Year: 1995
Type: article
Abstract: A cedar of Lebanon has fallen, a Ponderosa redwood of sociolinguistics, a pillar of the linguistically informed social history of immigrant and ethnic America.It is the measure ofEinar Haugen's greatness that the above epithets require additional ones, e.g., a scion of general linguistics, the doyen of Scandinavian languages and literatures, and a leader in language pedagogy, if the true versatility and immense stature of the man are to be fully appreciated.Indeed, it is far beyond my own more narrowly focused competence to do full justice to Einar Haugen's diverse achievements and attainments.I will limit my comments to his sociolinguistic contributions, on the one hand, and to characteristics of his interpersonal relationships, on the other.I am aware that a focus such as mine leaves much out, but I am consoled, as I hope the reader will be, by the ready availability of many unimpeachable sources via which the picture of the 'total Einar Haugen' can be filled out.First and foremost, Einar himself reflected on his life and work, particularly on the intellectual climate of his early years in the profession (see his 'On the making of a linguist', in Davis and O'Cain 1980) and on his immigrant-community childhood (see his 'Personal reflections on growing up bilingual' in Ornstein and St. Clair 1979).Furthermore, several of his students and colleagues have honored him with festschriften in which his selfless stimulation and assistance are gratefully acknowledged (see, for example, Firchow, Grimstad, Hasselmo and O'Neil 1972a and Naess and Skard 1971).In addition, there are several collections of his own writings, whereby readers can easily sample some of his most lasting contributions (e.g., Firchow, Grimstad, Hasselmo and O'Neil 1972b, with a full bibliography through to 1971; Dil 1972, which also contains a full bibliography; and Haugen 1987).Finally, all of the standard references, including Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American Education, Hvem er hvem (Oslo), Dictionary of American Scholars, and others, provide lengthy accounts of his major positions, publications, honors and travels.But, although all of the above may be usefully consulted, those who knew Haugen best will agree completely with the view of Firchow, Grimstad, Haselmo and O'Neil (1972a: 8) that 'no mere listing of his work and his honors can suggest the measure of the man'.A yidishe neshome iz nit optsushatsn (a Jewish soul can never be fully appreciated) is a Yiddish proverb that can and must be generalized to all of humanity, and particularly to all creative geniuses-and Haugen was clearly among them.But this view engenders several problems of its own.Even after recognizing its pessimism about being able to fully appreciate a human soul, it also offers no guidance as to how a more complete evaluation can be attained.My attempt to do so will be frankly subjective.My introduction to Einar Haugen occurred in 1955 and was almost accidental in nature.It led to my reading his monumental Norwegian Language in America (1953).The book (actually 'books', because it was originally published as two volumes) was recommended to me by Leybush Lehrer, a director of the institu-
Source: Language
Author: Joshua A. Fishman
Institutions: Yeshiva University, Stanford University
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W7130563302