{{Short description|American linguist (born 1941)}} {{Infobox person |name = E. Wayles Browne |image = WaylesBrown.jpg |image_size = |caption = |birth_date = {{birth date and age|1941|07|19|mf=y}} |birth_place = Washington, D.C. |death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> |known_for = Slavic languages<br />General linguistics<br />Translation |education = Harvard University<br />MIT<br />University of Zagreb |employer = Cornell University |occupation = Professor emeritus of linguistics, translator }}
'''Eppes Wayles Browne III''' (born July 19, 1941)<ref>"United States Public Records, 1970-2009", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QJJG-7PVV : 14 June 2020), Eppes Wayle Browne, 1981-2007.</ref> is a linguist, Slavist, translator and editor of Slavic journals in several countries. Browne is a professor emeritus of linguistics<ref>{{cite web|last=Department of Linguistics|first=Cornell University|title=Wayles Browne|url=https://linguistics.cornell.edu/people/Browne.cfm|publisher=Cornell University|accessdate=24 December 2012}}</ref> at Cornell University, with research interests in Slavic and general linguistics, notably the study and analysis of Serbo-Croatian, where he is one of the leading Western scholars.
==Biography== Browne was born in Washington, DC, the son of Eppes Wayles Browne Jr. (1909–1980) and Virginia (née Senders) Browne (1909–2011).<ref>{{cite news |title=Miss Virginia Senders Weds Mr. Eppes Wayles Browne |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-shreveport-journal-wayles-browne-bo/131332898/ |work=The Shreveport Journal |date=December 1, 1934 |location=Shreveport, LA |page=5 |access-date=September 6, 2023 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Births |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-wayles-browne-born-1941/131332876/ |work=The Times |date=July 21, 1941 |location=Shreveport, LA |page=5 |access-date=September 6, 2023 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}}</ref> Browne's Slavic studies began with his undergraduate career at Harvard University (A.B., 1963, in linguistics and Slavic languages), and continued with graduate work at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Novi Sad (then in SFR Yugoslavia), culminating in a Ph.D. degree (dated 1980, defended in January 1981, and awarded in 1983) from the University of Zagreb.<ref>[http://mjesec.ffzg.hr/webpac/?rm=results&last_PAGER_offset=0&v2=Browne&f2=PersonalName&show_full=1&persist_search=10,11&path=ffsf-m-libri%232748 Catalogue of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Zagreb]</ref> He studied with some of the finest linguists and Slavicists of the 20th century, including Roman Jakobson, Horace G. Lunt, Morris Halle, and Pavle Ivić. His dissertation, directed by {{ill|Rudolf Filipović|hr}},<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://linguistlist.org/issues/12/12-1056/|title = LINGUIST List 12.1056: Obituary: Rudolf Filipovic|date = 14 April 2001}}</ref> was entitled ''Relativna rečenica u hrvatskom ili srpskom jeziku u poređenju s engleskom situacijom'' ("Relative Clauses in the Croatian or Serbian Language in Comparison with the English Situation") and is one of the first serious attempts to analyze Serbo-Croatian syntax within a generative grammar framework. It was later published in revised form, in 1986, as ''Relative Clauses in Serbo-Croatian'', as part of the Zagreb English–Serbo-Croatian Contrastive Project, by the Institute of Linguistics of University of Zagreb.
Besides his present position at Cornell, where he has taught since 1974, Browne has taught at Brown University and Yale University. He has also held research positions at MIT and at the University of Zagreb.
==Linguistics==
Browne's main interests lie in the syntax of Serbo-Croatian and other South Slavic languages (with particular attention to relative clauses, clitic placement rules, and complement clauses) and in the contributions data from these languages can make to theoretical work in general linguistics. He has also published works on the topic of the Balkan language area, Slavic historical grammar, comparative and contrastive grammar, and pedagogical grammar.
He served as the co-editor of ''Annual Workshop on Formal Approaches to Slavic Linguistics: the Cornell Meeting, 1995'' (Michigan Slavic Publications, 1997), and has authored more than 65 articles and 20 reviews, covering topics not just in Serbo-Croatian and South Slavic linguistics but also in Slavic linguistics more generally (including work on Russian and on Czech) and in linguistic theory.
