33.2880, All: Prof. Dr. Gisbert Fanselow (1959-2022)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-33-2880. Fri Sep 23 2022. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 33.2880, All: Prof. Dr. Gisbert Fanselow (1959-2022)

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Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2022 23:42:48
From: Doreen Georgi [doreen.georgi at uni-potsdam.de]
Subject: Prof. Dr. Gisbert Fanselow (1959-2022)

 
Dear colleagues,

the members of the Department of Linguistics at the University of Potsdam are
very sad to announce the passing of our dear friend and colleague Gisbert
Fanselow.  He passed away on September 17, 2022.

_______________

Prof. Dr. Gisbert Fanselow (1959-2022)

Gisbert Fanselow was a founder of modern generative syntax research in
Germany. From 1977-1983 he studied in Regensburg and Konstanz with Peter
Staudacher, Arnim von Stechow and Urs Egli, among others. His first book
publication (1981; ''Zur Syntax und Semantik der Nominalkomposition'' by
Niemeyer) arose from a student seminar paper. After completing his Master's in
theoretical linguistics and German and English linguistics in Konstanz,
Fanselow moved to the University of Passau from 1983 to 1993, where he also
received his doctorate (1985) and his habilitation (1989). During this time,
together with his mentor and supervisor Sascha Felix, he wrote one of the most
widely read German-language introductions to generative linguistics,
''Sprachtheorie'', Vol. 1 & 2, UTB, 1987, which had a lasting influence on
generations of linguists in the German speaking world.

Since 1993, Fanselow has held the C4 professorship for Grammar Theory with a
focus on syntax at the then newly founded Department of Linguistics at the
University of Potsdam, which he built up together with Gisa Rauh and shaped in
its generative, cognitive science orientation. In collaboration with Reinhold
Kliegl from the Department of Psychology at Potsdam, he succeeded in
establishing linguistics as a core part of modern cognitive science at the
University. Fanselow's spokesmanship in the innovation research initiative
"Formal Models of Cognitive Complexity" (1994-1999) and in the DFG research
group "Conflicting Rules" (1999-2003) also made significant contributions to
the prominent role of linguistics as part of the study of cognition in
Potsdam. In addition, Fanselow played a major role in the conception and
successful application of the institutional grant SFB632 "Information
Structure", a cooperation between Humboldt University in Berlin and the
University of Potsdam. He was also significantly involved in the planning and
application for the subsequent SFB1287 "The limits of variability in language:
Cognitive, computational and grammatical aspects", currently on-going at the
University of Potsdam.

Gisbert Fanselow had a broad scientific background and, in his long and
successful career, has worked on a large number of empirical phenomena,
theoretical problems and methodological questions in a wide variety of
languages, including parameterization, configurationality, word order, split
NPs, wh-questions, information structure, scope, the methodology of
acceptability studies, the limitations of grammatical systems, etc. He was one
of the greatest connoisseurs of Germanic syntax and a recognized expert on
questions of VO vs. OV parameterization in natural languages. His last
research project in the SFB1287, titled ''Syntactic Implication of the
Position of Head and Argument'', once again addresses this problem from a
broad typological perspective drawing empirically from all major language
families in the world.

Gisbert Fanselow was a role model for generations of syntacticians through his
enthusiasm, curiosity, humility, and deep concern for the well-being of
students. He was always approachable and always took as much time as the
students needed. He was involved in the training of numerous well-known
linguists: Artemis Alexiadou, Julia Bacskai-Atkari, Joanna Blaszczak, Ina
Bornkessel-Schlesewsky, Damir Cavar, Susann Fischer, André Meinter, Florian
Schäfer, Matthias Schlesewsky, Luis Vicente, Ralf Vogel , Marta Wierzba, among
many others. In his capacity as an expert reviewer at the DFG, Gisbert also
had a strong influence on the development of linguistics in Germany. He has
published in all major journals; his last published essay in Glossa (Fanselow
et al., 2022) deals with a new experimental method to study inverse quantifier
scope in German.

In addition to linguistics, he was also very interested in environmental,
climate and species protection. Gisbert was an important voice in the
Environment Commission of the University of Potsdam, was active on the
advisory board of ''Scientists for Future'' and founded
''climatewednesday.org'', an initiative for reducing air travel in science, an
aim very close to his heart.

His sudden illness unexpectedly tore Gisbert out of an active life as a
researcher. Gisbert still had many plans and was in the process of preparing
another research project on wh-questions from a typological perspective.

His death leaves a huge, impossible to fill, gap in German linguistics and in
particular in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Potsdam. His
colleagues in the Department will miss Gisbert dearly because of his
comprehensive linguistic expertise, but above all because of his friendliness,
his curiosity, his collegiality and helpfulness, and his willingness to always
put personal vanity behind the big picture.

We mourn the loss of Gisbert as a friend and a colleague. Our thoughts are
with his family.
 


Linguistic Field(s): Not Applicable



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