Juilland, Alphonse G.

Alphonse Juilland, born in 1922 in Bucharest, studied at the University of Bucharest, graduating in 1945 magna cum laude, and obtained his doctorate from the Sorbonne in Paris in 1951. He taught literature, language, linguistics and philosophy in France, Switzerland, Canada, and, in the United States, at the University of Washington, the University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia University, before his appointment as a professor in the Department of French and Italian at Stanford in 1961. Juilland was an international pioneer in his studies of the application of structural methods in historical linguistics and in linguistic structure theory, gaining acclaim as one of the first linguists to analyze language using quantitative methods using computers. His many pioneering works include the first structuralist history of French pronunciation, the first inverse dictionary of the French language, and various books and essays studying the French novelist Louis-Ferdinand Celine's life, fiction, and linguistic importance. In 1975 and again in 1988, Juilland was decorated by the French government in recognition for his major contributions to French culture and education in the United States. Later in life, he became one of the world's fastest senior sprinters, holding three world records for men over 50. Alphonse Juilland died June 30, 2000, at the age of 77.

Biographical/Historical Sketch

Alphonse Juilland, born in 1922 in Bucharest, studied at the University of Bucharest, graduating in 1945 magna cum laude, and obtained his doctorate from the Sorbonne in Paris in 1951. He taught literature, language, linguistics and philosophy in France, Switzerland, Canada, and, in the United States, at the University of Washington, the University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia University, before his appointment as a professor in the Department of French and Italian at Stanford in 1961. Juilland was an international pioneer in his studies of the application of structural methods in historical linguistics and in linguistic structure theory, gaining acclaim as one of the first linguists to analyze language using quantitative methods using computers. His many pioneering works include the first structuralist history of French pronunciation, the first inverse dictionary of the French language, and various books and essays studying the French novelist Louis-Ferdinand Celine's life, fiction, and linguistic importance. In 1975 and again in 1988, Juilland was decorated by the French government in recognition for his major contributions to French culture and education in the United States. Later in life, he became one of the world's fastest senior sprinters, holding three world records for men over 50. Alphonse Juilland died June 30, 2000, at the age of 77.