Linguists
500 people
Ancient 7
A
Acharya Pingala
Ancient inventor of binary numbers, combinatorics, and matrix rules.
A
Aristophanes of Byzantium
third-century BC Greek literary scholar and grammarian in Alexandria
D
Didymus Chalcenterus
Greek scholar and grammarian (c.63 BC–c.AD 10)
H
Hesychius of Alexandria
5th/6th century Greek philologist and lexicographer
Mesrop Mashtots
Armenian theologian and linguist (362–440)
Xu Shen
Chinese author of Shuowen Jiezi
Yang Xiong
Chinese linguist, poet and writer (53 BCE – 18 CE)
Medieval 25
A
Ahmad ibn Arabshah
Arab writer
Al-Biruni
11th-century Persian scholar and polymath (973–1048)
Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi
Iraqi lexicographer, philologist and poet (718 – 786 CE)
Al-Zamakhshari
Persian scholar
B
Bhartṛhari
Indian linguist, poet and writer
Dante Alighieri
Florentine poet, writer, and philosopher (c. 1265–1321)
Fujiwara no Teika
poet and court noble (1162–1241)
Geoffrey Chaucer
14th century English poet and author (1343–1400)
Gerard of Cremona
Italian translator and astrologer (c. 1114 – 1187)
G
Gottschalk of Orbais
German theologian
Henry Suso
German Dominican friar and mystic
Jan Hus
Czech theologian, philosopher and preacher (1369-1415)
J
John Tzetzes
Byzantine poet and writer (c.1110–1180)
K
Kumārila Bhaṭṭa
Master alchemist who documented rasayana (mercurial processing) and metal purifications.
Kūkai
Japanese Buddhist monk and calligrapher, the founder of the Shingon school (774–835)
Mahmud al-Kashgari
Turkic scholar and lexicographer
Panini
ancient philologist who standardized classical Sanskrit through grammatical rules
Paulinus II of Aquileia
Patriarch of Aquileia and saint
Peter Abelard
French scholastic philosopher, theologian and preeminent logician (c.1079-1142)
S
Samuel ibn Naghrillah
Spanish poet, vizier, and general
Sejong the Great
fourth king of Joseon (Korea), creator of Hangul
Sibawayh
Persian grammarian from Basra (c.760–796)
S
Sidi Boushaki
Algerian theologian, exeget, linguist and sufi
S
Stephanus of Byzantium
6th-century Byzantine grammarian and geographer
Z
Ziryab
9th-century poet and musician
Renaissance 20
Adam Olearius
German writer, scholar and diplomat (1599-1671)
Alexandre de Rhodes
Jesuit missionary from Avignon and Rome (1593-1660)
Ali Qushji
Ottoman astronomer and mathematician
Antonio de Nebrija
Spanish scholar
Conrad Gessner
Swiss physician, bibliographer and naturalist (1516–1565)
Fausto Veranzio
Humanist and bishop
George Buchanan
Scottish historian and humanist scholar (1506-1582)
George Chapman
16th/17th-century English dramatist, poet, and translator
Guillaume Postel
French linguist, astronomer, diplomat and professor (1510–1581)
Hans Tausen
Danish religious reformer
John Amos Comenius
Czech teacher, educator, philosopher and writer (1592-1670)
Joseph of Anchieta
Spanish Jesuit missionary (1534-1597)
João de Barros
Portuguese historian (1496 – 1570)
Leon Battista Alberti
Italian architect and writer (1404-1472)
Luis de León
Spanish poet and Augustinian friar (1527-1591)
Mikael Agricola
Finnish clergyman and de facto founder of literary Finnish
Rudolph Goclenius
German philosopher (1547-1628)
Thomas Harriot
British scientist (*~1560 – †1621)
William Caxton
English merchant, diplomat, writer and printer
William Tyndale
English Bible translator and reformer
Enlightenment 84
Abbé Delille
French priest and poet (1738-1813)
Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron
French orientalist (1731–1805)
Adamantios Korais
Greek humanist scholar (1748–1833)
Albert Gallatin
Swiss and American politician, diplomat and scholar (1761-1849)
Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov
Russian general (1777–1861)
Anton Bernolák
Slovak linguist and roman catholic priest
Athanasius Kircher
German Jesuit scholar (1601 or 1602-1680)
August Wilhelm Schlegel
German poet, translator, critic, and writer (1767–1845)
Bohuslav Balbín
Czech baroque writer, philosopher, historian, linguist, religion writer, educator,...
