Roman Jakobson (1896-1982)

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  • Russian born Jew
  • Synchronic approach to language based on study of Ferdinand de Saussure
  • One of the founders of "Prague School"
  • He worked in numerous countries and finally fled to New York because of WWII
  • Collaborated with Claude Levi-Strauss (Structuralist, see Propp)
  • Retired as a Professor from Harvard but still maintained his studies
  • Focused on communication and formed 6 basic categories
    • Referential
    • Poetic
    • Emotive
    • Conative
    • Phatic
    • Metalingual
  • Developed three principles of linguistics
    • Linguistic typology
    • Markedness
    • Linguistic Universals
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