Trubetskoy, Nikolay Sergeyevich

Trubetskoy, Nikolay Sergeyevich

▪ Russian linguist
also spelled  Nikolaj Sergejevič Trubetzkoy  
born April 16, 1890, Moscow
died June 25, 1938, Vienna

      Slavic linguist at the centre of the Prague school of linguistics, noted as the author of its most important work on phonology, Grundzüge der Phonologie (1939; “Principles of Phonology”). Influenced by Ferdinand de Saussure and in turn influencing Roman Jakobson, Trubetskoy redefined the phoneme functionally as the smallest distinctive unit within the structure of a given language, and he further broke these phonemes into their distinctive features.

      Trubetskoy was the son of a Russian prince and professor of philosophy. In 1913, after obtaining his degree from Moscow University, Trubetskoy enrolled at the University of Leipzig. He taught at Moscow University and at the universities of Rostov and Sofia. In 1922 he was appointed professor of Slavic Philology at the University of Vienna. The Nazi occupation of Vienna contributed to Trubetskoy's death: he suffered a severe heart attack after being persecuted for having published an article critical of racist theory.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Trubetskoy , Nikolay (Sergeyevich) — born April 16, 1890, Moscow, Russia died June 25, 1938, Vienna, Austria Russian linguist. Born into a family of scholars, he held professorships in Russia and (from 1922) at the University of Vienna. One of the founders of the Prague school of… …   Universalium

  • Trubetskoy family — Russian noble family influential in the 19th century. One of its members, Sergey Petrovich Trubetskoy (1790–1860), was a leader in the Decembrist revolt. Other notable members included the religious philosopher brothers Sergey Trubetskoy… …   Universalium

  • Sergeyevich — (as used in expressions) Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Prokofiev Sergey Sergeyevich Pushkin Aleksandr Sergeyevich Trubetskoy Nikolay Sergeyevich Turgenev Ivan Sergeyevich Stanislavsky Konstantin Sergeyevich… …   Universalium

  • Nikolay — (as used in expressions) Nikolay Nikolayevich Bukharin Nikolay Ivanovich Bulganin Nikolay Aleksandrovich Chernyshevsky Nikolay Gavrilovich Danilevsky Nikolay Yakovlevich Giers Nikolay Karlovich Gogol Nikolay Vasilyevich Ignatyev Nikolay Pavlovich …   Universalium

  • Trubetskoy — (English), Трубецкой (Russian), Trubiacki (Belarusian), Trubecki (Polish), Trubetsky (Ruthenian), Трубецький (Ukrainian), Troubetzkoy (French), Trubezkoi or Trubetzkoy (German), is a Ruthenian Gediminid gentry family of Black Ruthenian stock,… …   Wikipedia

  • linguistics — /ling gwis tiks/, n. (used with a sing. v.) the science of language, including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and historical linguistics. [1850 55; see LINGUISTIC, ICS] * * * Study of the nature and structure of… …   Universalium

  • Sergei Petrovich Troubetzkoy — Prince Sergei Petrovich Trubestkoy (29 August 1790 – 22 November 1860) was one of the organizers of the Decembrist movement. Close to Nikita Mikhailovich Muravyov in his views, he was declared the group s leader on the eve of the December 26… …   Wikipedia

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