Charles-François Lebrun, duc de Plaisance
French nobleman, lawyer and statesman (1739–1824)
Denis Fonvizin
Russian writer (1745-1792)
Dimitrie Cantemir
Prince of Moldavia
Dositej Obradović
Serbian writer
Edward Robinson
American biblical scholar (1794-1863)
Ernst Moritz Arndt
German historian, writer and politician (1769-1860)
Ferenc Kazinczy
Hungarian linguist and writer (1759-1831)
František Palacký
Czech philosopher, historian, publicist and writer (1798-1876)
František Čelakovský
Czech poet, lexicographer, linguist, literature historian, publicist, professor,...
Franz Bopp
German linguist (1791-1861)
Friedrich August Wolf
German philologist
Friedrich Christian Diez
German philologist (1794–1876)
Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock
German poet, writer and linguist
Gavrila Derzhavin
Russian poet
Georg Friedrich Grotefend
German epigraphist and philologist
Gheorghe Asachi
Moldavian polymath (1788-1869)
Giuseppe Caspar Mezzofanti
Italian cardinal and hyperpolyglot
Gregory Potyomkin
Russian military leader and politician (1739–1791)
Gu Yanwu
Chinese philologist and geographer (1613–1682)
Hans Egede
missionary to Greenland, Lutheran pastor (1686-1758)
Henry Thomas Colebrooke
English linguist (1765-1837)
Ignacy Krasicki
Polish writer and poet, Catholic archbishop
Innocent of Alaska
Russian bishop and saint
Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov
Russian Minister of Education, one of the founders of the Moscow University (1755)
Ivan Krylov
Russian writer (1769–1844)
Ivan Martinov
Russian botanist and philologist (1771-1833)
Jacob Grimm
German philologist, linguist, jurist and mythologist (1785–1863)
James Bruce
Scottish explorer and botanist (1730–1794)
James Mill
Scottish historian, economist, political theorist and philosopher (1773-1836)
Jean Joseph Marie Amiot
French sinologist and missionary (1718-1793)
J
Jernej Kopitar
Slovenian philologist
J
Johan David Åkerblad
Swedish diplomat and orientalist
Johann Christoph Adelung
German philologist, linguist (1732-1806)
Johann Gottlob Theaenus Schneider
German classicist and naturalist
Johann Mattheson
German composer and theorist (1681-1764)
John Bowring
4th Governor of Hong Kong; hymnwriter; translator (1792-1872)
John Leslie
British mathematician and physicist (1766–1832)
Josef Dobrovský
Czech historian, lexicographer, linguist, literature historian, religion writer,...
Josef Jungmann
Czech linguist and poet
Joseph Priestley
English chemist, theologian, educator, and political theorist (1733–1804)
José Celestino Mutis y Bosio
Spanish mathematician and botanist (1732–1808)
Ján Kollár
Slovak author writing in Czech (1793–1852)
Ludwig Uhland
German poet and politician (1787–1862)
Mikhail Lomonosov
Russian polymath (1711-1765)
Motoori Norinaga
Japanese scholar and philosopher (1730–1801)
Nikolay Karamzin
Russian writer, poet, critic
Noah Webster
American lexicographer, textbook pioneer, English-language spelling reformer, writer,...
Pavel Jozef Šafárik
Slovak poet, linguist, literature historian, publicist, educator, publicist,...
Percy Bysshe Shelley
British Romantic poet (1792–1822)
Pyotr Vyazemsky
leading personality of the Golden Age of Russian poetry (1792–1878)
Rasmus Rask
Danish linguist
Robert Kerr
Scottish scientific writer and translator (1757–1813)
Robert Morrison
British evangelist and first Christian Protestant missionary to China (1782-1834)
Rudolf Erich Raspe
German author and scientist (1736–1794)
Samuel Johnson
English writer and lexicographer (1709–1784)
Sequoyah
Cherokee silversmith and creator of the Cherokee syllabary
Sergey Uvarov
Russian noble who was a classical scholar and formulated the famous doctrine...
