Vivien Law

Vivien Anne Law, Lady Shackleton (22 March 1954 – 19 February 2002) was a British linguist and academic, who specialised in grammar. Over her lifetime, she "acquired a grammatical knowledge of over a hundred languages". She spent all her academic career at the University of Cambridge.

Early life and education Law was born on 22 March 1954 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Academic career Law spent all her academic career at the University of Cambridge. She was a lecturer in the history of linguistics from 1984 to 1998, and Reader in the History of Linguistic Thought from 1998 to her death in 2002. She was also a research fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge from 1978 to 1980, a senior research fellow at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge from 1980 to 1984, teaching fellow at Sidney Sussex College from 1984 to 1997, and fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge from 1997 to 2002. The Vivien Law Prize was established in her memory in 2004 by the Henry Sweet Society and is awarded for "the best essay submitted on any topic within the history of linguistics".

Selected works