Dr. Victoria Fromkin

Obituaries of Prof. Victoria Fromkin

1923-2000



LOS ANGELES TIMES

Victoria Fromkin; UCLA Linguist, Vice Chancellor
By MYRNA OLIVER, Times Staff Writer

Victoria A. Fromkin, an internationally known linguistics expert who taught at UCLA for 25 years and became the university's first woman vice chancellor, has died. She was 76.

Fromkin, who co-wrote the best-selling textbook "An Introduction to Language," which has been translated into six languages, died Wednesday in Los Angeles of colon cancer.

Known for her little notebook and careful ear for errors as well as for compiling the recent anthology "Linguistics: An Introduction to Linguistic Theory," Fromkin personally collected more than 12,000 examples of slips of the tongue. While she acknowledged that they were often funny, she gathered them as evidence of how the brain processes language.

The scholar was adept at reeling off spoonerisms, the transposition of sounds named for the Rev. William A. Spooner (1844-1930), the Oxford professor who purportedly said such things as: "You have hissed all my mystery lectures . . . in fact, you have tasted the whole worm" instead of the more sensible, "You have missed all my history lectures . . . in fact, you have wasted the whole term."

Even if she could spark laughter with her material, Fromkin was taken very seriously as an expert on the linguistic significance of speech errors, brain and language, phonetics and psycholinguistics.

Her reach extended far beyond the classroom and lecture platform. She was consulted as an expert on language by news media as well as educators and researchers, and when the questions didn't get asked, she sometimes volunteered the answers anyway. After The Times sparked a debate in 1995 about possible language problems for toddlers raised by nannies who spoke a different tongue, Fromkin fired off a letter to the editor.

"Years of linguistic research show that children will learn any language to which they are exposed before puberty, and that learning or being exposed to a second or third or fourth language will not negatively affect the acquisition of any of them," she reassured readers.

"Children of many countries grow up multilingual. . . . If our children were exposed to a second language through nannies and early in elementary school, they would grow up speaking more than one language properly. Their lives would certainly be enriched."

Fromkin was president of the Linguistic Society of America, chairwoman of the board of governors of the Academy of Aphasia, and an executive board member of the Permanent International Committee of Linguists.

After joining the UCLA linguistics faculty in 1965, she chaired the department from 1973 to 1977 and was dean of the UCLA graduate division from 1979 to 1989.

From 1980 to 1989, Fromkin was vice chancellor of graduate programs, the first woman in the UC system to hold that rank. She was also the first woman president of the Assn. of Graduate Schools in the American Assn. of Universities.

Fromkin came late to linguistics. Born in Passaic, N.J., the former Victoria or "Vicki" Landish studied economics at UC Berkeley. But after she married Jack Fromkin, she became a housewife and mother, raising their son, Mark.

Enrolling at UCLA in the early 1960s, she had no interest in picking up her economics discipline. A professor suggested linguistics, and she earned a master's degree in the subject in 1963 and her doctorate two years later.

Fromkin, who formally retired in the early 1990s but continued her research and writing, earned the UCLA Harvey L. Eby Award for the Art of Teaching and the school's Alumni Assn. Professional Achievement Award.

She is survived by her husband, Jack Fromkin, who has asked that memorial donations be made to the UCLA Foundation for the Mark Fromkin Memorial Fund, c/o Tim Kawahara, UCLA Alumni Assn., James West Alumni Center, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1397.

The Fromkins started the fund, which provides scholarships to underrepresented minority students, in honor of their late son. A memorial service is scheduled Feb. 6 in the UCLA Faculty Center.

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NEW YORK TIMES

Victoria A. Fromkin, an internationally renowned linguist who gathered the flotsam of human discourse -- slips of the tongue, mishearings and other speech errors -- and used it to illuminate the way in which language is organized in the mind, died on Jan. 19 in Los Angeles. She was 76.

The cause was cancer, said officials at the University of California at Los Angeles, where Dr. Fromkin, an emeritus professor of linguistics, had taught since 1965.

In addition to publishing many articles on psycholinguistics, Dr. Fromkin and Robert Rodman wrote ''An Introduction to Language'' (Harcourt Brace), now in its sixth edition and regarded as the seminal undergraduate textbook in the field.

As Dr. Fromkin was gleefully aware, everyday speech contains many a slip 'twixt the brain and the lip. While earlier scholars had noted the theoretical usefulness of these errors, she was the first to gather them in quantity, colleagues said, building a collection of linguistic inadvertencies like spoonerisms (''speech production'' coming out as ''preach seduction''), semantic substitutions (''That's a horse of a different race'') and slips of the ear (''All of the members of the group grew up in Philadelphia'' heard as ''All of the members of the group threw up in Philadelphia'').

