13 Facts About Otto Jespersen

Otto Jespersen entered the University of Copenhagen in 1877 when he was 17, initially studying law but not forgetting his language studies.

Otto Jespersen supported himself during his studies through part-time work as a schoolteacher and as a shorthand reporter in the Danish parliament.

In June 1886, Jespersen became a member of the International Phonetic Association, then called The Phonetic Teachers' Association.

Otto Jespersen devised a system, named Dania, for the phonetic transcription of Danish, which has remained in use for philological, dialectological and lexicographic work in Danish.

Otto Jespersen developed a whole system of types of stress and described it in detail: both syntactic principles of stress reduction, of compound stress, of value stress, and so on.

Otto Jespersen is most widely recognized for some of his books.

Otto Jespersen was a fantastically original, broad, and deep thinker.

Otto Jespersen's autobiography was first published in English translation as recently as 1995.

Otto Jespersen was an important figure in the international language movement.

Otto Jespersen was an early supporter of the Esperanto offshoot Ido and in 1928 published his own project, Novial.

Otto Jespersen received honorary degrees from Columbia University in New York, the University of St Andrews in Scotland, and the Sorbonne in Paris.

Otto Jespersen was one of the first six international scholars to be elected as honorary members of the Linguistic Society of America.

Otto Jespersen was elected a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1931.