As part of a team of scholars, described by the Slavic and Balkan languages professor Christina Kramer as "each recognized internationally in his language area",<ref>{{cite journal |author=Christina E. Kramer |authorlink=Christina Kramer |date=Autumn 1995 |title=Review of ''The Slavonic Languages''. |journal=The Slavic and East European Journal |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=473–474 |doi=10.2307/308267 |publisher=American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages |last2=Comrie |first2=Bernard |last3=Corbett |first3=Greville G. |jstor=308267 }}</ref> he wrote the widely cited definitive sketch of Serbo-Croatian grammar: "Serbo-Croat" (pp. 306–387 in ''The Slavonic Languages'', B. Comrie and G. Corbett, eds., Routledge Publishers, 1993). Several reviewers commented favorably on Browne's contribution: Roland Sussex considered it superior to an independent monograph on the same language,<ref>{{cite journal |author=Roland Sussex |authorlink=Roland Sussex |date=January 1999 |title=Kordić Snježana. ''Serbo-Croatian'' |journal=The Slavonic and East European Review |volume=77 |issue=1 |pages=142–144 }}</ref> while Edna Andrews wrote in her review of the book's 2002 second edition, "Wayles Browne does an outstanding job ... and his contribution continues to be one of the best in the field."<ref>{{cite journal |author=Edna Andrews |date=Summer 2005 |title=Bernard Comrie and Grenville G. Corbett, eds. ''The Slavonic Languages'' |journal=The Slavic and East European Journal |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=351–352 |doi=10.2307/20058293|jstor=20058293 }}</ref> Browne has also served as linguistics editor for ''The Slavic and East European Journal''.<ref>{{cite journal |author=George Gutsche |date=Winter 1993 |title=Minutes |journal=The Slavic and East European Journal |volume=37 |issue=4 |pages=617–620 |doi=10.2307/308491 |publisher=American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages |jstor=308491 }}</ref>
In the introduction to the recently published book ''A Linguist's Linguist: Studies in South Slavic Linguistics in Honor of E. Wayles Browne'' <ref>{{cite book |title=A Linguist's Linguist: Studies in South Slavic Linguistics in Honor of E. Wayles Browne / edited by Steven Franks, Vrinda Chidambaram, & Brian Joseph |publisher=Slavica Publishers |year=2009 |location=Bloomington, IN |pages = 480 |quote=Introduction (p. 1-13) |isbn = 978-0-89357-364-5 |lccn=2009018477 }}</ref> that "brings together a leading cohort of specialists in South Slavic linguistics to celebrate Wayles Browne's body of works in this area," the editors Steven Franks, Vrinda Chidambaram, and Brian Joseph described Wayles Browne's as "a unique and almost irreplaceable intellectual resource for specialists in Slavic linguistics, working on a myriad of topics in a variety of languages and from a range of theoretical perspectives. He has been a subtle yet persistent force in bringing Slavic puzzles to the attention of the larger world of linguists and in defining the larger significance of these puzzles."<ref>{{cite web |title=Slavica Publishers |url=http://www.slavica.com/ling_fest_browne.html |accessdate=2009-06-29 }}</ref>
In general linguistics, Browne has done research in syntax, morphology, and phonology as well as in relative clauses and other subordinate clauses, interrogatives,<ref>{{cite journal |author=Wayles Browne |date=June 1996 |title=Difficulties in Testing Wh-movement |journal=Suvremena Lingvistika |volume=41–42 |issue=1–2 |pages=81–86 |url=http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=37693}}</ref> clitic rules, word order,<ref>{{cite journal |author=Wayles Browne |year=2003 |title=Razlike u redu riječi u zavisnoj rečenici: kontaktni i distantni položaj veznika da2 i glagola (Unterschiede der Wortstellung im abhängigen Satz: Kontakt- und Distanstellung der Konjunktion da2 zum Verb) |journal=Wiener Slawistischer Almanach |volume=57 |pages=39–44 |url=http://www.slavistik.uni-muenchen.de/forschung/publikation/almanach/sonderbaende/almans57.htm}}</ref> reflexive verbs, and accent rules,<ref>{{cite journal |author=Wayles Browne |year=2002 |title=Open and Closed Accent Types in Nouns in Serbo-Croatian |journal=The Kenneth e. Naylor Memorial Lecture Series in South Slavic Linguistics |issue=3 |url=http://www.ling.ohio-state.edu/~bjoseph/publications/misc65.pdf}}</ref> publishing numerous pieces in such major journals as ''Balkanistica'', ''Folia Slavica'', and ''Linguistic Inquiry''.
