Edward Klima

Infobox Person
name = Edward S. Klima


caption =
birthname =
birth_date = birth date|1931|06|21|df=y
birth_place = Cleveland, OH
death_date = death date and age|2008|09|25|1931|06|21|df=y
death_place = San Deigo, CA
death_cause = Complications from brain surgery
education = Dartmouth College, BA, 1953 (Linguistics)
Harvard University, MA, 1955 (Linguistics)
Harvard University, PhD, 1965 (Linguistics)
occupation = Linguist
parents =
spouse = Ursula Bellugi
domesticpartner =
children = 2

Edward S. Klima (June 21, 1931–September 25, 2008) was an eminent linguist who specialized in the study of sign languages. Klima's work was heavily influenced by Noam Chomsky's then-revolutionary theory of the biological basis of linguistics, and applied that analysis to sign languages. [cite news | last = Fox | first = Margalit | date = 2008-10-03 | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/04/us/04klima.html | title = Edward S. Klima, Sign Language Expert, Dies at 77 | work = The New York Times | accessdate = 2008-10-06 ]

Klima, much of whose work was in collaboration with his wife, Ursula Bellugi, was among the first to prove that sign languages are complete languages have complex grammars that have all the features of grammars of spoken spoken languages. Widespread recognition of this fact was one of the catalysts to the cultural changes in and towards the deaf community in favor of encouraging the use sign language, which had often been discouraged in favor of lip reading in the past.

Klima studied linguistics at Dartmouth College, earning his bachelor's degree in 1953. Two years later, he received a masters in the same subject from Harvard University. Starting in 1957, Klima worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under Chomsky. After earning his Ph.D in linguistics from Harvard University in 1965, he joined the linguistics department at the University of California, San Diego. Later he also became an adjunct professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, where his wife is a professor, and director of the Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience (of which Klima acted as associate director).

References