HJELMSLEV, Louis Trolle. Copenhagen 3.10.1899 — Copenhagen 30.5.1965. Danish Linguist (Germanist and General Linguist). Son of the mathematician Johannes Hjelmslev (1873–1950) and Agnes Elisabeth Bohse. From 1917 studies at Copenhagen (Pedersen), M.A. 1923. Then further studies in Prague 1923-24, Paris 1926-27 (Meillet and Vendryes) and Leipzig 1929. Ph.D. 1932. PD of Sammenlignende Sprogvidenskab at Aarhus University 1934-37, then from 1937 Professor of the same at Copenhagen University (succeeding Pedersen), until his death. Married 1925 Vibeke Mackeprang (1899–1991).
Hjelmslev was a theoretician, leader of the Copenhagen school of structural linguistics. He emphasized logic and mathematics, derived his ideas from de Saussure, and called his theory Glossematics. He was a member of the editorial board of the C.P.D.
Publications: Diss. Études baltiques. 11+269+5 p. Copenhagen 1932.
– Much on general linguistics, e.g. Omkring sprogteoriens grundlæggelse. 112 p. Copenhagen 1943, English transl. Prolegomena to a Theory of Language. Baltimore 1953, Russian 1960.
– Essais linguistiques. 1-2. Travaux du Cercle Linguistique de Copenhague 12 & 14. Copenhagen 1959-73.
Sources: *S. Badir, Hjelmslev. P. 2000; *E. Fischer-Jørgensen, Acta Ling. Hafniensia 9, 1965, iii-xxii and *Lex. gramm. 1996, 420f.; J. Rischel, Dansk Biogr. Leksikon online 2023; F.J. Whitfield , Language 42, 1966, 615-619; Wikipedia with further references.
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