Otto Jespersen

Otto Jespersen (1860-1943) was a leading expert on English grammar, and a Danish linguist. He invented an international language named Novial.

Inspired as a child by the prominent Danish linguist Rasmus Rask, Jespersen wrote several books about English grammar and the growth of it as a language. He studied the connection between sound and sense in a language, and was an enthusiastic promoter of phonics.

His work Sprogets logik (1913), meaning "The Logic of Language," is a classic in the field.