Stanisław Staszic
Polish philosopher and writer (1755–1826)
Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani
Prince, writer, monk and author
Sándor Kőrösi Csoma
Hungarian philologist and orientalist (1784-1842)
Thomas Carlyle
Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher (1795–1881)
Thomas Corneille
French dramatist (1625-1709)
Thomas De Quincey
British author (1785-1859)
Thomas Young
English polymath (1773-1829)
Ueda Akinari
Japanese writer (1734–1809)
Valentin Haüy
founder of the first school for the blind
Valentin Vodnik
Slovenian writer
Vasili Bazhenov
Russian neoclassical architect (1737-1799)
Vasily Zhukovsky
Russian poet (1783-1852)
Vuk Karadžić
Serbian philologist and linguist
Walter Scott
Scottish novelist, poet and playwright (1771–1832)
Wilhelm Grimm
German author, philologist, collector of fairy tales and legends (1786–1859)
Wilhelm von Humboldt
Prussian philosopher, government official, diplomat, and educator (1767–1835)
William Jones
Anglo-Welsh philologist and scholar of ancient India (1746–1794)
Yekaterina Dashkova
Russian author and woman of letters (1743-1810)
19th Century 209
Abay Kunanbaiuly
Kazakh poet, philosopher and composer (1845-1904)
Adolf Erman
German Egyptologist and lexicographer (1854-1937)
Ahmad Kasravi
Iranian academic (1890–1946)
Ahmed Shawqi
Egyptian poet and dramatist (1868–1932)
Ajayi Crowther
Yoruba linguist and the first African Anglican bishop in Nigeria (1809-1891)
A
Alan Gardiner
English egyptologist and philologist (1879–1963)
Alcide De Gasperi
Italian politician and founder of the Christian Democratic Party (1881-1954)
Aleksander Brückner
Polish linguist and lexicographer (1856–1939)
Aleksey Shakhmatov
Russian philologist (1864–1920)
Alexander Afanasyev
Russian folklorist, collector of folk tales (1826-1871)
Alexandru Macedonski
Wallachian-born Romanian poet, novelist, dramatist and literary critic (1854-1920)
Alfred Korzybski
Polish-American scholar and philosopher (1879–1950)
Alfred L. Kroeber
American anthropologist (1876–1960)
Ali-Akbar Dehkhoda
lexicographer, linguist and satirist (1879-1959)
Antanas Baranauskas
Lithuanian poet, mathematician and bishop (1835–1902)
Antoine Meillet
French linguist (1866–1936)
Antoni Maria Alcover i Sureda
linguist and writer (1862-1932)
Archibald Sayce
British Assyriologist and linguist (1845–1933)
August Ahlqvist
Finnish poet, scholar, author and literary critic (1826-1889)
August Leskien
German linguist (1840–1916)
August Schleicher
German philologist (1821–1868)
Augusta, Lady Gregory
Irish playwright, poet, folklorist (1852-1932)
Auguste Kerckhoffs
Dutch linguist and cryptographer (1835–1903)
Bartolomé Mitre
President of Argentina (1821-1906)
Bekir Çoban-zade
Crimean Tatar intellectual (1893–1937)
Benjamin Fondane
Romanian-French writer (1898–1944)
Benjamin Lee Whorf
American linguist (1897–1941)
Bernhard Karlgren
Swedish sinologist and linguist (1889–1978)
Branislaw Tarashkyevich
Belarusian public figure, politician, and linguist (1892—1938)
Brian Houghton Hodgson
British diplomat and naturalist (1800/1801–1894)
Butrus al-Bustani
Lebanese writer and scholar (1819–1883)
C. Rajagopalachari
Indian politician and activist (1878–1972)
Carl Brockelmann
German orientalist (1868–1956)
Chao Yuen Ren
Chinese-American linguist and educator (1892–1982)
Charles Bally
Swiss linguist (1865-1947)
C
Charles Kay Ogden
English linguist, philosopher, writer (1889–1957)
Charles Sanders Peirce
American philosopher, logician, mathematician, and scientist (1839-1914)
Charles de Foucauld
French Catholic religious man, explorer and scholar (1858–1916)
Charles-Valentin Alkan
French composer and pianist (1813–1888)
Charlotte Guest
noblewoman; Welsh translator and business woman (1812-1895)
Charlotte Mary Yonge
English writer, editor (1823–1901)
Daniel Jones
British phonetician (1881–1967)
Douglas Hyde
first President of Ireland; historian, poet, and folklorist (1860-1949)
Dámaso Alonso
Spanish poet, philologist, and literary critic
Edgar Quinet
French writer (1803-1875)
Edgar de Wahl
Estonian teacher and linguist (1867–1948)
Edith Stein
Jewish-German Catholic nun, theologian and philosopher (1891–1942)
Edward Sapir
American linguist and anthropologist (1884-1939)
Eemil Nestor Setälä
Finnish politician and linguist (1864–1935)
Eino Leino
Finnish poet and journalist (1878–1926)
Elias Lönnrot
Finnish physician, philologist and collector of traditional Finnish oral poetry (1802-1884)
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda
Russian hebrew linguist, grammarian, journalist, lexicographer, newspaper editor and...
