biography
| name: |
Jespersen, (Jens) Otto (Harry)
|
pronunciation:
[yespersen]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1860–1943)
|
| biography:
| Philologist, born in Randers, N Denmark. He studied at Copenhagen, and became professor of English language and literature there (1893–1925), where he revolutionized the teaching of languages. His Sprogundervisning (1901, trans How to Teach a Foreign Language) became perhaps the best-known statement of what is now called the ‘direct method’. His other books include Growth and Structure of the English Language (1905), A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles (1909), and Philosophy of Grammar (1924). He also invented an international language, ‘Novial’, with its own grammar and lexicon. |
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