Libuše Dušková

Libuše Dušková's interest in the study of languages, and English specifically, goes back to her secondary school years in Česká Třebová. She was a Gymnasium student, with a wide range of hobbies including piano,[1] which she seriously considered studying at the conservatoire after passing the final exams. She was persuaded by her sister Hana to take also private lessons of English, in addition to the foreign languages taught at the Gymnasium: German, Latin and French.

After leaving the grammar school, her day-to-day contact with English intensified, and in 1949 she enrolled at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University to study English in combination with Czech. There, through lectures and seminars given by direct disciples of Vilém Mathesius—Josef Vachek, Ivan Poldauf, Zdeněk Vančura and Bohumil Trnka—she gained a solid knowledge of not only the English and Czech grammatical systems, but also the principles laid out by the Prague School of Linguistics.

She graduated in 1953, in an era when the Communist regime held a tight grip over the country's economic and political system, destroying any chances for her to study English at the postgraduate level. She managed to get a position as a lecturer of English at the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, which set off a thirty-year-long intermezzo before her return in 1985 to the English Department of the Faculty of Arts.[2]

Besides teaching English at the academy's language departments, she steadily and consistently explored the intricacies of English grammar, always considering them against Czech corpus data and from the structuralist and functionalist perspective. Her publications since that period include not only research papers, but also English language coursebooks and practical English grammars, many of which are still popular and in use today.

In 1964, she completed her postgraduate studies, supervised by Professor Bohumil Trnka, and obtained the title of CSc. by defending a dissertation called Příspěvek k otázkám jazykové správnosti v současné angličtině [A contribution to questions of correctness in present-day English].

In 1988, three years after rejoining the English Department at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University, her prolific research culminated in the publishing of a widely acclaimed and, to this day, qualitatively unsurpassed academic grammar – Mluvnice současné angličtiny na pozadí češtiny [A Grammar of Contemporary English with Reference to Czech], the largest Czech corpus-based grammar of English:[3]

"... intended for university students of English, i.e. future teachers, translators, etc. Consequently, it attempts to present language facts in a consistent theoretical framework which draws on domestic linguistic traditions (of English, general linguistic and Czech studies), as well as on English studies abroad. However, the theoretical framework remains largely implicit, being reflected merely in the manner of treatment."[4][5]

In 1989, the fall of the oppressive regime in Czechoslovakia brought recognition to Libuše Dušková for her academic achievements, first in 1990 by the Faculty of Arts granting her the title of Associate Professor (Docent) and the Czech Academy of Sciences the title of DrSc. (Doctor of Sciences), followed by Charles University promoting her to the rank of Full Professor two years later.

Despite her formal retirement in 1996, Libuše Dušková is still an active member of the Department of English Language and ELT Methodology, giving lectures on English grammar and functional syntax in graduate and postgraduate courses, supervising Ph.D. theses, continuing her editorial duties as editor-in-chief of Linguistica Pragensia, and doing research that is widely respected both nationally and internationally:

"Some scholars are content to dig in a narrow field, revisiting again and again the patch of land in which they did their doctoral studies. But the great scholar will continually branch out into new and challenging areas – often ones neglected by others. This is certainly the case with Professor Dušková." – Geoffrey Leech[6]

Libuše Dušková is the only Czech Anglicist whose work is referenced in A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, as well as in Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English.

In addition to her own research activities, she has provided in-depth accounts of careers of the Prague School's key members, and translated into English the School's canonical works, such as Mathesius’ A Functional Analysis of Present Day English on a General Linguistic Basis and Vachek's Dictionary of the Prague School of Linguistics.

A full bibliography of Libuše Dušková's work, covering years 1954–2010, is available as "Publications of Professor Libuše Dušková" IN ... for thy speech bewrayeth thee (A Festschrift for Libuše Dušková). Prague: Karolinum, 2010: 329–350. ISBN 9788073082994.

• Prague Linguistic Circle
• Functional Sentence Perspective

• Janigová, Š. (2015) "Interview with Libuše Dušková". SKASE Journal of Theoretical Linguistics 12 (2): 124–130. ISSN 1336-782X.
• Malá, M. & P. Šaldová (2015) "Libuše Dušková — janusovská tvář české anglistické jazykovědy" [Libuše Dušková — The Janus Face of Czech English Linguistics]. Časopis pro moderní filologii 97 (2): 229–231. ISSN 2336-6591.
• Čermák, J. (2005) "Libuše Dušková, or living to the letter". Linguistica Pragensia 15 (1): 35–38. ISSN 0862-8432.
• Hladký, J. (2000) "Jubileum profesorky Libuše Duškové" [An Important Jubilee of Professor Libuše Dušková]. Časopis pro moderní filologii 82 (2): 125–127. ISSN 0862-8459.
• Klégr, A. (2000) "Libuše Dušková, or so much to do". Linguistica Pragensia 10 (2): 94–96. ISSN 0862-8432.
• Klégr, A. (1999) "In Search of the System in the Teeth of the System" IN Studies in the English Language — Part 2. Prague: Karolinum, pp. 347–354. ISBN 8071846139.
• Vachek, J. (1994) Vzpomínky českého anglisty [Reminiscences of a Czech Anglicist]. Jinočany: H&H. ISBN 8085787725.

• Departmental Page for Libuše Dušková, Charles University