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Henri Wittmann

January 10, 2023

Henri Wittmann (born 1937) is a Canadian linguist from Quebec. He is best known for his work on Quebec French.

Henri Wittmann in 2002

Biography

Henri (Hirsch) Wittmann was born in Alsace in 1937.[1] After studying with André Martinet at the Sorbonne, he moved to North America and taught successively at the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Alberta in Edmonton, the University of Windsor and McGill University in Montreal before teaching in the French university system of Quebec, the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières and at Rimouski as well as the Université de Sherbrooke. He retired from teaching in 1997, after an extensive tour of teaching and conferencing in France. In the following years, he became the first Director of the Presses universitaires de Trois-Rivières and emeritus researcher at the Centre d’Analyse des Littératures Francophones des Amériques (CALIFA) at Carleton University in Ottawa.

As a comparatist, Wittmann contributed to the study of the morphology of a number of languages and language families: Pre-Indo-European, Indo-European (Hittite, Italic, Romance, Germanic, Creole), Afro-Asiatic (Egyptian), African (Mande, Kwa, Bantu), Austronesian (Malagasy, Polynesian), Amerindian (Arawakan, Cariban). His work between 1963 and 2002 includes more than 140 items.

He is a life member since 1962 of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA).[2] In 1965, he cofounded with André Rigault and Douglas Ellis the Linguistics Department at McGill University. In 1981, he was the cofounder, with Normand Beauchemin and Robert Fournier, of the Linguistic Society of Quebec (Association québécoise de linguistique) which he served for 10 years as president, secretary general and organizer of the annual meeting. In 1981 as well, he became the first Editor of the Revue québécoise de linguistique théorique et appliquée, a responsibility he assumed for the following 20 years.

Politically, Wittmann is known for his anarcho-syndicalist sympathies with strong links to the CNTU (Confederation of National Trade Unions), communautary and anti-war movements. In 1974-1978, he was at the center of a union conflict at the University of Quebec which changed the landscape of collective bargaining in the academic world. A specialist of the linguistic heritage of Quebec, he also is a stout defender of Quebec independence.[3]

Contributions to linguistics

Henri Wittmann is the first modern linguist to study non-standard forms of Quebec French (notably Joual, Magoua and Chaouin) in a theory-orientated and comparative framework.

In a general way, Wittmann, a student of André Martinet in the fifties,[4] has been the first to apply the latter's principles of chain reactions in phonology to inflectional morphology. In Wittmann's view, the basic structure of the sentence is held together by functional items, with the lexical items filling in the blanks. Position in functional space must maintain functional equidistance and disturbances in functional equidistance set off error correcting chain reactions that are cyclical in nature and subject to drift. Thus, functionally salient lexical items will eventually set off a push chain conveyor belt pressure in functional space, sending functionally close-by affixes down the path of attrition. Such is the origin of agglutinating clitics of non-standard oral French from erstwhile lexical pronouns, setting off the attrition of functionally equivalent fusional means of inflection inherited from Old French and Latin: loss of suffixal inflection on the verb, compensated by the rise of proclitic means indicating person, number and tense. Conversely, functional items going down the path of attrition leave behind functional gaps, triggering a drag chain effect on surrounding functionally salient lexical items. Such is the origin of the agglutinating prenominal class markers from erstwhile articles, which are compensated by the rise of postnominal means of expressing definiteness on the noun. With the fulfilment of each cycle of change, a morphologically consistent phonological representation is realized and serves as input to the next cycle of morphological change. Those processes of inflectional renewal have parallels in recent neurolinguistic research, notably in the works by Gabriele Miceli.

Wittmann's comparative approach to studying colonial varieties of French from Quebec, the Americas, and the Indian Ocean reveals that the structural gap with written French is inherent in the variety of oral French reflecting the speech of Paris exported from the cities of northern France from the early 17th century onwards. The doubling of DP positions as agreement features and varying degrees of restrictions on verb movement are the only noteworthy developmental features that separate non-creole varieties from creole varieties of French. With his student Robert Fournier, Wittmann debunked within the same theoretical framework the extravagant African-origin hypotheses of Haitian Creole French by Claire Lefebvre and similar farfetched theories. In the end, neither the non-creole koine nor the creole varieties of colonial French turn out to be "creoles" in the sense that creolists would have it. They are both outcomes of "normal" processes of linguistic change and grammaticalization.

