Calvert Watkins: Difference between revisions

Calvert Watkins was born in [[Pennsylvania|Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]], on March 13, 1933, to Ralph James Watkins, an [[economist]]<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|date=2013|title=In Memoriam: Calvert Watkins|url=https://linguistics.ucla.edu/people/Melchert/inmemoriamcalvertwatkins.pdf|journal=The Journal of Indo-European Studies|volume=51|pages=506–526}}</ref> and government advisor,<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://dbcs.rutgers.edu/all-scholars/9203-watkins-calvert-ward|title=WATKINS, Calvert Ward|last=Gordon|first=Laura|website=Departmental Web Site Template {{!}} Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey|language=en-gb|access-date=2018-11-10}}</ref> and Willye Ward, a [[Spanish language|Spanish]] teacher who translated the personal memoirs of former Mexican president Gen. [[Antonio López de Santa Anna|Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1979/07/16/willye-w-watkins-translated-memoirs-of-mexican-president/80c6af60-72c8-40dc-927b-9a4b3f34357c/|title=Willye W. Watkins, Translated Memoirs of Mexican President|worknewspaper=Washington Post|access-date=2018-10-07|issn=0190-8286}}</ref> Much of Watkins's childhood was spent in [[New York City]], and he graduated from [[Friends Seminary]] in [[Manhattan]] before beginning his career at Harvard University.<ref name=":0" /> Watkins's early exposure to Latin and Greek inspired him at the age of fifteen to decide to become an [[Indo-European studies|Indo-Europeanist]].<ref name=":0" />

In 1959, Watkins was initially appointed the position of instructor at [[Harvard University]]. He later became assistant professor in 1960, associate professor with tenure in 1962, and full professor in 1966.<ref name=":0" /> In 1989 Watkins was appointed to the position of Victor. S Thomas Professor of Linguistics and Classics.<ref name=":0" /> Linguists influenced by Watkins during his tenure at Harvard include [[Ives Goddard]], [[Jay Jasanoff]], D. Gary Miller, [[Michael Silverstein]], [[Alice Harris (linguist)|Alice Harris]], [[Craig Melchert|H. Craig Melchert]], [[Alan Nussbaum]], Brent Vine, [[Mark Hale]], [[Andrew Garrett (linguist)|Andrew Garrett]], Joshua Katz and [[Benjamin W. Fortson IV|Benjamin Fortson]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Joseph|first=Brian D.|date=2000|title=Review of "Mír Cuirad: Studies in Honor of Calvert Watkins" by Jay Jasanoff, H. Craig Melchert, & Lisi Oliver|journal= Diachronica|language=en|volume=17|issue=2|pages=451–458|doi=10.1075/dia.17.2.11jos|issn=0176-4225}}</ref>

On page 96 of ''Indo-European Origins of the Celtic Verb'' (1962), Watkins noted the following pattern in the history of the Celtic verb, as well as in Polish and Persian: “the development [...] or presence [...] of a zero ending in the 3sg., and the spread of this 3sg. form to other members of the paradigm." This became known in the field as ''Watkins' Law.'' <ref> Mark Janse, "Watkins’ Law and the development of agglutinative inflections in Asia Minor Greek" ''Journal of Greek Linguistics'' 9 (2009) 93–109(Brill) https://brill.com/view/journals/jgl/9/1/article-p93_4.xml?language=en</ref> The "law" as it relates to Proto-Celtic was already observed in 1909 by [[Rudolf Thurneysen]] on page 422 (section 683) of his ''Grammar of Old Irish'', but it was Watkins who noticed that the same pattern occurred in the histories of other languages.<ref>Rudolf Thurneysen, ''A Grammar of Old Irish'' translators D.A Binchy and Osborn Bergin (1946), Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. p. 422 https://archive.org/details/thurneysen-a-grammar-of-old-irish/page/n1/mode/2up</ref>

''[[How to Kill a Dragon|How to Kill a Dragon: Aspects of Indo-European Poetics]]'' was published on November 16, 1995, through [[Oxford University Press]] and attempted to establish a formulaic method of [[Comparative (linguistics)|comparative linguistics]] which exemplified the importance of the poetic formula in order to better trace the development of [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] languages by working backwards and identifying patterns from their mother language, Proto-Indo-European.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=McCarthy|first=William Bernard|title=Review |jstor=541955|doi=10.2307/541955 |journal=The Journal of American Folklore|volume=112|number=444|pages=220–222|date=Spring 1999}}</ref> The book is divided into two main halves, the first of which acts as a definition and introduction to the study of Indo-European poetics which is expanded upon by implementing Watkins' idea of the "dragon-slaying myth" and defending this concept through a number of case studies involving languages connected by a common theme.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=L'Heureux|first=Marc G.|date=2016-06-16|title=Book Review of How to Kill a Dragon: aspects of Indo-European linguistics|journal=Lingua Frankly|language=en|volume=1|issue=1|doi=10.6017/lf.v1i1.5633|issn=2333-6552|doi-access=free}}</ref> Watkins expands upon the "dragon-slaying myth" in part two of the text by offering new research into his proposed formula of "HERO SLAY SERPENT",<ref name=":1" /> he also attempts to reconstruct an example of Proto-Indo-European through the comparative method of historical linguistics.

* Associé EtrangerÉtranger, Membre de l'Institut (1999)<ref name=":0" />

* ''How to Kill a Dragon: Aspects of Indo-European Poetics'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ri4sbTiMKN4C&printsec=frontcover&dqq=intitle:How+intitle:to+intitle:kill+intitle:a+intitle:dragon&lr=&as_drrb_is=q&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=&as_brr=0&cd=1#v=onepage&q&f=false limited preview]