To know Dr. Fromkin was to be accustomed to having every verbal lapse transcribed for scientific posterity in a notebook she carried.

Dr. Fromkin used the collection, which grew to more than 10,000 examples, to offer evidence of the unconscious knowledge of language structure that people draw on whenever they speak.

A person who means to say ''bridge of the nose'' but says ''bridge of the neck'' instead, she explained, was furnishing concrete, if unwitting, evidence that the words ''nose'' and ''neck'' are stored near each other in some sort of mental lexicon.

Dr. Fromkin was born Victoria Alexandra Landish in Passaic, N.J., on May 16, 1923. She received a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1944. She married Jack Fromkin in 1948. A son, Mark, died in an automobile accident at age 16.

Returning to school in her late 30's to study linguistics, Dr. Fromkin received a master's degree from U.C.L.A. in 1963 and a Ph.D. from the same institution in 1965. She joined the faculty that year.

From 1980 to 1989, she was vice chancellor of graduate programs at U.C.L.A., one of the first women in the University of California system to hold such a position.

She was a past president of the Linguistic Society of America. Dr. Fromkin is survived by her husband.

''We all produce slips of the tongue,'' Dr. Fromkin wrote in 1980. ''And those of us trying to understand the nature of language and language use are grateful for this fact.''

Illustrations: Photo: In her books and articles, Dr. Victoria A. Fromkin sought to understand how errors in speech were related to the workings of the human mind. (Associated Press, 1984)

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UCLA DAILY BRUIN

Acclaimed linguistics
professor dies at 76
OBITUARY: Fromkin remembered as author,
scholar, administrator

By Neal Narahara
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Both UCLA and the linguistics community lost one of their most distinguished voices early Wednesday morning.

Victoria Fromkin, a professor emeritus who began teaching in UCLA's linguistics department in 1965, and later served as vice-chancellor for Graduate Programs and dean of the Graduate Division, died at 76.

"To me she represented the apotheosis of what a faculty member should be - a wonderful teacher, researcher and a compassionate person," said Raymund Paredes, associate vice-chancellor for academic development.

"She was one of my closest friends, a mentor to me," he added.

As a professor at UCLA, Fromkin was known for working well with both graduate students and undergraduates alike, and was awarded UCLA's Harvey L. Eby Award for the Art of Teaching .

Fromkin was responsible for the creation of the Linguistics 1 introductory class in which more than 300 students regularly enroll.

During her career, Fromkin studied a number of subjects within the field of linguistics, including the brain and language, speech errors, phonetics and psycholinguistics.

"She was fond of quoting 'Language is a window to the mind,'" said Peter Ladefoged, professor emeritus in linguistics and her committee chair during her doctoral candidacy. "The change of language into thoughts was her real area of study."

Fromkin earned her doctorate in linguistics at UCLA in 1965 - 17 years after she graduated with a degree in economics from UC Berkeley. In between earning her degrees, she married, and raised a son. After the death of her son, she established a scholarship fund for underrepresented minority students in his honor.

Fromkin was a groundbreaking scholar taking posts within academia - some of which had never been filled by women before. Soon after receiving her doctorate, Fromkin worked her way into the linguistics department as a professor and became chair of the department from 1974-1978. She went on to administrative jobs as dean of the Graduate Division and was appointed the first woman vice-chancellor in the UC system.

"She did her graduate work at UCLA, and spent her distinguished career here," said Brian Copenhaver, Provost of UCLA's College of Letters and Science. "UCLA is a better university because of her devotion to the university and her excellence as a scholar, teacher and public servant."

Although Fromkin retired in the early '90s, she didn't stop working. Even after she was diagnosed with colon cancer more than two and half years ago, she maintained an active role in the academic community. Colleagues remembered her being fully committed to her work.

"You could be talking to her about anything," Ladefoged said. "And in the middle of the conversation she would whip out a notebook and write down an error you'd just made."

She would later publish them in studies, Ladefoged said. In addition to being highly active at UCLA, Fromkin was one of the country's foremost linguists, having served as president of the Linguistic Society of America, chair of both the Board of Governors of the Academy of Aphasia and Linguistics and the Language Sciences of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Fromkin wrote several books including co-writing a best-selling textbook, "An Introduction to Language." She had just finished work on "Linguistics: An Introduction to Linguistic Theory, " having pushed for chapters to be finished and having made sure she understood every word in it, Ladefoged said.

"She was generous, compassionate, warm, feisty, dynamic, candid and above all, concerned," said Edward Keenan, chair of UCLA's linguistics department, in a statement.

"She became a role model for many of us who don't usually think we need one," Keenan, another of Fromkin's longtime colleagues, added.