Elise Richter
Austrian philologist, scholar of Romance languages, and university teacher, Holocaust...
Erich Auerbach
German philologist (1892-1957)
Eugène Burnouf
French scholar and orientalist (1801–1852)
Fan S. Noli
Albanian politician (1882-1965)
Ferdinand Freiligrath
German poet
Ferdinand de Saussure
Swiss linguist and philosopher (1857–1913)
Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski
Polish explorer and writer (1878–1945)
Fran Levstik
Slovene writer, political activist, playwright and critic (1831-1887)
France Bevk
Slovene writer (1890-1970)
Franz Boas
German-American anthropologist
Franz Miklosich
Austrian member of Empire parliament (Austria empire), lawyer and university educator...
Friedrich Max Müller
German-born British philologist, orientalist and indologist (1823–1900)
George Abraham Grierson
Irish linguistic scholar and civil servant (1851–1941)
George Borrow
English author (1803–1881)
George Coșbuc
Romanian poet, translator, teacher and journalist (1866-1918)
Georges Dumézil
French philologist (1898-1986)
Gerhard Rohlfs
German linguist (1892-1986)
Gertrude Bell
British traveller, writer, mountaineer, politician, archaeologist and spy (1868–1926)
Giuseppe Peano
Italian mathematician (1858–1932)
Graciliano Ramos
Brazilian writer and mayor (1892-1953)
Graziadio Isaia Ascoli
Italian linguist (1829–1907)
Gustaf John Ramstedt
Finnish linguist and diplomat (1873–1950)
H. L. Mencken
American journalist and writer (1880–1956)
Harriet Martineau
English writer and sociologist (1802–1876)
Helen Keller
American deafblind author, political activist, lecturer, scholar (1880-1968)
Henry Sweet
British linguist (1845–1912)
H
Henry Watson Fowler
British lexicographer and linguist (1858–1933)
Hermann Grassmann
German polymath, linguist and mathematician (1809–1877)
Hermann Paul
German philologist (1846–1921)
H
Holger Pedersen
Danish linguist (1867-1953)
Hrachia Adjarian
Armenian scientist in the field of linguistics (1876-1953)
Hugh MacDiarmid
Scottish poet, pen name of Christopher Murray Grieve (1892–1978)
Hugo Schuchardt
German linguist (1842-1927)
Hugo Winckler
German archaeologist (1863–1913)
I. A. Richards
English literary critic and rhetorician (1893–1979)
Ignaz Goldziher
Hungarian orientalist, scholar (1850-1921)
Ion Heliade Rădulescu
Academic, Romantic and Classicist poet, essayist, memoirist, short story writer,...
Ion Luca Caragiale
Romanian playwright, writer and poet (1852-1912)
Ivan Mažuranić
Croatian writer and politician (1814-1890)
Ivan Olbracht
Czech politician, publicist, politic writer, publicist, bookwriter and writer (1882–1952)
Ivan Puliui
Ukrainian physicist (1845–1918)
Ivar Andreas Aasen
Norwegian linguist and poet, dubbed the father of Nynorsk (1813 – 1896)
Izmail Sreznevsky
Russian and Ukrainian slavic academic
J. B. Bury
Anglo-Irish historian and classical scholar (1861–1927)
J. R. R. Tolkien
English writer and philologist (1892–1973)
Jakob Hurt
Estonian ethnologist, folklorist and linguist (1839-1907)
James Curtis Hepburn
American physician, educator, and phonologist of Japanese (1815–1911)
James George Frazer
Scottish social anthropologist (1854–1941)
James Legge
Scottish missionary and translator (1815–1897)
James Murray
British lexicographer and philologist, primary editor of the Oxford English Dictionary...
