William Diver

William Diver (July 20, 1921 – August 31, 1995) was the founder of the Columbia School of Linguistics, named after the university in New York where he taught linguistics from 1955 through 1989, and where he received his Ph.D. in comparative Indo-European linguistics. Although his background lay mainly in the linguistics of ancient languages, Diver’s approach to linguistics was uniquely modern and scientific. His lectures were sprinkled with references to the history and methodology of science. He believed that science is explanation, not description or prediction, and he compared the explanatory power of the Copernican astronomical system with the explanatory weakness of the epicycles of the Ptolemaic system, both of which had equal descriptive and predictive power. He also believed that the purpose of language was chiefly communication, and his linguistic analyses reflected that orientation, along with that of human psychology and physiology. In other words, these orientations helped him to explain why languages take the forms they do.

During Diver’s career, most popular schools of linguistic thought tended towards pure formalism, based on traditional categories and entities, such as the parts of speech and the sentence. While these schools rejected prescriptivism and the idealization of the standard language, Diver stood almost alone in rejecting traditional entities that had no specific function, such as the syllable and the mechanistic interpretation of “government” or “agreement.” He analyzed language as a form of human behavior, rather than as an idealized expression of truth. See article on the Columbia School for more details and successful application of Diver’s methodology.

William Diver was born in Chicago and served in the US Navy during World War II earning the Legion of Merit. He died aged 74 while on a sailing vacation in Nantucket. Some of his works are listed below.