Rebecca Posner

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Rebecca Posner
Born
Rebecca Reynolds

17 August 1929
Shotton Colliery, County Durham, England
Died19 July 2018(2018-07-19) (aged 88)
NationalityBritish
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1953; died 2006)​
ChildrenTwo
Academic background
West African languages
  • creolization
    • Institutions

    Rebecca Posner (née Reynolds; 17 August 1929 – 19 July 2018)

    linguist and academic, who specialized in Romance languages. Having taught at Girton College, Cambridge, the University of Ghana, and the University of York, she was Professor of the Romance Languages at the University of Oxford
    from 1978 to 1996.

    Early life and education

    Posner was born on 17 August 1929 in

    Nuneaton High School for Girls, a grammar school in Nuneaton.[4]

    In 1949, Posner won an

    Master of Arts (MA Oxon) degree.[2] She then undertook a postgraduate diploma in comparative philology, for which she was awarded a distinction.[4] She continued her studies at Somerville towards a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree under the supervision of Alfred Ewert[4] and completed her DPhil in 1958.[5] Her thesis was titled "Consonantal dissimilation in the Romance languages".[6]

    Academic career

    Having completed her doctorate, Posner spent time at the Institut de Phonétique in Paris and was a

    West African languages for her doctorate, so this appointment allowed her study these languages, and she also to develop an interest in creolization.[7]

    In 1965, Posner returned to England and joined the

    visiting professor of romance philology at Columbia University, New York (1971–1972).[2][8]

    From 1978 to 1996, Posner was

    honorary fellow of St Hugh's College.[2]

    She served as president of the Philological Society from 1996 to 2000, and served as vice-president from 2000 until her death.[2] She was the recipient of a festschrift volume edited by two of her former colleagues, John Green and Wendy Ayres-Bennett: Variation and Change in French: essays presented to Rebecca Posner on the occasion of her sixtieth birthday (London, Routledge, 1990).

    Personal life

    In 1953, Rebecca, then Reynolds, married economist Michael Posner (died in 2006). Together they had two children: a son, Christopher, and a daughter, Barbara.[5][9]

    Selected works

    • Posner, Rebecca (1961). Consonantal Dissimilation in the Romance Languages. The Philological Society.
      ISBN 978-0631062608
      .
    • Posner, Rebecca (1996). The Romance Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
      ISBN 978-0521236546.[10]
    • Posner, Rebecca (1997). Linguistic Change in French. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
      ISBN 978-0198240365
      .

    References

    1. ^ "Rebecca Posner". Philological Society. 28 July 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
    2. ^
      Who Was Who
      . Oxford University Press. 1 December 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
    3. ^ a b c Green, John (8 October 2018). "Rebecca Posner obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
    4. ^
      doi:10.1093/fs/knz057
      .
    5. ^ a b c Rebecca Posner, former Fellow of the College, has died at 88. Published 31 July 2018 by St Hugh's College, Oxford. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
    6. ^ Posner, Rebecca (1958). "Consonantal dissimilation in the Romance languages". E-Thesis Online Service. The British Library Board. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
    7. ^
      S2CID 166242702
      .
    8. ^
      S2CID 150650640
      .
    9. ^ a b "POSNER, Prof. Rebecca". Who's Who 2017. Oxford University Press. November 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
    10. ISBN 978-0-521-28139-3
      .
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