His work ''The Cambridge Handbook of Slavic Linguistics'' (along with editor Danko Šipka) won the 2025 AATSEEL award for Best Contribution in Second Language Acquisition.<ref name="aatseel-2025">{{ cite web |url=https://www.aatseel.org/about/prizes/recent-recipients/book-prize-winners-for-2025 |title=Book Prize Winners for 2025 |website=American Association of Teachers of Slavic and Eastern European Languages |publisher=American Association of Teachers of Slavic and Eastern European Languages |access-date=21 February 2026 |language=en }} </ref>
==Translations==
Browne's literary translations are mostly from Serbo-Croatian varieties (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian). He has been the principal English translator and editor for the Bosnian poet Sasha Skenderija since 1993,<ref>{{cite book | last = Skenderija | first = Sasha |author2=Wayles Browne | title = Why the Dwarf Had to be Shot | publisher = Black Buzzard Press | year = 2008 | location = Austin, Texas | pages = 96 | url = http://www.blackbuzzardpress.com/home5.html | isbn = 978-0-938872-39-9 | quote=Afterword (p. 90-92) and About the Translators (p.94) describe history of Skenderija/Browne collaboration.}} </ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Skenderija | first = Saša | title = Rt Dobre Nade | publisher = Tešanj : Centar za kulturu i obrazovanje | year = 2011 | location = Tešanj, Bosnia | pages = 47, [1], 47, [1] p. bilingual (Bosnian English) tête-bêche edition | isbn = 978-9958-792-78-6| oclc = 732098431 }} </ref> and he has also translated the works of Mak Dizdar,<ref>{{cite journal |author=Mak Dizdar |date=July 2007 |title=Dark Blue River |journal=Spirit of Bosnia |issue=3|url=http://www.spiritofbosnia.org/?lang=eng&x=63&y=78 |volume=2}}</ref> Izet Sarajlić,<ref>{{cite journal |author=Wayles Browne |date=March 1994 |title=Poetry from OSIP: Two Bosnian Poets |journal=Bookpress |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=6–7}}</ref> Milorad Pejić<ref>{{cite journal |title=Friends in the Universe|last=Pejić|first=Milorad|journal=Spirit of Bosnia|year=2009|url=http://www.spiritofbosnia.org/volume-4-no-2-2009-april/friends-in-the-universe/|accessdate=2012-12-23}}</ref> and others.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Marko Vesovic |date=April 2008 |title=Grave, Cavern |journal=Spirit of Bosnia |volume=3 |issue=2|url=http://www.spiritofbosnia.org/?lang=eng&x=96&y=101}}</ref> Browne has also translated Croatian scholarly works,<ref>{{cite web |title=Faculty & Student Achievements |work=Cornucopia: Medieval Studies at Cornell |url=https://www.arts.cornell.edu/medieval/Achievements/faculty_news.htm |accessdate=2009-02-11 }}</ref> and translates from or teaches other South Slavic languages, in addition to Polish,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sjikp.us.edu.pl/index.php?Tr=Pub&Ze=1&Dz=PS&WRok=2001&WNrPS=38&Typ=Autor&WTem=960|title = Szkoła Języka i Kultury Polskiej Uniwersystet Śląski}}</ref> Czech,<ref>{{cite journal |author=Anderson, Stephen R. and Wayles Browne |year=1973 |title=On Keeping Exchange Rules in Czech |journal=Papers in Linguistics |volume=6 |issue=1–4 |pages=445–82 |doi=10.1080/08351817309370350}}</ref> Russian, Belarusian,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.belarusianstudies.org/download/NAVINY-Autumn2008.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722220910/http://www.belarusianstudies.org/download/NAVINY-Autumn2008.pdf|url-status=usurped|archive-date=July 22, 2011|title=NAABS Member News}}</ref> Rusyn,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://slavic.osu.edu/events/yr2008/sls2008/program.cfm |title=Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures |website=slavic.osu.edu |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080706132616/http://slavic.osu.edu/events/yr2008/sls2008/program.cfm |archive-date=2008-07-06}} </ref> and Old Church Slavonic.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.arts.cornell.edu/medieval/Program/RussianSt.htm |title=Cornucopia - Medieval Studies at Cornell |website=www.arts.cornell.edu |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517073219/http://www.arts.cornell.edu/medieval/Program/RussianSt.htm |archive-date=2008-05-17}} </ref>
