The Principal and Fellows of Somerville College were saddened to learn of the recent death of James Higginbotham, Professor of Philosophy & Linguistics at the University of Southern California.

A Fellow of Somerville College and of the British Academy, Professor Higginbotham was known around the world for his work on generative grammar, linguistic semantics and the philosophy of language.

He was Chair of General Linguistics in Oxford from 1993 to 2000, Chair of the Committee for Comparative Philology and General Linguistics, and Curator of the Centre for Linguistics and Philology.

Professor Higginbotham became the first male Fellow of Somerville College in 1993. He was also the Vera Brittain Visiting Fellow at Somerville College in 2009.

Professor Higginbotham is survived by his six children David Maayan, William, Eva, Joseph, Eleanor and Enrico. An obituary can also be found on the University of Southern California website.

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