Otto Jespersen
Danish linguist (1860-1943) · Denmark · On the map · Academics · Died at 82
Jens Otto Harry Jespersen was a Danish linguist who worked in foreign-language pedagogy, historical phonetics, and other areas, but is best known for his description of the grammar of the English language. Steven Mithen describes him as "one of the greatest language scholars of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries."
Otto Jespersen is read about 62 times a day, in 47 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 10 November 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 114 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?A life in dates
1943Died30 April 19431927Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of ParisAward1925Honorary Doctor of the University of St AndrewsAward1910Honorary Doctorate from Columbia UniversityAward1906Volney PrizeAward1901Knight of the Order of the DannebrogAward1860Born16 July 1860
Media & music
![Jespersen's "analphabetic" representation (1889) of phones elsewhere transcribed as [š]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/95/Jespersen%27s_analphabetic_representation_%281889%29_of_%28%C5%A1%29.jpg/500px-Jespersen%27s_analphabetic_representation_%281889%29_of_%28%C5%A1%29.jpg)
![John Brynildsen [no], A Dictionary of the English and Dano-Norwegian Languages (vol. 2, 1907); with phonetic script by Jespersen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2f/Brynildsen%2C_Engelsk%E2%80%93Dansk%E2%80%93Norsk_Ordbog_sample.jpg/500px-Brynildsen%2C_Engelsk%E2%80%93Dansk%E2%80%93Norsk_Ordbog_sample.jpg)
Awards
About this person
Country
Denmark
Category
Academics
Type
Academic
Status
Deceased
Dates
Lived 1860 to 1943 · aged 82
