Bill Labov
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William Labov, known far and wide as one of the most influential linguists of the 20th and 21st centuries, passed away this morning at the age of 97, with his wife, Gillian Sankoff, by his side.
Bill is still very alive to us, so many of us, here at Penn. His voice reverberates. Mark is working on a longer, more detailed appreciation.
For now, a warm memory. One night over dinner Bill said that when he wrote he liked to imagine a scholar in the library, perhaps in some faraway place or distant future, opening one of his books and finding a useful insight, just as he had from scholars before him. We got to see him receive news about such an occurrence one evening at that same table: a guest hand-delivered, from the hills of Sindhi-speaking Pakistan, a sociolinguistic book inscribed with thanks for his insight, inspiration, and example.
Here’s a favorite picture of Bill turning to say goodbye one Thanksgiving afternoon. Farewell, dear friend.
Michael Newman said,
December 17, 2024 @ 9:21 pm
It seems rare that someone so extraordinary could be at the same time so generous, open, and generous with his time, so normal in the best possible sense.
Jenny Chu said,
December 17, 2024 @ 9:37 pm
Having learned about his work when he was already a legend, I am one of those who had no idea that Prof. Labov was still with us until now; I imagined him as one of the ancient greats who had departed long ago. It is heartening to hear that he did live many more years and brought so much insight to so many parts of the world. Thank you for sharing this.
Marianne Hundt said,
December 17, 2024 @ 10:01 pm
On the 16th of March 2010 at 17:00, I listened to William Labov as he gave his lecture at the LAUD symposium in Koblenz-Landau. The title was “What can be learned?” I had come from Heidelberg to hear a scholar whose work was so key to sociolinguistics in person, and to the present day remember the calm but also incredible energy. I opened my ‘Key Concepts in Sociolinguistics’ lecture this semester quoting from his piece (online) on ‘How I got into linguistics, and what I got out of it’, and then again and again from his work throughout the semester. On re-reading his Martha’s Vineyard study, I was wondering whether he was more second-wavy than he is usually credited to be. I’m looking forward to reading my students’ exam scripts (date is tomorrow) to see his ideas live on, being critiqued and developed further. So many standing on the shoulders of this scholar!