* Charles Hockett; Structural Linguistics Expert

Charles Hockett, 84, an expert in structural linguistics, the field’s chief methodology until it was surpassed by the work of Noam Chomsky. Renowned for his meticulous analyses of languages ranging from Chinese to Fijian and Potawatomi, Hockett was, until his retirement in 1982, the Goldwin Smith Professor of Anthropology and Linguistics at Cornell University. His many books included “A Course in Modern Linguistics,” which was the standard introductory work for nearly two decades. Structural linguistics was closely tied to behavioral psychology and viewed language as a social phenomenon. In the late 1950s, however, Chomsky successfully redirected the course of the field from behavior to biology with the argument that language stems from an innate, universal cognitive faculty. Denouncing the theory, Hockett said it was tearing language from its social context and rendered it sterile. Born in Columbus, Ohio, Hockett entered Ohio State University at the age of 16. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees jointly in 1936. He earned a doctorate from Yale three years later. On Nov. 3 in Ithaca, N.Y.