View source for Biography:Elisabeth Leinfellner

{{short description|Austrian linguist}}
{{Infobox scientist
|birth_name              = Elisabeth Leinfellner
|image                  =  Elisabeth Leinfellner Lincoln, Nebraska circa 1983.jpg
|birth_date              = {{birth date|1938|10|14|mf=y}} 
|birth_place             = [[Place:Vienna|Vienna]], Austria
|death_date              =<!-- {{death date|2010|1|4|mf=y}}-->{{Death date and age|2010|01|04|1938|10|14}}
|death_place             = [[Place:Vienna|Vienna]], Austria
|nationality             = Austrian
|field                   = [[Social:Linguistics|Linguistics]]<br>[[Philosophy:Philosophy|Philosophy]]
|work_institutions       =[[Organization:University of Vienna|University of Vienna]]
|alma_mater              = [[Organization:University of Vienna|University of Vienna]]
|religion                =
|doctoral_advisor        =
|doctoral_students       = 
|influences              =
|influenced              = 
|known_for               = [[Social:Linguistics|Linguistics]]<br>[[Philosophy:Philosophy|Philosophy]]
|prizes                  = Austrian Grand Decoration of Honour for Services to the province of Lower Austria for Science and Art
}}
'''Elisebeth Leinfellner''' (October 14, 1938 – January 4, 2010) was professor in [[Social:Linguistics|linguistics]] at the [[Organization:University of Vienna|University of Vienna]], Department of [[Social:Linguistics|Linguistics]].<ref name="arturo">{{cite web|last=Carsetti|first=Arturo|last2=Wuketits|first2=Franz Manfred|title=In Memoriam Elisabeth Leinfellner (1938-2010) and Werner Leinfellner (1921-2010)|url=http://www.univie.ac.at/ivc/leinfellner.pdf}}</ref> She moved to the United States in 1967, and taught at Doane College in Crete, Nebraska, and at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is notable for her contributions to [[Social:Linguistics|linguistics]] and [[Philosophy:Philosophy|philosophy]].<ref name =Nachruf>{{cite web|title=Nachruf auf Univ.-Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Leinfellner 1938 – 2010|url=http://www.alws.at/de/index.php/alws/kondolenzbuch_elisabeth_leinfellner/}}</ref><ref name="Windholz">{{cite book|last=Windholz|first=Sascha and Walter Feigl (Hrsg.)|title=Wissenschaftstheorie, Sprachkritik und Wittgenstein: In memoriam Elisabeth and Werner Leinfellner|year=2011|publisher=ontos Verlag|location=Germany|isbn=978-3-86838-117-7|pages=273|url=https://www.amazon.com/gp/search?index=books&linkCode=qs&keywords=3868381171}}</ref> She received the Austrian Grand Decoration of Honour for services to the province of Lower Austria for Science and Art.<ref name="arturo"/><ref name="Windholz"/>  She co-founded the [[Organization:Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society|Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society]] and [[Organization:International Wittgenstein Symposium|International Wittgenstein Symposium]].<ref name="Windholz"/><ref name="ALWS">{{cite web|title=Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society: General Notes|url=http://www.alws.at/index.php/alws/view/einfuehrung}}</ref>

==Biography==

===Intellectual===

Elisabeth Leinfellner studied linguistics at the [[Organization:University of Vienna|University of Vienna]] and University of Munich and worked as a freelance "copy editor."  She moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, and taught at Doane College in Crete, Nebraska and at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. in 1975, she cofounded the [[Organization:International Wittgenstein Symposium|International Wittgenstein Symposium]] of the [[Organization:Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society|Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society]] (ALWS).<ref name="Windholz"/><ref name = EL>{{cite web|title=Institut für Sprachwissenschaft ao.Univ.Prof. Elisabeth Leinfellner|url=http://www.univie.ac.at/linguistics/personal/leinfellner/}}</ref>

In 1986, she returned to Austria and 1990 she obtained [[Social:Habilitation|habilitation]] qualification at the Institute of Linguistics of the University of Vienna with a thesis on semantic networks and context. From 1994-1997 she served as president of ALWS and was vice president from 1997 to 2010. She was on the editorial committee of the new publication series of the ALWS and the reports of the ALWS.<ref name="Windholz"/><ref name = EL/>

She had visiting professorships at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1992, at the [[Organization:University of Michigan|University of Michigan]] (1997 Max Kade Distinguished Visiting Professor) in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the [[Organization:University of Rome Tor Vergata|University of Rome II]] in 1999.<ref name="Windholz"/><ref name = EL/><ref name =alws>{{cite web|title=Obituary of Univ.-Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Leinfellner 1938 – 2010|url=http://www.alws.at/index.php/alws/kondolenzbuch_elisabeth_leinfellner/}}</ref>