Wittmann also contributed significantly to the study of other languages, notably languages that are claimed to be substratal to different varieties of Creole French (Ewe, Yoruba, Mande, Bantu, Malagasy, Arawakan, Cariban).

References

  1. ^ Ann Dudová (2010), "Prof. Henri Wittmann", http://www.jazykovevzdelavanie.sk/products/prof-henri-wittmann/[1]
  2. ^ Linguistic Society of America, Life Members by Name, http://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/life-members-name [2]
  3. ^ Henri Wittmann (1969), "Unilingualism or cultural schizophrenia: A choice for Québec." Edge: An Independent Periodical 9.29-36.[3]
  4. ^ François Lo Jacomo (1985), Annuaire SILF, Paris: Société internationale de linguistique fonctionnelle, page 68.

Selected bibliography

  • 1973. "Le joual, c'est-tu un créole?" La Linguistique 9:2.83-93.[4]
  • 1973. "The lexicostatistical classification of the French-based Creole languages." Lexicostatistics in genetic linguistics: Proceedings of the Yale conference, April 3–4, 1971, dir. Isidore Dyen, 89-99. La Haye: Mouton.[5]
  • 1974. "Le projet du français parlé à Trois-Rivières [II]." Annales de l'Association canadienne-française pour l'avancement des sciences 41:3.165-74. (With Jean-Pierre Tusseau).[6]
  • 1976. "Contraintes linguistiques et sociales dans la troncation du /l/ à Trois-Rivières." Cahiers de linguistique 6.13-22. Montréal: Presses de l'Université du Québec.[7], [8]
  • 1981. "Bom Sadek i bez li: la particule i en français." Revue québécoise de linguistique théorique et appliquée 1.177-96.[9]
  • 1982. "L'agglutination nominale en français colonial." Revue québécoise de linguistique théorique et appliquée 2:2.185-209.[10]
  • 1983, "Les réactions en chaîne en morphologie diachronique." Actes du 10e Colloque de la Société internationale de linguistique fonctionnelle, Université Laval, 9-11 mai. Québec: Presses de l'université Laval, pp. 285-292.[11]
  • 1983. "Le créole, c'est du français, coudon." Revue québécoise de linguistique théorique et appliquée 3:2.187-202.[12]
  • 1987. "Relexification phylogénétique et structure de C" en créole haïtien et en fon." Revue québécoise de linguistique théorique et appliquée 6:2.127-35.[13]
  • 1987. "Interprétation diachronique de la morphologie verbale du créole réunionnais." Revue québécoise de linguistique théorique et appliquée 6:2.137-50.[14]
  • 1990. "Morphologie et syntaxe des syntagmes [±wh] en créole haïtien et en fon." Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Congress of Linguists : Berlin/GDR, August 10-August 15, 1987. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, vol. 1, pp. 644-647.[15]
  • 1994. "Relexification et créologenèse." Actes du Congrès international des linguistes 15:4.335-38. Québec: Presses de l'Université Laval.[16]
  • 1994. "Le créole haïtien, langue kwa relexifiée: vérification d'une hypothèse 'P&P' ou élaboration d'astuces computationnelles?" Créolistique et grammaire générative, edited by Louis-Jean Calvet, 115-39. Paris: Sorbonne, Laboratoire de sociolinguistique (Plurilinguismes 8).[17]
  • 1995. "Grammaire comparée des variétés coloniales du français populaire de Paris du 17e siècle et origines du français québécois." "Le français des Amériques", edited by Robert Fournier & Henri Wittmann, 281-334. Trois-Rivières: Presses universitaires de Trois-Rivières.[18]
  • 1995. "La structure de base de la syntaxe narrative dans les contes et légendes du créole haïtien." Poétiques et imaginaires: francopolyphonie littéraire des Amériques, edited by Pierre Laurette & Hans-George Ruprecht, 207-18. Paris: L'Harmattan.[19]
  • 1996. "La forme phonologique comparée du parler magoua de la région de Trois-Rivières." Revue québécoise de linguistique théorique et appliquée 13.225-43.[20]
  • 1996. "L'Ouest français dans le français des Amériques: le jeu des isoglosses morphologiques et la genèse du dialecte acadien." L'Ouest français et la francophonie nord-américaine: actes du Colloque international de la francophonie tenu à Angers du 26 au 29 mai 1994, edited by Georges Cesbron, 127-36. Angers: Presses de l'Université d'Angers.[21]
  • 1996. "Contraintes sur la relexification: les limites imposées dans un cadre théorique minimaliste." Revue québécoise de linguistique théorique et appliquée 13.245-80.[22]
  • 1998. "Le français de Paris dans le français des Amériques." Proceedings of the International Congress of Linguists 16.0416 (Paris, 20-25 juillet 1997). Oxford: Pergamon.[23]
  • 1998. "Les créolismes syntaxiques du français magoua parlé aux Trois-Rivières." Français d'Amérique: variation, créolisation, normalisation (Actes du colloque, Université d'Avignon, 8-11 oct.), edited by Patrice Brasseur, 229-48. Avignon: Université d'Avignon, Centre d'études canadiennes.[24]
  • 1999. "Prototype as a typological yardstick to creoleness." The Creolist Archives Papers On-line, Stockholms Universitet.[25]
  • 1999. "Non-existential analogues of the verb to be in West African Languages, in Haitian Creole and in Magoua French." Paper, 9th International Conference on Creoles Studies.[26]
  • 2001. "Lexical diffusion and the glottogenetics of creole French." CreoList debate, parts I-VI, appendixes 1-9. The Linguist List, Eastern Michigan University & Wayne State University. ().[27]

