Göran Hammarström

Memories of a linguist 1940 - 2010

The author discusses his 70 years of study, research and teaching in Sweden (Uppsala and Umeå) , France (Paris and Strasbourg), Portugal (Coimbra), England (London), Germany (Bonn, München and Mainz), Scotland (Edinburgh) and Australia (Melbourne). He compares in detail Uppsala, Mainz and Monash universities. An important difference is that in Sweden exams including the public defence of a doctoral thesis are oral. In Australia exams are written and in Germany there are both kinds of exams.

The author’s foundation of the Department of Phonetics in Uppsala and the Department of Linguistics at Monash University and his work in these departments are dealt with in considerable detail.

After 46 years a scandal at the University of Uppsala is revealed. One of the guilty academics admits what he calls "his crime" 40 years after the event.

The author sums up his ideas on linguistics and provides a bibliography of his most important works. He criticises Noam Chomsky’s linguistics in 15 points and finds it unacceptable.

He relates his personal memories of ten scholars whom he has known well: E. Coseriu, P. Falk, M. Foucault, B. Hasselrot, L. Hjelmslev, R. Jakobson, H. Karlgren, A. de Lacerda, J. Melander and G. Ungeheuer.

A person index and pictures of people and events conclude the Memories.