Susan Rothstein (20 August 1958–30 July 2019) was a British-Israeli

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. Lingui ...

and Professor of

Theoretical Linguistics Theoretical linguistics is a term in linguistics which, like the related term general linguistics, can be understood in different ways. Both can be taken as a reference to theory of language, or the branch of linguistics which inquires into the ...

Bar-Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, he, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן, ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic ...

, Israel. She was a semanticist who was best known for her work on the

semantics Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics and compu ...

aspect Aspect or Aspects may refer to: Entertainment * ''Aspect magazine'', a biannual DVD magazine showcasing new media art * Aspect Co., a Japanese video game company * Aspects (band), a hip hop group from Bristol, England * ''Aspects'' (Benny Carter ...

and the mass/count distinction.

Career

Rothstein earned her

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

with Honors in 1979 from the School of Philosophy and Modern Languages at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. She earned her

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper ''Piled Higher and Deeper'' (also known as ''PhD Comics''), is a newsp ...

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, where she studied Linguistics and Philosophy, completing a dissertation in 1983 on ''The Syntactic Forms of Predication'' which was published by the

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. * Indiana Univers ...

Linguistics Club. From 1983 to 1985, Rothstein held a position as Assistant Professor of Linguistics at the

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William ...

(US), before joining the Bar-Ilan University faculty with an Alon Fellowship in 1985. At Bar-Ilan she was Professor of Theoretical Linguistics in the Department of English Literature and Linguistics and a Fellow in the Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center. From 1994 until her death, she was married to fellow linguist

Fred Landman Fred (Alfred) Landman ( he, פרד לנדמן; born October 28, 1956) is a Dutch-born Israeli professor of semantics. He teaches at Tel Aviv University has written a number of books about linguistics. Biography Fred Landman was born in Holland. H ...

, with whom she had one daughter. They occasionally co-authored studies.

Awards and distinctions

Awards and distinctions: * 1985 Alon (Israeli Government) Fellowship for outstanding new faculty * 2013 Member of the

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...

* 2014

Humboldt Research Award The Humboldt Prize, the Humboldt-Forschungspreis in German, also known as the Humboldt Research Award, is an award given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany to internationally renowned scientists and scholars who work outside of G ...

Selected publications

Susan Rothstein. 2004. The Syntactic Forms of Predication. In: ''Predicates and Their Subjects''. Studies in Linguistics and Philosophy, vol 74. Springer, Dordrecht. Susan Rothstein. 2008. ''Structuring Events: A Study in the Semantics of Lexical Aspect''. Susan Rothstein. 2010. Counting and the mass/count distinction. ''Journal of Semantics'' 27, 343-397.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rothstein, Susan Women linguists 1958 births 2019 deaths MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences alumni Semanticists Linguists from Israel Jewish linguists Linguists of Hebrew