External links

  • Site honoring Henri Wittmann : with an extensive bibliography and free access to some of his most important writings.
  •  : selected writings.
  • Entry in Linguistlist

January 10, 2023
henri, wittmann, born, 1937, canadian, linguist, from, quebec, best, known, work, quebec, french, 2002, contents, biography, contributions, linguistics, references, selected, bibliography, external, linksbiography, edithenri, hirsch, wittmann, born, alsace, 19. Henri Wittmann born 1937 is a Canadian linguist from Quebec He is best known for his work on Quebec French Henri Wittmann in 2002 Contents 1 Biography 2 Contributions to linguistics 3 References 4 Selected bibliography 5 External linksBiography EditHenri Hirsch Wittmann was born in Alsace in 1937 1 After studying with Andre Martinet at the Sorbonne he moved to North America and taught successively at the University of Colorado at Boulder the University of Alberta in Edmonton the University of Windsor and McGill University in Montreal before teaching in the French university system of Quebec the Universite du Quebec a Trois Rivieres and at Rimouski as well as the Universite de Sherbrooke He retired from teaching in 1997 after an extensive tour of teaching and conferencing in France In the following years he became the first Director of the Presses universitaires de Trois Rivieres and emeritus researcher at the Centre d Analyse des Litteratures Francophones des Ameriques CALIFA at Carleton University in Ottawa As a comparatist Wittmann contributed to the study of the morphology of a number of languages and language families Pre Indo European Indo European Hittite Italic Romance Germanic Creole Afro Asiatic Egyptian African Mande Kwa Bantu Austronesian Malagasy Polynesian Amerindian Arawakan Cariban His work between 1963 and 2002 includes more than 140 items He is a life member since 1962 of the Linguistic Society of America LSA 2 In 1965 he cofounded with Andre Rigault and Douglas Ellis the Linguistics Department at McGill University In 1981 he was the cofounder with Normand Beauchemin and Robert Fournier of the Linguistic Society of Quebec Association quebecoise de linguistique which he served for 10 years as president secretary general and organizer of the annual meeting In 1981 as well he became the first Editor of the Revue quebecoise de linguistique theorique et appliquee a responsibility he assumed for the following 20 years Politically Wittmann is known for his anarcho syndicalist sympathies with strong links to the CNTU Confederation of National Trade Unions communautary and anti war movements In 1974 1978 he was at the center of a union conflict at the University of Quebec which changed the landscape of collective bargaining in the academic world A specialist of the linguistic heritage of Quebec he also is a stout defender of Quebec independence 3 Contributions to linguistics EditHenri Wittmann is the first modern linguist to study non standard forms of Quebec French notably Joual Magoua and Chaouin in a theory orientated and comparative framework In a general way Wittmann a student of Andre Martinet in the fifties 4 has been the first to apply the latter s principles of chain reactions in phonology to inflectional morphology In Wittmann s view the basic structure of the sentence is held together by functional items with the lexical items filling in the blanks Position in functional space must maintain functional equidistance and disturbances in functional equidistance set off error correcting chain reactions that are cyclical in nature and subject to drift Thus functionally salient lexical items will eventually set off a push chain conveyor belt pressure in functional