Jan Svartvik


Jan Lars Svartvik was a Swedish linguist and professor in English. Svartvik's work started an entirely new discipline, forensic linguistics. He was the author of several grammar books on English that were widely used in teaching English in Sweden during his lifetime. One of his research areas was also corpus linguistics.

Early life

Jan Svartvik was born in Torsby, Sweden, 18 August 1931.

Career

Svartvik spent four years at University College, London, starting in 1961. He earned his PhD in 1966 at Uppsala Universitet.
In 1968 Svartvik analysed the statements by Timothy John Evans given to police at Notting Hill police station, England, in the case of an alleged murder by Evans in 1949, who was found guilty and executed but later was found innocent. In "The Evans Statements: A Case for Forensic Linguistics" where Svartvik concluded Evans did not actually give the statements to the police officers as had been stated at the trial, the term forensic linguistics appeared for the first time.
In 1970 Svartvik became professor of English at Lund University, where he remained active until 1990.
The first edition of Engelsk Universitetsgrammatik by Svartvik and Olof Sager was published in 1972. This work remained the standard for Swedish students of English in higher education for years.
Svartvik was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and of the Royal Physiographic Society in the city of Lund.

Death

Jan Svartvik died on 18 June 2024, at the age of 92. His son Jesper Svartvik, is a theologian.

Awards