Jens Elmegård Rasmussen (15 March 1944 – 15 May 2013) was associate professor of

Indo-European Studies Indo-European studies is a field of linguistics and an interdisciplinary field of study dealing with Indo-European languages, both current and extinct. The goal of those engaged in these studies is to amass information about the hypothetical pro ...

and head of the Roots of Europe research center at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public research university in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia after Uppsala Unive ...

from its initiation in 2008 until his death. He was an expert on

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo- ...

and

Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...

in general, especially

morphophonemics Morphophonology (also morphophonemics or morphonology) is the branch of linguistics that studies the interaction between morphological and phonological or phonetic processes. Its chief focus is the sound changes that take place in morphemes (m ...

, but he also published articles on the history of Eskimo–Aleut languages and linguistic diachrony. He supported the Indo-Uralic and

Eurasiatic Eurasiatic is a proposed language macrofamily that would include many language families historically spoken in northern, western, and southern Eurasia. The idea of a Eurasiatic superfamily dates back more than 100 years. Joseph Greenberg's prop ...

hypotheses. Elmegård Rasmussen was the leading editor of the international scholarly journal

Tocharian and Indo-European Studies ''Tocharian and Indo-European Studies'' (''TIES'') is a scholarly journal on Tocharian in the Indo-European context, established in 1987 by the Icelandic linguist Jörundur Garðar Hilmarsson. The journal initially appeared in Reykjavík, Icela ...

(TIES) and chief editor of the book series

Copenhagen Studies in Indo-European Copenhagen Studies in Indo-European () is an academic book series on Indo-European studies and related subjects. The series was founded in 1999 and is published by Museum Tusculanum Press. Its chief editor was Jens Elmegård Rasmussen from its initi ...

. He was married to the Danish Indo-Europeanist

Birgit Anette Olsen Birgit Anette Olsen (Rasmussen) (born April 2, 1952 in Denmark) is a Danish linguist, professor at the University of Copenhagen and leader of the Roots of Europe research center. She is an expert on Proto-Indo-European and Indo-European languages ...

.http://www.denstoredanske.dk/Samfund,_jura_og_politik/Sprog/Sprogforskeres_biografier/Jens_Elmeg%C3%A5rd_Rasmussen

Selected publications

* 1979, ''Anaptyxis, gemination and syncope in Eskimo: A diachronic study''. Copenhagen: Copenhagen Linguistic Circle. * 1989, ''Studien zur Morphophonemik der Indogermanischen Grundsprache''. Innsbruck: Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft. * 1999, ''Selected Papers on Indo-European Linguistics''. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press.

References

External links

Official website (in English)
1944 births 2013 deaths Linguists from Denmark Linguists of Indo-European languages Historical linguists {{denmark-linguist-stub