space sending functionally close by affixes down the path of attrition Such is the origin of agglutinating clitics of non standard oral French from erstwhile lexical pronouns setting off the attrition of functionally equivalent fusional means of inflection inherited from Old French and Latin loss of suffixal inflection on the verb compensated by the rise of proclitic means indicating person number and tense Conversely functional items going down the path of attrition leave behind functional gaps triggering a drag chain effect on surrounding functionally salient lexical items Such is the origin of the agglutinating prenominal class markers from erstwhile articles which are compensated by the rise of postnominal means of expressing definiteness on the noun With the fulfilment of each cycle of change a morphologically consistent phonological representation is realized and serves as input to the next cycle of morphological change Those processes of inflectional renewal have parallels in recent neurolinguistic research notably in the works by Gabriele Miceli Wittmann s comparative approach to studying colonial varieties of French from Quebec the Americas and the Indian Ocean reveals that the structural gap with written French is inherent in the variety of oral French reflecting the speech of Paris exported from the cities of northern France from the early 17th century onwards The doubling of DP positions as agreement features and varying degrees of restrictions on verb movement are the only noteworthy developmental features that separate non creole varieties from creole varieties of French With his student Robert Fournier Wittmann debunked within the same theoretical framework the extravagant African origin hypotheses of Haitian Creole French by Claire Lefebvre and similar farfetched theories In the end neither the non creole koine nor the creole varieties of colonial French turn out to be creoles in the sense that creolists would have it They are both outcomes of normal processes of linguistic change and grammaticalization Wittmann also contributed significantly to the study of other languages notably languages that are claimed to be substratal to different varieties of Creole French Ewe Yoruba Mande Bantu Malagasy Arawakan Cariban References Edit Ann Dudova 2010 Prof Henri Wittmann http www jazykovevzdelavanie sk products prof henri wittmann 1 Linguistic Society of America Life Members by Name http www linguisticsociety org content life members name 2 Henri Wittmann 1969 Unilingualism or cultural schizophrenia A choice for Quebec Edge An Independent Periodical 9 29 36 3 Francois Lo Jacomo 1985 Annuaire SILF Paris Societe internationale de linguistique fonctionnelle page 68 Selected bibliography Edit1973 Le joual c est tu un creole La Linguistique 9 2 83 93 4 1973 The lexicostatistical classification of the French based Creole languages Lexicostatistics in genetic linguistics Proceedings of the Yale conference April 3 4 1971 dir Isidore Dyen 89 99 La Haye Mouton 5 1974 Le projet du francais parle a Trois Rivieres II Annales de l Association canadienne francaise pour l avancement des sciences 41 3 165 74 With Jean Pierre Tusseau 6 1976 Contraintes linguistiques et sociales dans la troncation du l a Trois Rivieres Cahiers de linguistique 6 13 22 Montreal Presses de l Universite du Quebec 7 8 1981 Bom Sadek i bez li la particule i en francais Revue quebecoise de linguistique theorique et appliquee 1 177 96 9 1982 L agglutination nominale en francais colonial Revue quebecoise de linguistique theorique et appliquee 2 2 185 209 10 1983 Les reactions en chaine en morphologie diachronique Actes du 10e Colloque de la Societe internationale de