Professor Jan Svartvik, Honorary Doctor of Masaryk University, died

Professor Svartvik, born on 18 August 1931, was a world-renowned English scholar and a leading expert in the field of corpus linguistics. His work has had a major influence on the development of modern linguistics, and his grammatical compendia, including "A Grammar of Contemporary English" (1972) and "A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language" (1985), are considered foundational works in the field.

Svartvik worked at Lund University from 1970 to 1995, when he became professor emeritus. Prior to this period he worked at the universities of Uppsala, London, Gothenburg and Providence (USA), where he contributed to the first large-scale corpora of contemporary English.

On 26 March 1998 he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor Honoris Causa in Philological Sciences by Masaryk University in recognition of his significant contribution to the development of English and corpus linguistics. The nomination for the honorary doctorate was submitted by the Faculty of Education of Masaryk University.