Jan Arnošt Smoler
Sorbian philologist and writer (1816–1884)
Jan Baudouin de Courtenay
Polish linguist and slavist (1845-1929)
Jane Ellen Harrison
British classical scholar, linguist and feminist (1850–1928)
Jaroslav Vrchlický
Czech lyrical poet (1853–1912)
Jean Hersholt
Danish-American actor (1886–1956)
Jean-Jacques Ampère
French philologist (1800–1864)
J
Jerzy Kuryłowicz
Polish linguist (1895–1978)
Johan Huizinga
Dutch cultural historian (1872–1945)
Johann Jakob von Tschudi
Swiss naturalist and explorer (1818–1889)
Johannes Aavik
Estonian philologist and Fennophile (1880–1973)
Johannes Schmidt
German linguist (1843–1901)
John Wesley Powell
American geologist (1834-1902)
Jonas Basanavičius
Lithuanian activist (1851-1927)
Joseph Stalin
leader of the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1953
José Martí
Cuban poet, philosopher and nationalist (1853-1895)
José Rizal
Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath (1861–1896)
Jules Supervielle
French writer (1884–1960)
Julian Tuwim
Polish poet (1894–1953)
Julius Oppert
Franco-German Assyriologist
J
Julius Pokorný
linguist (1887-1970)
János Arany
Hungarian poet, journalist, writer and translator (1817–1882)
Józef Ignacy Kraszewski
Polish novelist (1812–1887)
Karl Brugmann
German linguist (1849–1919)
Karl Gützlaff
German missionary in China (1803-1851)
Karl Richard Lepsius
German archaeologist, egyptologist and librarian (1810-1884)
Karl Verner
Danish linguist (1846–1896)
Kim Tu-bong
Korean linguist and politician (1886–1958?)
Konrad Duden
German philologist (1829-1911)
Konstantin Balmont
Russian poet (1867–1942)
Konstantin Jireček
Czech historian (1854-1918)
L. L. Zamenhof
Polish-Jewish physician and inventor of Esperanto (1859-1917)
L
Lancelot Hogben
British zoologist, statistician, science writer (1895–1975)
L
Leonard Bloomfield
American linguist (1887–1949)
Ljudevit Gaj
Croatian academic, writer and politician (1809–1872)
Louis Couturat
French logician, mathematician, philosopher and linguist (1868–1914)
L
Louis Hjelmslev
Danish linguist (1899-1965)
Louis Lucien Bonaparte
French philologist and politician (1813-1891)
Louis de Beaufront
influence in the development of Ido (1855-1935)
Lucian Blaga
Romanian writer (1895–1961)
Machado de Assis
Brazilian writer (1839–1908)
Maksim Bahdanovič
Belarusian writer (1891–1917)
Marmaduke Pickthall
British Islamic scholar, an English translator of the Qur'an into English (1875–1936)
Matthias Alexander Castrén
Finnish ethnologist and philologist (1813–1852)
Max Brod
Bohemian-Israeli author, composer, and journalist (1884–1968)
Max Nettlau
German anarchist and historian (1865–1944)
Max Vasmer
Russian-German linguist (1886-1962)
Max Weinreich
American/Latvian linguist (1894–1969)
Michel Bréal
French philologist (1832–1915)
Mihail Sadoveanu
Romanian writer, journalist and politician (1880–1961)
Mihály Vörösmarty
Hungarian writer (1800-1855)
Mikhail Bakhtin
Russian intellectual and philosopher (1895–1975)
Mikhail Kuzmin
Russian writer (1872-1936)
Mikhail Petrashevsky
Russian thinker (1821-1866)
Mikhail Pogodin
Russian historian and journalist (1800–1875)
Mohammad-Ali Jamalzadeh
Iranian writer (1892-1997)
Monteiro Lobato
Brazilian writer (1882–1948)
Mori Ōgai
Japanese novelist and army physician (1862-1922)
Nadezhda Mandelstam
Russian writer and educator
Niccolò Tommaseo
Italian linguist (1802-1874)
Nicolae Iorga
Romanian historian, politician, literary critic, memoirist, poet and playwright (1871-1940)
Nikolai Marr
Georgian ethnologist and linguist (1864–1934)
Nikolai Trubetzkoy
Russian linguist (1890-1938)
Nitobe Inazō
Japanese educator, agricultural economist and diplomat (1862–1933)
Oton Župančič
Slovenian poet, writer (1878-1949)
Otto Jespersen
Danish linguist (1860–1943)
Owen Barfield
British philosopher
Palladiy
Russian sinologist (1817–1878)
Panteleimon Kulish
Ukrainian writer, historian, ethnographer, and translator (1819–1897)
Parashqevi Qiriazi
Albanian educational theorist
Paul Pelliot
French sinologist (1878-1945)
Pavel Florensky
Russian Orthodox theologian, priest, philosopher, mathematician, physicist, electrical...
Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav
Slovak poet, dramatist, and translator (1849–1921)
Pedro Salinas
Spanish poet (1891-1951)
Pierre Larousse
French grammarian, lexicographer and encyclopaedist
Pompeu Fabra
Catalan linguist (1868–1948)
Rahul Sankrityayan
Indian Buddhist scholar, polyglot and travel writer (1893–1963); 'Father of Hindi...
Ramón Menéndez Pidal
Spanish philologist (1869-1968)
Richard Francis Burton
British explorer, army officer, writer and scholar (1821–1890)
Roman Jakobson
Russian linguist (1896–1982)
Samuil Marshak
Russian and Soviet poet, playwright, translator, literary critic, screenwriter, author...
Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baronet
British politician (1810-1895)
Stanko Vraz
Slovene-Croatian writer
Stefan George
German poet, editor, and translator (1868–1933)
Stephan Endlicher
Austrian botanist, linguist and numismatist (1804–1849)
Taha Hussein
Egyptian writer and literary critic (1889–1973)
Theodor Nöldeke
German orientalist and scholar (1836–1930)
Thomas Henry Huxley
British biologist and comparative anatomist (1825–1895)
Tin Ujević
Croatian poet (1891–1955)
Vasili Eroshenko
anarchist writer, Esperantist, linguist and teacher (1890–1952)
Vasily Radlov
German-born Russian turkologist and ethnographer (1837-1918)
Viktor Shklovsky
Soviet Jewish writer
Vilhelm Thomsen
Danish linguist (1842-1927)
Vilém Mathesius
Czech linguist, literature historian and science writer (1882-1945)
Vladimir Bogoraz
Russian writer and anthropologist (1865-1936)
Vladimir Dal
Russian lexicographer (1801-1872)
Vladimir Propp
Russian folklorist, philologist and linguist
Wilhelm Meyer-Lübke
Swiss linguist (1861-1936)
Wilhelm Schmidt
German anthropologist, linguist and historian of religion (1868–1954)
William F. Albright
American archaeologist, biblical scholar, philologist, and expert on ceramics (1891-1971)
William James Sidis
American child prodigy (1898-1944)
William Robertson Smith
Scottish orientalist and minister of the Free Church of Scotland (1846–1894)
William Smith
English lexicographer (1813–1893)
Yevgeny Polivanov
Soviet linguist and orientalist (1891–1938)
Émile Coué
French psychologist and pharmacist (1857-1926)
Émile Littré
French lexicographer and philosopher (1801-1881)
Đuro Daničić
Serbian linguist (1825–1882)
Ľudovít Štúr
Slovak poet, philosopher, linguist, publicist, politician and writer (1815–1856)
Modern 155
Adam Zagajewski
Polish poet (1945-2021)
Ahmad Shamloo
Iranian Persian poet, writer, and journalist (1925-2000)
A
Albert Razin
Russian ethnographer and Udmurt language activist
Alejandra Pizarnik
Argentinian poet (1936-1972)
A
Alexander Gode
German-American linguist and translator (1906-1970)
Algirdas Greimas
Lithuanian-French linguist (1917-1992)
A
Alice Kober
American classical scholar (1906-1950)
Alphonse Matejka
Swiss linguist (1902-1999)
Amir Hamzah
Indonesian poet (1911-1946)
Amos Oz
Israeli writer, novelist, journalist and intellectual (1939–2018)
Andrey Zaliznyak
Russian linguist (1935-2017)
André Brink
South African writer (1935–2015)
A
André Martinet
French linguist (1908-1999)
Angela Carter
English novelist (1940–1992)
Ann Bannon
American author
A
Anna Wierzbicka
Polish linguist
Arno Schmidt
German poet (1914–1979)
Arseny Tarkovsky
Soviet poet and translator (1907–1989)
Assia Djebar
French Algerian writer and film director (1936-2015)
Blaže Koneski
Macedonian writer (1921–1993)
Boris Akunin
Russian writer, translation, and historian
Boris Kolker
language teacher, translator
C. George Boeree
American psychologist (1952-2021)
Cesare Pavese
Italian writer, literary critic, and translator (1908–1950)
Charles Berlitz
American linguist (1914–2003)
