View source for Stephen Wurm

{{Short description|Australian linguist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Use Australian English|date=August 2011}}
{{Hungarian name|Wurm István}}
{{Infobox academic
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| name = Stephen Wurm
| honorific_suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=AUS|AM|FASSA|FAHA|size=100%}}
| image = Stephen Wurm (1922–2001).tif
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| birth_name = Wurm István Adolf
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1922|08|19}}
| birth_place = [[Budapest]], Hungary
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2001|10|24|1922|08|19}}
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| spouse = {{marriage|[[Helen Groger-Wurm]]|1946}}
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| discipline = [[linguistics|Linguist]]
| sub_discipline = <!--academic discipline specialist area – e.g. Sub-atomic research, 20th-century Danish specialist, Pauline research, Arcadian and Ugaritic specialist-->
| workplaces = [[Australian National University]]
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| main_interests = {{ubl|[[Papuan languages]]|[[Turkic languages]]}}
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'''Stephen Adolphe Wurm''' {{Post-nominals|country=AUS|AM|FASSA|FAHA}} ({{langx|hu|Wurm István Adolf}}, {{IPA|hu|ˈvurm ˈiʃtvaːn ˈɒdolf|pron}}; 19 August 1922 – 24 October 2001) was a Hungarian-born Australian linguist.

== Early life ==
Wurm was born in [[Budapest]], the second child to the [[German language|German]]-speaking Adolphe Wurm and the [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]]-speaking Anna Novroczky. He was christened '''Istvan Adolphe Wurm'''. His father died before Stephen was born.

Both of his parents were multilingual, and Wurm showed an interest in languages from an early age. Attending school in [[Vienna]] and travelling to all parts of Europe during his childhood, Wurm spoke roughly nine languages by the time he reached adulthood, a gift he inherited from his father, who spoke 17. Wurm went on to master at least 50 languages.{{sfn|Pawley|2002|pp=1–2}}

==Career==
Wurm grew up [[statelessness|stateless]], unable to take the nationality of either of his parent or of his country of residence, [[Austria]]. That enabled him to avoid military service and attend university. He studied [[Turkic languages]] at the Oriental Institute in Vienna, receiving his doctorate in linguistics and social anthropology in 1944 for a dissertation on [[Uzbek language|Uzbek]].

In 1946, he married fellow student [[Helen Groger-Wurm]], a specialist in African ethnography. He taught [[Altaic languages|Altaic]] linguistics at the [[University of Vienna]] until 1951.

After reading some works by [[Sidney Herbert Ray]], Wurm became interested in [[Papuan languages]] and began a correspondence with [[Arthur Capell]], a lecturer in linguistics at the [[University of Sydney]]. Wurm began teaching himself [[Tok Pisin]] and [[Hiri Motu]] from books and took up a position in London.

In 1954, the Wurms moved to Australia, where Capell had organised for Wurm a post in the Anthropology Department at the [[University of Sydney]]. In 1957, the Wurms moved to [[Canberra]], where Stephen took up a post as Senior Fellow within the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies (RSPAS, now [[Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs]]) at the new [[Australian National University]] (ANU). The same year, the Wurms received [[Australian citizenship]]. From then on, the main focus of Wurm's research was the study of the languages of [[New Guinea]], but he also carried out research on a number of [[Australian Aboriginal languages]].

At the [[Australian National University]], he was Professor of Linguistics from 1968 to 1987. 

== Honours and recognition ==
Wurm was elected fellow of the [[Academy of Social Sciences in Australia]] in 1976<ref>{{cite web |title=Emeritus Professor Stephen Wurm AM |url=https://socialsciences.org.au/academy-fellow/?sId=0032v000033l9YpAAI |access-date=2023-11-24 |website=Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia}}</ref> and of the [[Australian Academy of the Humanities]] in 1977.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Stephen Adolphe Wurm (1922–2001) |url=https://humanities.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/AAH-Obit-Wurm-2001.pdf |access-date=2023-11-24 |website=Australian Academy of the Humanities}}</ref> He was appointed a member of the [[Order of Australia]] in the [[1987 Queen's Birthday Honours (Australia)|1987 Queen's Birthday Honours]], for "service to education, particularly in the field of linguistics".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Professor Stephen Adolphe WURM |url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/881529 |access-date=2023-11-24 |website=Australian Honours Search Facility}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
In tribute to the scholarship of the man, the journal ''[[Oceanic Linguistics]]'' titled an article on Wurm "Linguist Extraordinaire".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Pawley|first=Andrew|author-link=Andrew Pawley|date=2002|title=Stephen Wurm, 1922–2001: Linguist Extraordinaire|journal=[[Oceanic Linguistics]]|volume=41|issue=1|pages=1–14|doi=10.1353/ol.2002.0026|jstor=3623325|s2cid=144577922}}</ref>

