This collection contains the professional papers of linguist Charles F. Hockett. Included are research materials consisting of field notes and notebooks, correspondence, published and unpublished writings, annotated copies of other scholars' work, a few drawings, photographs, and sound recordings.
Scope and Content Note:
This collection contains the professional papers of linguist Charles F. Hockett. Included are research materials consisting of field notes and notebooks, correspondence, published and unpublished writings, annotated copies of other scholars' work, a few drawings, photographs, and sound recordings.
The materials in this collection document Hockett's career as a structural linguist, and provides glimpses into his military service and his passion for music. Hockett's writings and notes, which comprise the majority of the materials in the collection, demonstrate his contributions to the field of linguistics.
Charles Francis Hockett was a linguist best known for his contribution to structural linguistics. Strongly influenced by the work of Leonard Bloomfield, he was "widely considered Bloomfield's chief disciple, and the most prominent explicator and elaborator of Bloomfield's works" (Gair 7). While he primarily focused on Algonquian languages, Hockett also studied Chinese, Fijian, and English.
Hockett was born in Columbus, Ohio on January 17, 1916 to Homer and Amy Hockett. He matriculated at Ohio State University in 1932 and graduated in 1936 with a BA and MA in ancient history. He then went on to study at Yale where he received his PhD in 1939. Afterward, he completed two years of postdoctoral study and had the opportunity to work with Leonard Bloomfield directly.
Drafted into the US Army in 1942, Hockett prepared language-training materials, language guides, and dictionaries for military personnel. He was eventually promoted to Captain and left the military in 1946 when he became a professor of linguistics at Cornell University. In 1957 he joined the Department of Anthropology. Hockett stayed at Cornell until 1982 when he retired to emeritus status. He later served as an adjunct professor of linguistics at Rice University.
He died on November 3, 2000.
Sources Consulted
James W. Gair, "Charles F. Hockett," in Biographical Memoirs volume 89. Washington, D.C. : National Academies Press, 2007.
Chronology
1916 -- Born January 17 in Columbus, Ohio
1932 -- Entered Ohio State University at 16
1936 -- Graduated summa cum laude with BA & MA in ancient history
1939 -- Summer of fieldwork in Kickapoo and autumn in Michoacán, Mexico Received PhD in Anthropology from Yale; dissertation based on fieldwork in Potawatomi
1940-1941 -- 2 years of postdoctoral study, including two quarters with Leonard Bloomfield at Chicago, followed by a stay at Michigan
1942 -- Drafted into US Army
1945 -- Dispatched to Tokyo as a first lieutenant to help train U.S. troops in Japanese
1946 -- Began university teaching career as an assistant professor of linguistics in the Division of Modern Languages at Cornell where he was in charge of Chinese and continued to run the Chinese program for 15 years Separated from the army with a terminal leave promotion to captain
1957 -- Become a member of Cornell's Department of Anthropology (later named the Goldwin Smith Professor of Linguistics and Anthropology)
1964 -- President of the Linguistic Society of America
1974 -- Elected to the National Academy of Sciences
1982 -- Retired from Cornell to emeritus status
1983 -- Festschrift written (Agard et al., 1983)
1986 -- Distinguished lecturer of the American Anthropological Association Visiting professor, later adjunct professor of linguistics at Rice University
2000 -- Died on November 3
Selected Bibliography
1939 -- Potawatomi Syntax. Language 15: 235-248.
1944 -- with Zhaoying Fang. Spoken Chinese: Basic Course. Military edition published (without authors' names) as a War Department Education Manual. Civilian Edition. New York: Holt.
1947 -- Peiping phonology. Journal of the American Oriental Society 67: 253-267.
1948 -- Implications of Bloomfield's Algonquian Studies. Language 24: 17-131.
1955 -- A Manual of Phonology. Baltimore: Waverley Press. How to Learn Martian. Astounding Science Fiction 55: 97-106.
1958 -- A Course in Modern Linguistics. New York: Macmillan.
1960 -- The Origin of Speech. Scientific American 203(3): 88-89.
1970 -- A Leonard Bloomfield Anthology. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
1973 -- Man's Place in Nature. New York: McGraw-Hill.
1987 -- Refurbishing our Foundations: Elementary Linguistics from an Advanced Point of View. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
1997 -- Approaches to Syntax. Lingua 100: 151-170.
Related Collections:
National Anthropological Archives Manuscript 7402. Letters to Charles Hockett regarding Algonquian linguistics 1937-1938.
National Anthropological Archives Manuscript 2009-15. May Mayko Ebihara conducted this oral history interview with Hockett on August 25, 1981 as part of a larger oral history project with anthropologists.
For additional Hockett correspondence, see:
C. F. Voegelin Papers, American Philosophical Society.
Henry Lee Smith Papers, 1935-1972 (bulk 1956-1972), University Archives, State University of New York at Buffalo.
Provenance:
These papers were donated to the National Anthropological Archives by Charles Hockett's daughter, Rachel Hockett.
Restrictions:
The Charles F. Hockett Papers are open for research.
Contents: Early historical record of words in various languages. 191 pages. (2 copies). Archaic times in Asia Minor and vicinity, including appendix to manuscript, 244 pages; (After the last ice period). History of the western alphabets, 29 pages. 12 maps (miscellaneous) and 4 photoengravings from The Mid-Pacific magazine, no date. (Hawaiian, Samoan, Maori, and Fiji Id. types.
This manuscript may or may not be complete. The date and name of author do not appear.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 4072
Local Note:
May be by J.N.B. Hewitt. H. Landar noted (3/66) that some material in # 410 (a part from the Lutuamian-Shahaptian material) appears to be akin to this-MCB.
Gatschet, Albert S. (Albert Samuel), 1832-1907 Search this
Extent:
11 Pages
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Date:
September, 25, 1898
Scope and Contents:
Requests that he examine them with a view to determining whether or not they are from a common origin. The words belong to distinct and independent stocks, west of the Rockies, but the stock names are withheld in order that an unbiased opinion may be reached. Also letter of transmittal, 1 page.
Consists of numerous slips of various sizes- apparently a comparative study. Includes Asiatic, European, etc, as well as Chinese symbols with German equivalents ? Unarranged. Looks worthless- MCB, 1956.
Also a new phonetic alphabet consisting of geometrical figures based upon this analysis.
Local Numbers:
NAA MS 3095
Local Note:
November 30, 1928. Original manuscript returned to author at his request, and manuscript under same title, but with changes and corrections, consisting of 48 pages substituted. (See correspondence).