Claribel Alegría
Nicaraguan writer (1924-2018)
Cristina Peri Rossi
Uruguayan writer (born 1941)
Daniel Everett
American linguist (born 1951)
David Albahar
Serbian writer (1948-2023)
David J. Peterson
American conlanger, writer, and artist (born 1981)
David Mitchell
English novelist (b. 1969)
Delia Grigore
Romanian Romani writer, philologist, academic and Romani rights activist
Dmitriy Petrov
Russian translator, interpreter and television presenter
Dmitry Likhachov
Russian philologist (1906–1999)
Donald Keene
Japanese/American academic (1922–2019)
Edith Pargeter
British writer
Eduardo Mendoza Garriga
Spanish writer
Edwin Morgan
Scottish poet and translator (1920-2010)
Elio Vittorini
Italian writer and novelist (1908–1966)
Erri De Luca
Italian novelist, poet and translator
Eugene Garfield
American information and library scientist (1925–2017)
Eugene Nida
linguist (1914–2011)
Eugenio Coșeriu
Romanian linguist (1921-2002)
Gabriela Adameșteanu
Romanian writer (novelist, essayist, PEN center leader)
Geoffrey Hull
Australian linguist
George Kingsley Zipf
American statistician (1902–1950)
George Lakoff
American linguist
Ghil'ad Zuckermann
Linguist, language revivalist, professor, author, hyperpolyglot
Giorgi Leonidze
Georgian poet, prose writer and literary scholar (1899–1966)
Gregory Bateson
English anthropologist, linguist, semiotician and cyberneticist (1904–1980)
Guillermo Cabrera Infante
Cuban writer
H. C. Artmann
Austrian poet, writer, and translator (1921–2000)
Halldór Laxness
Icelandic author (1902-1998)
Haruki Murakami
Japanese writer (born 1949)
Herta Müller
German-Romanian novelist, poet and essayist (born 1953)
Ian Hancock
British linguist
I
Igor M. Diakonoff
Russian historian and linguist (1915-1999)
Ihor Pavlyuk
Ukrainian writer
J. M. Coetzee
South African and Australian writer and scholar (born 1940)
Jamie Hyneman
American special effects specialist and television host
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Jane Hawking
British author
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Jay Benedict
American actor (1951-2020)
Jean Hyppolite
French philosopher (1907–1968)
Jean-François Lyotard
French philosopher (1924–1998)
Joan Coromines
Catalan lingüist (1905–1997)
John Grinder
American linguist, developer of neuro-linguistic programming
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John Langshaw Austin
English philosopher (1911–1960)
John Searle
American philosopher (1932–2025)
Josef Škvorecký
Czech-Canadian writer and publisher (1924-2012)
Joseph Greenberg
American linguist
Joshua Fishman
American linguist (1926–2015)
Jost Gippert
German linguist
Juan Gelman
Argentine poet (1930-2014)
Julia Kristeva
Bulgarian philosopher, psychoanalyst & academic
Julio Caro
Spanish academic (1914–1995)
Jung Chang
Chinese-British author (born 1952)
Karen Spärck Jones
British computer scientist (1935–2007)
Katarina Frostenson
Swedish poet, member of the Swedish Academy
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Katharine Gun
translator and whistle-blower
K
Kató Lomb
Hungarian interpreter, translator, and author of several books on language learning
Ken Liu
Chinese-American writer
Klaus Ebner
Austrian writer
Krešimir Ćosić
Yugoslav basketball player (1948–1995)
Larry Wall
American computer programmer and author
Leah Goldberg
Israeli poet (1911–2070)
Leszek Engelking
Polish writer and translator (1955-2022)
Lidia Zamenhof
Polish writer, translator, Esperantist and Holocaust victim (1904–1942)
Linda Maria Baros
Romanian writer
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Luce Irigaray
Belgian-born French feminist, philosopher, linguist, psycholinguist, psychoanalyst and...