Starting in 1996, she organized for the [[Organization:Indiana University of Pennsylvania|Indiana University of Pennsylvania]] - Honors College with the University of Vienna and sponsored students.<ref name =alws/><ref>{{cite web|title=Erica Shafran, Fulbright to Austria for Linquistics|url=http://www.iup.edu/honors/page.aspx?id=115048}}</ref> In 1999, she became a member of  program committee for the Summer School at the [[Organization:Institute Vienna Circle|Institute Vienna Circle]] of the University of Vienna.<ref name="Windholz"/><ref name = EL/>

===Personal===

In 1960, she married [[Biography:Werner Leinfellner|Werner Leinfellner]] and they had one daughter Ruth. She died in a Vienna hospital on January 4, 2010, and her husband Werner followed her in death three months later on April 6, 2010.<ref name="Windholz"/><ref name="stadler">{{cite web|last=Stadler|first=Friedrich|title=Werner Leinfellner (1921-2010|url=http://www.univie.ac.at/ivc/WLeinfellnerE.pdf}}</ref><ref name="german">{{cite web|title=Nachruf auf Univ.Prof. DDr.h.c. Werner Leinfellner 1921 – 2010|url=http://www.alws.at/de/index.php/alws/kondolenzbuch_werner_leinfellner}}</ref>

==Scientific and philosophical work==

Although she was trained as a linguist, she had deep interests in philosophical questions. Her research interests were both broad and deep including political language, [[Philosophy:Philosophy of language|philosophy of language]] (especially [[Biography:Fritz Mauthner|Fritz Mauthner]] and [[Biography:Ludwig Wittgenstein|Ludwig Wittgenstein]]), semantic networks and [[Cognitive semantics|cognitive semantics]], political and feminist critique of language, [[Philosophy:Rhetoric|rhetoric]] and [[Philosophy:Argumentation theory|argumentation theory]], the application of linguistics to the language of literature, and evolutionary mechanisms of the language development.  In particular, she focused on Ludwig Wittgenstein and the philosopher and writer Fritz Mauthner. However, she also published on causality and language, on [[Biography:Jürgen Habermas|Habermas’]] theory of communicative competence from a linguistic point of view and on William Ockham’s and [[Biography:Franz Brentano|Franz Brentano’s]] work on semantics. Her book on euphemism in political language (''Der Euphemismus in der politischen Sprache'') is particular important. She also drew attention to texts and their meanings as evolutionary systems.<ref name="arturo"/><ref name="Windholz"/><ref name = EL/>

Her research was intertwined with Werner Leinfellner’s and, therefore, it should not come as a surprise that they co-authored publications, most notably a book on ontology, systems theory and semantics (''Ontologie, Systemtheorie und Semantik''). This comprehensive book is an original attempt to connect the traditional philosophical field of [[Philosophy:Ontology|ontology]] with a cognitive-recursive [[Philosophy:Semantics|semantics]]. It reflects their broad knowledge in different academic areas as well as their abilities to synthesize ideas. Their book bridges the gap between ordinary language and the language of theories. It demonstrates that both are governed by the same semantic regularities.<ref name="arturo"/><ref name="Windholz"/>

==Selected publications==

*Elisabeth Leinfellner (1978). ''Der Euphemismus in der politischen Sprache''. (''Euphemism in political language''). Duncker & Humblot, pp.&nbsp;177. {{ISBN|3428025369}}
*Werner and Elisabeth Leinfellner (1978). ''Ontologie, Systemtheorie und Semantik''. (''Ontology system theory and semantics'') Berlin: Duncker and Humblot.
*Elisabeth Leinfellner (1992). ''Semantische Netze und Textzusammenhang''. (''Semantic networks and textual context''). Peter Lang GmbH, pp.&nbsp;549. {{ISBN|3631429401}}
*Elisabeth Leinfellner and [[Biography:Hubert Schleichert|Hubert Schleichert]] (1995): ''Fritz Mauthner. Das Werk eines kritischen Denkers''. (''Fritz Mauthner. The work of a critical thinker''.) Böhlau, Wien u. a. 1995, {{ISBN|3-205-98433-1}}.
*Elisabeth Leinfellner: ''Brückenschlag zwischen den Disziplinen. Fritz Mauthner als Schriftsteller, Kritiker und Kulturtheoretiker''. (''Bridging the gap between the disciplines. Fritz Mauthner, as a writer, critic and cultural theorist''.) Arco-Verlag, Wuppertal 2004, {{ISBN|3-9808410-5-7}}.

==Publications in honor of Elisabeth Leinfellner==

*Sascha Windholz and Walter Feigl (Hrsg.) (2011). ''Wissenschaftstheorie, Sprachkritik und Wittgenstein: In memoriam Elisabeth und Werner Leinfellner'' (''Philosophy of science, linguistic criticism and Wittgenstein: In memoriam of Elisabeth and Werner Leinfellner''). Germany: ontos verlag, pp.&nbsp;273.

== References ==
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{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20131114161932/http://www.alws.at/  Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society]
* [http://www.univie.ac.at/ivc/index_e.htm  Vienna Circle Institute]

{{Social sciences}}
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{{Sourceattribution|Elisabeth Leinfellner}}