Knut Bergsland facts for kids
Knut Bergsland (born March 7, 1914 – died July 9, 1998) was a Norwegian language expert, also known as a linguist. He taught as a professor at the University of Oslo from 1947 to 1981. He made very important discoveries about Uralic languages, especially Sami, and also Eskaleut languages.
His Life and Studies
Knut Bergsland was born in Kristiania (now Oslo) in 1914. His father was Einar Christian Bergsland, an engineer. Knut also had a brother named Einar Bergsland, who was involved in sports.
Knut finished high school in 1932. After that, he started studying at the University of Oslo. He also spent time studying in Paris, France, from 1935 to 1936.
He earned his first university degree in 1940. He had focused on Latin, an ancient language. However, he soon became very interested in the Sámi languages.
Work on Sami Languages
Knut Bergsland's first big work was a grammar book about the Southern Sami language. This book, called Røros-lappisk grammatikk, came out in 1946. A grammar book explains the rules of a language. This book was so good that it earned him a special degree called a Doctor of Philosophy (dr.philos.). Even today, his book is still the main guide for the Southern Sami language.
Professor and Further Research
In 1947, Bergsland became a professor at the University of Oslo. He taught about Uralic languages, which include Sami languages. He took over from another famous linguist, Konrad Nielsen.
He kept working on Sami languages. But he also started important research on Eskaleut languages. These languages are spoken by people in the Arctic regions, like Greenland and Alaska.
He wrote a historical grammar for Kalaallisut, which is a language spoken in Greenland. Later, he created a dictionary and a grammar book for the Aleut language. Aleut is spoken by the Aleut people in Alaska.
Knut Bergsland became interested in these languages after visiting other universities. He went to the University of Copenhagen in 1948. Then he visited Indiana University in the United States from 1949 to 1950.
Even after he retired from being a professor in 1981, he continued to study the Aleut language. His last major works were an Aleut dictionary (published in 1994), an Aleut grammar book (1997), and a book about ancient Aleut names (1998).
Knut Bergsland passed away in July 1998. He also received an honorary degree from the University of Helsinki in Finland, which is a special award given by a university.
