Bojan Čop

Čop was born in Ljubljana.[1][2] He became an assistant instructor at the University of Ljubljana's Department of Comparative and General Linguistics in 1949.[2] After the retirement of Karel Oštir in 1959, Čop took over responsibility for lectures in comparative Indo-European grammar with an emphasis on modern trends such as the laryngeal theory, Indo-European dialectology, and Indo-European antiquity. In 1966 Čop became the head of the university's Department of Comparative Linguistics and Eastern Studies. After 1970 he also lectured on the Indo-Uralic theory. Čop received his PhD in 1971 from the University of Ljubljana's Faculty of Arts.[1][2] He was made a full professor in 1972. Čop was made a full member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 1976.[1][2] He retired due to illness in 1990, and died in Ljubljana in 1994.[2][3]

Čop's research initially focused on Indo-European etymology, especially Greek, but he soon turned his attention to ancient languages of Asia Minor.[1] He authored several studies on grammatical and dialectology issues in Indo-European languages. Čop helped establish new directions in comparative linguistics and made significant contributions to the development of the discipline.[1]

Čop's law, which describes the sound change *é.C₁ > aC₁.C₁ in Luwian, is named after Čop.[4][5]