Rebecca Posner

{{Short description|British philologist, linguist and academic}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox academic | honorific_prefix =  | name = Rebecca Posner | honorific_suffix = | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Rebecca Reynolds | birth_date = 17 August 1929 | birth_place = Shotton Colliery, County Durham, England | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|19 July 2018|17 August 1929}} | death_place = | death_cause = | citizenship = | other_names = | occupation = | period = | known_for = | title = | boards =  | spouse = {{marriage|Michael Posner|1953|2006|reason=died}} | partner = | children = Two | parents = | relatives = | awards =  | website = | education = | alma_mater = Somerville College, Oxford | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | school_tradition = | doctoral_advisor = Alfred Ewert | academic_advisors = | influences =  | era = | discipline = Philology and linguistics | sub_discipline = {{hlist|Romance languages|West African languages|creolization}} | workplaces = {{plain list| * Girton College, Cambridge * University of Ghana * University of York * Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford * St Hugh's College, Oxford }} | doctoral_students =  | notable_students = | main_interests = | notable_works = | notable_ideas = | influenced =  | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | footnotes = }} '''Rebecca Posner''' (née '''Reynolds'''; 17 August 1929 – 19 July 2018)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.philsoc.org.uk/|title=Rebecca Posner|publisher=Philological Society|date=28 July 2018|accessdate=28 July 2018}}</ref> was a British philologist, 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 Shotton Colliery, County Durham, England.<ref name="WWW">{{cite web |title=Posner, Prof. Rebecca, (17 Aug. 1929–19 July 2018), Professor of the Romance Languages, University of Oxford, 1978–96, then Emeritus; Fellow, St Hugh's College, Oxford, 1978–96, Hon. Fellow, 1996; Research Associate, Oxford University Centre for Linguistics and Philology, since 1996 |url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U31212 |website=Who Was Who |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=30 April 2021 |language=en |date=1 December 2018}}</ref><ref name="obit G">{{cite news |last1=Green |first1=John |title=Rebecca Posner obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/oct/08/rebecca-posner-obituary |access-date=30 April 2021 |work=The Guardian |date=8 October 2018 |language=en}}</ref> Her father was a miner.<ref name="obit G" /> The family moved to the Midlands in the 1930s, and she was educated at Nuneaton High School for Girls, a grammar school in Nuneaton.<ref name="obit FS">{{cite journal |title=Rebecca Posner (1929–2018) |journal=French Studies |date=1 April 2019 |volume=73 |issue=2 |pages=342–345 |doi=10.1093/fs/knz057}}</ref>

In 1949, Posner won an open exhibition to study modern languages at Somerville College, Oxford.<ref name="obit G" /><ref name="obit FS" /> She specialised in French and comparative linguistics.<ref name="obit FS" /> She graduated with a first class honours Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree:<ref name="shc" /> as per tradition, her BA was promoted to a Master of Arts (MA Oxon) degree.<ref name="WWW" /> She then undertook a postgraduate diploma in comparative philology, for which she was awarded a distinction.<ref name="obit FS" /> She continued her studies at Somerville towards a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree under the supervision of Alfred Ewert<ref name="obit FS" /> and completed her DPhil in 1958.<ref name = shc>[https://www.st-hughs.ox.ac.uk/rebecca-posner-former-fellow-of-the-college-has-died-at-88/ Rebecca Posner, former Fellow of the College, has died at 88] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181014031020/https://www.st-hughs.ox.ac.uk/rebecca-posner-former-fellow-of-the-college-has-died-at-88/ |date=14 October 2018 }}. Published 31 July 2018 by St Hugh's College, Oxford. Retrieved 7 August 2018.</ref> Her thesis was titled "Consonantal dissimilation in the Romance languages".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Posner |first1=Rebecca |title=Consonantal dissimilation in the Romance languages |url=https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.671804 |website=E-Thesis Online Service |publisher=The British Library Board |access-date=30 April 2021 |date=1958}}</ref>

== Academic career == Having completed her doctorate, Posner spent time at the ''Institut de Phonétique'' in Paris and was a post-doctoral fellow at Yale University in the United States.<ref name="obit FS" /> While in the United States, she came under the influence of Yakov Malkiel, the American-Russian etymologist.<ref name="obit RP">{{cite journal |last1=Green |first1=John N. |title=Romance Philology - With No Regrets † Rebecca Posner (17 August 1929-19 July 2018) |journal=Romance Philology |date=September 2018 |volume=72 |issue=2 |pages=147–166 |doi=10.1484/J.RPH.5.116502|s2cid=166242702 }}</ref> In 1960, she was elected a Fellow of Girton College, Cambridge, then an all-girls college of the University of Cambridge.<ref name="obit LH">{{cite journal |last1=Bennett |first1=Wendy |title=Rebecca Posner (17 August 1929-19 July 2018) |journal=Language and History |date=2019 |volume=62 |issue=1 |pages=51–52 |doi=10.1080/17597536.2019.1576452|s2cid=150650640 }}</ref> In 1963, she moved to Ghana, where she had been appointed Professor of French and Head of Modern Languages at the University of Ghana.<ref name="obit LH" /> She had wanted to study West African languages for her doctorate, so this appointment allowed her study these languages, and she also to develop an interest in creolization.<ref name="obit RP" />

In 1965, Posner returned to England and joined the University of York as a senior lecturer.<ref name="obit LH" /> She was later promoted to Reader in Language.<ref name="Who's Who 2017">{{cite web|title=POSNER, Prof. Rebecca|url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U31212|website=Who's Who 2017|publisher=Oxford University Press|accessdate=14 January 2017|date=November 2016}}</ref> During this time, she spent a sabbatical year in the United States as a visiting professor of romance philology at Columbia University, New York (1971–1972).<ref name="WWW" /><ref name="obit LH" />

From 1978 to 1996, Posner was Professor of the Romance Languages at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of St Hugh's College, Oxford. Following her retirement she became professor emeritus of Oxford and an honorary fellow of St Hugh's College.<ref name="WWW" />

She served as president of the Philological Society from 1996 to 2000, and served as vice-president from 2000 until her death.<ref name="WWW" /> 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.<ref name = shc/><ref name="Who's Who 2017" />

==Selected works==

* {{cite book |last1=Posner |first1=Rebecca |title=Consonantal Dissimilation in the Romance Languages |url=https://archive.org/details/consonantaldissi0000posn |url-access=registration |date=1961 |publisher=The Philological Society|oclc= 2312884}} * {{cite book |last1=Posner |first1=Rebecca |title=The Romance Languages |date=1996 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0521236546}}<ref name="Posner1996">{{cite book|author=Rebecca Posner|title=The Romance Languages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FtxywY_6g4UC|date=5 September 1996|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-28139-3}}</ref> * {{cite book |last1=Posner |first1=Rebecca |title=Linguistic Change in French |date=1997 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0198240365}}

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Posner, Rebecca}} Category:1929 births Category:2018 deaths Category:People from Peterlee Category:20th-century British philologists Category:Women philologists Category:Linguists from the United Kingdom Category:British women linguists Category:Romance philologists Category:Fellows of Girton College, Cambridge Category:Academic staff of the University of Ghana Category:Academics of the University of York Category:Fellows of St Hugh's College, Oxford Category:Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford Category:Statutory Professors of the University of Oxford Category:Presidents of the Philological Society