Fran Ramovš (14 September 1890 – 16 September 1952; pen name Julij Dub) was a

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

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 ...

. He studied the

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that ...

s and onomastics of Slovene.

Early life and education

Fran Ramovš was born in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the a ...

, the capital of the Duchy of Carniola,

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

.Korošec, Josip. 1952. "In memoriam Fran Ramovš." ''Arheološki vestnik'' 3(2): 355. He studied linguistics in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

(1910–1911) and in

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popu ...

(1911–1914). While in Graz he selected the topic of his dissertation (the development of Proto-Slavic reduced vowels in Slovene) and completed it in 1912; he submitted it in 1914 to receive his PhD.Logar, Tine. 1996. "Ramovš. Fran." ''Enciklopedija Slovenije'', vol. 10. Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, pp. 77–79.

First World War

In October 1915 Ramovš was mobilized and sent to the Isonzo Front, where he was completely incapacitated during the Third Battle of the Isonzo. He spent a year recovering in Vienna, and he was dismissed from regular military service in 1917 on grounds of disability and assigned to the territorial reserve in Ljubljana and Kamnik.

Academic career

In 1918 Ramovš was given a professorship and offered a teaching position as an associate professor in

Chernivtsi Chernivtsi ( uk, Чернівці́}, ; ro, Cernăuți, ; see also #Names, other names) is a city in the historical region of Bukovina, which is now divided along the Romania–Ukraine border, borders of Romania and Ukraine, including this ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

, but with the collapse of

he returned from Graz to Ljubljana, where preparations were underway to establish a university. The

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana ( sl, Univerza v Ljubljani, , la, Universitas Labacensis), often referred to as UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 39,000 enrolled students. History Beginnings Although certain ...

was founded in 1919, and on 31 August 1919 Ramovš was among the first four full professors appointed at the institution. He was appointed a professor of

Indo-European 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, ...

and

Slavic linguistics Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was prim ...

and also taught

accentology Accentology involves a systematic analysis of word or phrase stress. Sub-areas of accentology include Germanic accentology, Balto-Slavic accentology, Indo-European accentology, and Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related ...

, general phonetics,

Proto-Slavic Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the Attested language, unattested, linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately ...

, and comparative Indo-European grammar. In 1921, the son Primož (1921–1999), the later composer, was born to him. Ramovš served as chancellor of the University of Ljubljana from 1934 to 1935. He was a co-founder and member of the

Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( sl, Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti (SAZU)) is the national academy of Slovenia, which encompasses science and the arts and brings together the top Slovene researchers and artists as members ...

and he served as the chair of the academy from 1950 to 1952. He received the

Prešeren Award The Prešeren Award ( sl, Prešernova nagrada), also called the Grand Prešeren Award ( sl, Velika Prešernova nagrada), is the highest decoration in the field of artistic and in the past also scientific creation in Slovenia. It is awarded each yea ...

in 1950 for his work on the Slovene Normative Guide ( sl, Slovenski pravopis). He was an honorary member of the Slavic Society of Slovenia ( sl, Slavistično društvo Slovenije). Ramovš died 16 September 1952 in Ljubljana.

Commemoration

The Fran Ramovš Institute of the Slovene Language ( sl, Inštitut za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU) is named after Ramovš.Homepage of the Fran Ramovš Institute of the Slovene Language
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Selected bibliography

* ''Historična gramatika slovenskega jezika'' (Historical Grammar of Slovene) (a planned series) ** Volume 2: ''Konzonantizem'' (Consonants; Ljubljana, 1924) ** Volume 7: ''Dialekti'' (Dialects; Ljubljana, 1935) * ''Dialektološka karta slovenskega jezika'' (Slovene Dialect Map; Ljubljana, 1931) * (with

Anton Breznik Anton may refer to: People *Anton (given name), including a list of people with the given name *Anton (surname) Places *Anton Municipality, Bulgaria **Anton, Sofia Province, a village *Antón District, Panama **Antón, a town and capital of th ...

) ''Slovenski pravopis'' (Slovene Normative Guide; Ljubljana, 1935) * ''Kratka zgodovina slovenskega jezika'' (A Short History of Slovene; Ljubljana, 1936) * ''Morfologija slovenskega jezika'' (Slovene Morphology; Ljubljana, 1952)

References