In recognition of Wurm's outstanding contribution, the Stephen Wurm Graduate Prize for Pacific Linguistic Studies was inaugurated in 2008.<ref>{{cite web|title=Stephen Wurm Graduate Prize for Pacific Linguistic Studies|url=http://www.anu.edu.au/students/program-administration/prizes/stephen-wurm-graduate-prize-for-pacific-linguistic-studies|website=Australian National University|date=27 October 2014 |access-date=25 May 2018}}</ref>

== Bibliography ==
* {{cite book|last=Wurm|first=Stephen|title=New Guinea Area Languages and Language Study: Papuan languages and the New Guinea linguistic scene|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3fktAAAAMAAJ|year=1975|publisher=Dept. of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University|isbn=9780858831315}}
** Wurm, S.A. editor. ''New Guinea area languages and language study, Vol. 1, Papuan languages and the New Guinea linguistic scene''. C-38. 1975. {{doi|10.15144/PL-C38}}
** Wurm, S.A. editor. ''New Guinea area languages and language study, Vol. 2, Austronesian languages''. C-39. 1976. {{doi|10.15144/PL-C39}}
** Wurm, S.A. editor. ''New Guinea area languages and language study, Vol. 3, Language, culture, society, and the modern world''. C-40. 1977. {{doi|10.15144/PL-C40}}
* Wurm, S.A. and Laycock, D.C. editors. ''Pacific linguistic studies in honour of [[Arthur Capell]]''. C-13, xii + 1303 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1970. {{doi|10.15144/PL-C13}}
* Wurm, S.A. "Chapter 6: The [[Kiwaian languages|Kiwaian]] Language Family". In Franklin, K. editor, ''The linguistic situation in the Gulf District and adjacent areas, Papua New Guinea''. C-26:217-260. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1973. {{doi|10.15144/PL-C26.217}}
* Wurm, S.A. editor. ''Australian linguistic studies''. C-54, xvi + 770 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1979. {{doi|10.15144/PL-C54}}
* Wurm, S.A. ''Languages: Eastern, Western, and Southern Highlands, Territory of Papua and New Guinea''. D-4, + 000 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1961.
* Wurm, S.A. editor. ''Language maps of the highlands Provinces'', Papua New Guinea. D-11, iv + 24 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1978. {{doi|10.15144/PL-D11}}
* Wurm, S.A. editor. ''Some Endangered Languages of Papua New Guinea: [[Kaki Ae language|Kaki Ae]], [[Musom language|Musom]], and [[Aribwatsa language|Aribwatsa]]''. D-89, vi + 183 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1997.
* {{cite book|last=Wurm|first=Stephen|title=Languages of Australia and Tasmania|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S5IOAAAAYAAJ|year=1972|publisher=Mouton|isbn=9789027921840}}
* {{cite book|last=Wurm|first=Stephen|title=Atlas of the world's languages in danger of disappearing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YjXvAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA5|year=2001|publisher=UNESCO|isbn=978-92-3-103798-6}}
* {{cite book|last1=Kite|first1=Suzanne|authorlink1=Suzanne Kite|last2=Wurm|first2=Stephen|title=The Duungidjawu Language of the Southeast Queensland: Grammar, Texts and Vocabulary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X5EOAAAAYAAJ|year=2004|publisher=Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University|isbn=978-0-85883-550-4}}
* {{cite book|last1=Wurm|first1=Stephen|last2=Mühlhäusler|first2=Peter|authorlink2=Peter Mühlhäusler|last3=Tryon|first3=Darrell|authorlink3=Darrell Tryon|title=Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific, Asia, and the Americas: Vol I: Maps. Vol II: Texts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lFW1BwAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PR19|year=1996|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-081972-4}}

== See also ==
* [[Indo-Pacific languages]]
* [[Papuan languages]]
* [[Trans–New Guinea languages]]
* [[Donald Laycock]]
* [[Arthur Capell]]
* [[William A. Foley]]
* [[Andrew Pawley]]
* [[Malcolm Ross (linguist)]]

==References==
<references />

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wurm, Stephen}}
[[Category:1922 births]]
[[Category:2001 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Australian linguists]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Australian National University]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities]]
[[Category:Hungarian emigrants to Australia]]
[[Category:Australian people of German descent]]
[[Category:Australian people of Hungarian descent]]
[[Category:Hungarian people of German descent]]
[[Category:Danube-Swabian people]]
[[Category:Linguists of Australian Aboriginal languages]]
[[Category:Linguists of Oceanic languages]]
[[Category:Linguists of Papuan languages]]
[[Category:Linguists of Turkic languages]]
[[Category:Linguists of Uzbek]]
[[Category:Historical linguists]]
[[Category:Writers from Budapest]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of Australia]]