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Biography of Manfred Sandmann

Manfred Sandmann was a Lecturer of French at the University of Glasgow from 1938 until 1946 and graduated DLitt in 1949.

Born in 1906, in Susz, northern Poland, Sandmann attended Universities in Poland (Gdańsk) and Germany (Jena and Bonn). He received his DPhil from Bonn in 1928 under Professor Wilhelm Meyer-Lübke, and taught in Danzig (1929-1932), and Centro de Estudios Históricos (Center for Historical Studies) in Madrid in the service of Ramón Menéndez Pidal, the founder of the Center.

In 1936, Sandmann came to the UK where he was appointed Lecturer Bedford College, before being appointed assistant lecturer at the French Department of the University of Glasgow by Professor Alan Boase in September 1938. He was later appointed Lecturer in 1944, and became a close friend of Professor Boase. Sandmann obtained an MA from the University of Edinburgh in 1947, and went on to graduate DLitt from the University of Glasgow on 5 November 1949 for his thesis Subject and predicate.

Sandmann accepted posts at the universities of Edinburgh (Lecturer of Romance Philology, 1946), West Indies, Jamaica, (Professor of Modern Languages, 1950), and finally Berkeley (Professor of French and Romance Philology, 1960), where he became an Emeritus Professor in 1973.

Throughout his career, Sandmann's main focus of research was on the subject area of syntax, on which he published numerous books in various languages, such as Subject and Predicate. A Contribution to the Theory of Syntax.

Sandmann died in 1980, at the age of 74, in Berkeley, California. In 1983, students and friends of his dedicated to him the commemorative publication Le Gai Savoir: Essays in Linguistics, Philology, and Criticism.

Sources

Other Online Resources

Archival Materials

  • C1/1/45 Court Minutes
  • C1/1/53 Court Minutes
  • R14/1 List of Research students and fellows, with index, Feb 1897-Oct 1924
  • SEN 10/87 University Calendar

Summary

Manfred Sandmann
Born 2 June 1906.
Died 12 November 1980.
GU Degree: DLitt, 1949; Arts,
University Link: Graduate, Lecturer, Researcher
Occupation categories: lecturers; linguists; philologists
English snippet: Lecturer of French at the University of Glasgow and PhD graduate in 1949
Record last updated: 15th Oct 2013

Country Associations

Poland Poland, Iława County, Susz
Place of Birth

United States United States, California, Berkeley
Place of Death

England England, London, London

France France, No Region

Germany Germany, Thuringia, Jena

Jamaica Jamaica, Kingston, Mona

Poland Poland, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Gdańsk

Scotland Scotland, Edinburgh, Edinburgh

Spain Spain, Madrid, Madrid

University Connections

University Roles

  • Graduate
  • Lecturer
  • Researcher