She is survived by her husband Dr. Jack Fromkin.

In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations be made to the UCLA Foundation/Mark Fromkin Memorial Fund.

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UCLA TODAY

IN MEMORIAM

Victoria A. Fromkin, a professor emeritus and internationally renowned scholar of linguistics, died Jan. 19 at 76. "The UCLA community has lost a beloved teacher and eminent scholar," said Chancellor Albert Carnesale. "Professor Fromkin's unbounded commitment to her students, to her colleagues and to the welfare of UCLA will remain an inspiration to all who had the privilege of knowing her and learning from her." She compiled a major collection of speech errors and slips of the tongue made in normal conversation and by brain-damaged patients to better understand the mental represeentation of language. She was also senior co-author of a best-selling textbook, "An Introduction to Language." She was elected a member of many prestigious organizations, including the National Academy of Sciences, and received top UCLA awards for her achievements. She was the first woman president of the Association of Graduate Schools in the American Association of Universities. Fromkin served as department chair and dean of the graduate division. She became the first woman to achieve the rank of a UCvice chancellor or higher when she became vice chancellor of graduate programs. She is survived by her husband, Jack. He requests that in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the UCLA Foundation/Mark Fromkin Memorial Fund and sent to Tim Kawahara, UCLA Alumni Association, James West Alumni Center. The fund benefits underrepresented freshmen of exceptional merit with financial need. A memorial service is being planned. Call (310) 825-0634 for details.

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OBITUARY: UCLA LINGUIST VICTORIA A. FROMKIN

Victoria A. Fromkin, an internationally renowned scholar of linguistics and UCLA professor, died Jan. 19 at age 76.

Dr. Fromkin, a professor emeritus, was a scholar in a wide array of fields within linguistics, including the brain and language, the linguistic significance of speech errors, phonetics, and psycholinguistics. She compiled a major collection of speech errors and slips of the tongue produced spontaneously in normal conversation and by brain-damaged patients to better understand the mental representation of language.

Among her many publications, Dr. Fromkin is the senior co-author of the best-selling textbook, "An Introduction to Language," which has been translated into six languages; and editor of the recently published anthology, "Linguistics: An Introduction to Linguistic Theory."

Dr. Fromkin earned her Ph.D. in linguistics from UCLA in 1965, and joined UCLA's faculty in linguistics the same year. She served as department chair from 1973 to 1977, and as dean of the university's graduate division from 1979 to 1989. Her appointment as vice chancellor of graduate programs (1980 to 1989) made her the first woman to achieve the rank of vice chancellor or higher in the University of California system to that time.

"The UCLA community has lost a beloved teacher and eminent scholar," said UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale. "Professor Fromkin's unbounded commitment to her students, to her colleagues, and to the welfare of UCLA will remain an inspiration to all who had the privilege of knowing her and learning from her."

"Victoria Fromkin was a scholar of great distinction, who contributed enormously not only to the field of linguistics, but also to the greatness of UCLA," said Brian Copenhaver, Provost of UCLA's College of Letters and Science. "She did her graduate work at UCLA, and spent her distinguished career here; UCLA is a better university because of her devotion to the university and her excellence as a scholar, teacher and public servant."

"Vicki was respected enormously," said Edward Keenan, chair of UCLA's linguistics department and her long-time colleague. "She was generous, compassionate, warm, feisty, dynamic, candid - and above all, concerned. She became a role model for many of us who don't usually think we need one. Even years after she retired, she told me more useful information about the university than any other single person."

Dr. Fromkin won many honors for her scholarship and teaching. She was elected into the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, became president of the Linguistic Society of America, and chair of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Aphasia. She was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the New York Academy of Science, the Acoustical Society of America, the American Psychological Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She was a recipient of UCLA's Harvey L. Eby Award for the Art of Teaching and the UCLA Alumni Association's Professional Achievement Award. She served as chair of the AAAS' section on linguistics and the language sciences, and was a member of the executive board of the Permanent International Committee of Linguists - the premier international scholarly organization of linguists. In addition, she was the first woman president of the prestigious Association of Graduate Schools in the American Association of Universities. As a scholar, she was invited to lecture at universities throughout the world, including Oxford and Cambridge.

She is survived by her husband, Dr. Jack Fromkin. He requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the UCLA Foundation/Mark Fromkin Memorial Fund, and sent to Tim Kawahara, UCLA Alumni Association, James West Alumni Center, Los Angeles 90095-1397. The fund benefits underrepresented entering freshmen who demonstrate exceptional merit and financial need.

A memorial service for Dr. Fromkin is scheduled for Sunday Feb. 6, from 2-4 p.m., at UCLA's Faculty Center. For more information, please contact the linguistics department at (310) 825-0634.

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