linguistique fonctionnelle Universite Laval 9 11 mai Quebec Presses de l universite Laval pp 285 292 11 1983 Le creole c est du francais coudon Revue quebecoise de linguistique theorique et appliquee 3 2 187 202 12 1987 Relexification phylogenetique et structure de C en creole haitien et en fon Revue quebecoise de linguistique theorique et appliquee 6 2 127 35 13 1987 Interpretation diachronique de la morphologie verbale du creole reunionnais Revue quebecoise de linguistique theorique et appliquee 6 2 137 50 14 1990 Morphologie et syntaxe des syntagmes wh en creole haitien et en fon Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Congress of Linguists Berlin GDR August 10 August 15 1987 Berlin Akademie Verlag vol 1 pp 644 647 15 1994 Relexification et creologenese Actes du Congres international des linguistes 15 4 335 38 Quebec Presses de l Universite Laval 16 1994 Le creole haitien langue kwa relexifiee verification d une hypothese P amp P ou elaboration d astuces computationnelles Creolistique et grammaire generative edited by Louis Jean Calvet 115 39 Paris Sorbonne Laboratoire de sociolinguistique Plurilinguismes 8 17 1995 Grammaire comparee des varietes coloniales du francais populaire de Paris du 17e siecle et origines du francais quebecois Le francais des Ameriques edited by Robert Fournier amp Henri Wittmann 281 334 Trois Rivieres Presses universitaires de Trois Rivieres 18 1995 La structure de base de la syntaxe narrative dans les contes et legendes du creole haitien Poetiques et imaginaires francopolyphonie litteraire des Ameriques edited by Pierre Laurette amp Hans George Ruprecht 207 18 Paris L Harmattan 19 1996 La forme phonologique comparee du parler magoua de la region de Trois Rivieres Revue quebecoise de linguistique theorique et appliquee 13 225 43 20 1996 L Ouest francais dans le francais des Ameriques le jeu des isoglosses morphologiques et la genese du dialecte acadien L Ouest francais et la francophonie nord americaine actes du Colloque international de la francophonie tenu a Angers du 26 au 29 mai 1994 edited by Georges Cesbron 127 36 Angers Presses de l Universite d Angers 21 1996 Contraintes sur la relexification les limites imposees dans un cadre theorique minimaliste Revue quebecoise de linguistique theorique et appliquee 13 245 80 22 1998 Le francais de Paris dans le francais des Ameriques Proceedings of the International Congress of Linguists 16 0416 Paris 20 25 juillet 1997 Oxford Pergamon 23 1998 Les creolismes syntaxiques du francais magoua parle aux Trois Rivieres Francais d Amerique variation creolisation normalisation Actes du colloque Universite d Avignon 8 11 oct edited by Patrice Brasseur 229 48 Avignon Universite d Avignon Centre d etudes canadiennes 24 1999 Prototype as a typological yardstick to creoleness The Creolist Archives Papers On line Stockholms Universitet 25 1999 Non existential analogues of the verb to be in West African Languages in Haitian Creole and in Magoua French Paper 9th International Conference on Creoles Studies 26 2001 Lexical diffusion and the glottogenetics of creole French CreoList debate parts I VI appendixes 1 9 The Linguist List Eastern Michigan University amp Wayne State University https web archive org web 20140511211442 http listserv linguistlist org archives creolist html 27 External links EditSite honoring Henri Wittmann with an extensive bibliography and free access to some of his most important writings Archives Henri Wittmann selected writings Entry in Linguistlist Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Henri Wittmann amp oldid 1132600499, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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