==Personal life and views==
In 1994, Browne and his wife provided accommodation at their home for a student refugee from the Bosnian War, who arrived in the United States as part of a scheme organised by the Fellowship of Reconciliation.<ref>{{cite news |author=Rebecca James |date=February 13, 1994 |title=Bosnian student finds shelter from war; she plans to enroll at Tompkins Cortland Community College |via=LexisNexis |work=The Post-Standard }}</ref> He later criticised the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia for its effect on civilians, while acknowledging, "if somebody is going to intervene militarily, Slobodan Milošević is a very good person to intervene against."<ref>{{cite news |author=Sean Copeland |date=March 31, 1999 |title=Cornell U. community reacts to Kosovo |via=LexisNexis |work=University Wire }}</ref>
==Works==
===Major work in linguistics===
*Browne, W. (1975). Numerous articles. In R. Filipovic (Ed.), ''Contrastive analysis of English and Serbo-Croatian I.'' Zagreb. *Browne, W. (1986). ''Relative Clauses in Serbo-Croatian in Comaparison with English''. Zagreb. *Browne, W. (1990). Turkisms in the Balkans: True and false friends. ''Languages in Contact''. Zagreb. *Browne, W. (1993). Serbo-Croat. In B. Comrie and G. Corbett (Eds.), ''The Slavonic Languages''. London. * {{Cite book |last1=Browne |first1=Wayles |last2=Alt |first2=Theresa |year=2004 |url=http://www.seelrc.org:8080/grammar/pdf/compgrammar_bcs.pdf |title=A Handbook of Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian |publisher=SEELRC}} *Browne, Wayles and Danko Šipka (ed.) (2024), ''The Cambridge Handbook of Slavic Linguistics''. Cambridge Publishing, London.<ref name="cornell-browne">{{ cite web |url=https://linguistics.cornell.edu/wayles-browne |title=Wayles Browne |website=Cornell University Department of Linguistics |publisher=Cornell University |access-date=21 February 2026 |language=en }} </ref>
===Selected literary translations===
*"Why the Dwarf Had to be Shot (selection)," with Sasha Skenderija and Aaron Tate, in ''[http://www.absinthenew.com/ Absinthe: New European Writing]'' ([http://www.absinthenew.com/images/Skenderija.pdf Issue 5, March 2006]) *[http://www.spiritofbosnia.org/?lang=eng&x=63&y=78 DARK BLUE RIVER] by Mak Dizdar (2007), [http://www.spiritofbosnia.org/?lang=eng&x=63 ''Spirit of Bosnia''], Vol. 2, No. 3 *[http://www.spiritofbosnia.org/?lang=eng&x=96&y=103 On the One-Way Street, with a Dog], [http://www.spiritofbosnia.org/?lang=eng&x=96&y=104 Picture Postcard], [http://www.spiritofbosnia.org/?lang=eng&x=96&y=105 Common Places], [http://www.spiritofbosnia.org/?lang=eng&x=96&y=106 Wintertime Scene], 2008), Spirit of Bosnia, Vol. 3, No. 2
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==External links== *[https://linguistics.cornell.edu/wayles-browne Wayles Browne], Cornell Linguistics Department *[https://web.archive.org/web/20080211132214/http://linguistlist.org/people/personal/get-personal-page2.cfm?PersonID=22045 Wayles Browne], The LINGUIST List *[http://en.scientificcommons.org/wayles_browne Papers by Wayles Browne], Scientific Commons
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Browne, Wayles}} Category:Translators to English Category:Cornell University faculty Category:Harvard College alumni Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Category:University of Novi Sad alumni Category:Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb alumni Category:1941 births Category:Living people Category:Linguists of Serbo-Croatian