jacobson, and Jerrold M. Sadock.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Prince, Ellen 1944 births 2010 deaths American women linguists 20th-century American linguists 21st-century American linguists Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science University of Pennsylvania alumni University of Pennsylvania faculty Linguistic Society of America presidents Fellows of the Linguistic Society of America Yiddish