Jonathan Kaye (born 1942) studied linguistics at

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 ...

under Uriel Weinreich and Robert Austelitz, earning his Ph.D. in 1970. He wrote his thesis on Desano, a

South American language The languages of South America can be divided into three broad groups: * the languages of the (in most cases, former) colonial powers, primarily Spanish and Portuguese; * many indigenous languages, some of which are co-official alongside t ...

he studied through a year of field work in the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

. In 1967 he took up his first teaching position at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

. While there he focused his studies on the Ottawa language, an Algonquian language spoken in Wikwemikong,

Manitoulin Island Manitoulin Island ( ) is an island in Lake Huron, located within the borders of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario, in the bioregion known as Laurentia (bioregion), Laurentia. With an area of , it is the Lake ...

, Ontario. In 1974 he spent his sabbatical leave as a visiting professor at

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

, and in 1975 he accepted a position at the Université du Québec à Montréal. At UQAM he continued his studies on Ottawa and began to focus on the

Algonquin language Algonquin (also spelled Algonkin; in Algonquin: or ) is either a distinct Algonquian languages, Algonquian language closely related to the Ojibwe language or a particularly divergent Ojibwe language dialects, Ojibwe dialect. It is spoken, alon ...

in Lac Simon, Québec as well. As a result of his studies he co-edited the book ''Linguistic Studies of Native Canada'' with Eung-Do Cook. ''Linguistic Studies'' was published in 1978 by the University of British Columbia Press. By the early 1980s Kaye's focus moved to West African languages. He was the primary editor of volume 2 of ''Current Approaches to African Linguistics'', printed by Walter de Gruyter publishing house in 1983. Kaye moved to the School of Oriental and African Studies at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

in 1988. It was there he published ''Phonology: A Cognitive View'' in 1989, considered to be his seminal work. In 1999 he moved, this time to the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. He stayed there until he moved to Girona, Spain in 2001. He left Girona and moved to Gorizia, Italy in August 2008. He is still active in research and PhD supervision. He has recently given courses at the University of Ljubljana and at the University of Nova Gorica. He now lives in Kent, England, and volunteers at numerous local libraries. 2003 saw the publication of ''Living on the Edge: 28 Papers in Honour of Jonathan Kaye'', a book dedicated to his life and work.

Travels

Kaye traveled extensively, studying native languages in the area (Ex. languages of

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and

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, the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

, Slavic, Semitic,

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, and others) and would frequently protest the idea that languages were radically different from one another:

From our point of view as English speakers, a language such as Chinese might seem totally different from our own. In fact, these two languages as well as all other human languages are nearly identical. The differences that seem all important to us are relatively minor. (Jonathan Kaye 1989: 54).

Travels

References

Further reading