Lydia Davis
American writer (born 1947)
Marc Okrand
American linguist
Margarita Aliger
Soviet poet, translator, and journalist (1915–1992)
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Marie Smith Jones
last speaker of the Eyak language (1918–2008)
M
Mary Haas
American linguist; studied historical linguistics (1910–1996)
Meena Kandasamy
Indian poet
Michael Everson
American Irish linguist, typesetter and font designer, publisher
Michael Halliday
Australian linguist (1925-2018)
Michael Ventris
British architect and linguist (1922-1956)
Milena Hübschmannová
Czech linguist and Romani scholar (1933–2005)
Milorad Pavić
Serbian writer (1929–2009)
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Mirdza Ķempe
Latvian poet (1907–1974)
Mirza Khazar
Azerbaijani writer, journalist, publisher, radio and television host
Morris Halle
Latvian-American linguist (1923-2018)
M
Morris Swadesh
American linguist (1909–1967)
M
Muhammad Asad
Austrian-born Pakistani writer and social activist (1900–1992)
Muhsin al-Ramli
Iraqi writer and poet
Mustafa Balel
Turkish translator and writer (born 1945)
Nancy Huston
Canadian-born novelist and essayist who writes primarily in French
Natallia Arsiennieva
Belarusian poet (1903-1997)
Niki Karimi
Iranian film director and actress
Noam Chomsky
American linguist and activist (born 1928)
Patanjali
ancient Indian scholar(s) of grammar and linguistics, of yoga, of medical treatises
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Patrick O'Brian
English novelist (1914–2000)
Patrik Ouředník
Czech archivist, poet, literary theorist, translator and bookwriter
P
Paul Ariste
Estonian linguist (1905-1990)
Paul Auster
American novelist, poet, essayist, screenwriter (1947-2024)
P
Paul Grice
British philosopher
Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio
writer from Spain (1927-2019)
Reiner Kunze
German poet, writer, translator, and GDR dissident (born 1933)
Renato Corsetti
Italian Esperantist
Robert Bly
American poet, author, and activist (1926–2021)
Robert van Gulik
Dutch orientalist, diplomat and writer (1910–1967)
Rogier Blokland
Dutch linguist and Professor of Finno-Ugric languages in Uppsala (born 1971)
Salima Ikram
Pakistani egyptologist
Salvatore Quasimodo
Italian writer (1901-1968)
Samuel Beckett
Irish writer (1906–1989)
Sandra Roelofs
First Lady of Georgia
Seamus Heaney
Irish poet, playwright, translator, lecturer (1939–2013)
Sergey Starostin
Russian linguist and philologist (1953–2005)
Serhiy Zhadan
Ukrainian poet
Simin Daneshvar
Iranian writer (1921–2012)
Sirindhorn, Princess Royal
Thai Royal
Stanley Kunitz
American poet (1905-2006)
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Stephen Krashen
American linguist
Steven Pinker
Canadian-American cognitive psychologist, linguist, and author, an advocate of...
Suman Pokhrel
Nepalese poet, lyricist, playwright, translator and artist
Sverker Johansson
Swedish physicist and Wikipedian
Tatiana Proskouriakoff
American Mayanist scholar (1909-1985)
Terence McKenna
American ethnobotanist and mystic (1946–2000)
Thomas Bernhard
Austrian playwright and novelist (1931–1989)
Tomas Tranströmer
Swedish poet, psychologist and translator (1931-2015)
Tommaso Landolfi
Italian author and translator (1908-1979)
Uku Masing
Estonian philosopher and theologian (1909-1985)
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Vasily Abaev
Ossetian Soviet linguist (1900-2001)
Veijo Meri
Finnish writer (1928–2015)
Vyacheslav Ivanov
Soviet linguist (1929-2017)
Vítězslav Nezval
Czech poet, writer and translator (1900–1958)
Willard Van Orman Quine
American philosopher and logician (1900–2000)
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William Labov
American linguist (1927–2024)
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Wolfgang Iser
German philologist (1926–2007)
Yasmina Reza
French actor and writer
Yuri Knorozov
Soviet and Russian mesoamericanist (1922-1999)
Zhou Youguang
Chinese linguist, sinologist (1906–2017)
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Émile Benveniste
French linguist (1902–1976)
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Ğäbdelxäy Äxätef
Soviet Tatar linguist (1927-1986)