Theo van Leeuwen

Theodoor Jacob "Theo" van Leeuwen {{Post-nominals|country=AUS|FAHA}} (born 1947)[https://books.google.com/books?id=h2esBwAAQBAJ Biography] in the introduction of Social Semiotics: Key Figures, New Directions, pp.11–12 is a Dutch linguist and one of the main developers of the sub-field of social semiotics.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/4174543.stm|title=How a car's horn says: "Buy me"|date=14 January 2005|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=8 June 2010}}{{Cite Q|Q130324382|author=Svennevig, Jan|page=59}} He is also known for his contributions to the study of Multimodality; he wrote with Gunther Kress Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design, one of the most influential books on the topic.{{cite book |last1=Bateman |first1=John |last2=Wildfeuer |first2=Janina |last3=Hiippala |first3=Tuomo |title=Multimodality : Foundations, Research and Analysis – A Problem-Oriented Introduction |date=2017 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |location=Berlin |isbn=978-3-11-047942-3}}

Career

Van Leeuwen obtained a BA in scriptwriting and direction from the Netherlands Film Academy in Amsterdam in 1972. He married an Australian and moved to Australia later in the 1970s. Van Leeuwen worked as a director, script writer, and producer for film and television in both Holland and Australia.{{cite web|url=http://www.uts.edu.au/staff/theo.vanleeuwen|title=Emeritus Professor Theo van Leeuwen|date=n.d.|publisher=University of Technology, Sydney|accessdate=11 July 2015}} Van Leeuwen has also been noted as a former jazz pianist.{{cite web|url=http://semioticon.com/semiotix/2013/12/semiotic-profile-theo-van-leeuwen/|title=Semiotic Profile: Theo van Leeuwen|last=Djonov|first=Emilia|year=2013|publisher=SemiotiX|access-date=11 July 2015}} In 1982, he finished a master's degree at Macquarie University in Sydney with a thesis on intonation. In 1992, he finished his PhD in linguistics at University of Sydney with a thesis on uniting linguistics and social theory. Van Leeuwen has taught communication theory at Macquarie University and the London College of Printing, and has taught courses at universities in Amsterdam, Vancouver, Vienna, Madrid, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Auckland. He was the dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Technology, Sydney until 2013, when he took a position at the University of Southern Denmark.

Van Leeuwen was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 2007.{{Cite web |title=Fellow Profile: Theodoor van Leeuwen |url=https://humanities.org.au/fellows/fellow-profile/?fellow_id=258 |access-date=2024-06-17 |website=Australian Academy of the Humanities |language=en-AU}}

Selected bibliography

Kress, Gunther R., & van Leeuwen, Theo (1996). Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. New York: Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-31915-3}}.
Speech, Music, Sound. (1999) London: Macmillan. {{ISBN|031222530X}}
Introducing Social Semiotics (2005) London & New York: Routledge {{ISBN|0-415-24943-0}}
Discourse and Practice: New Tools for Critical Discourse Analysis (2008) Oxford University Press {{ISBN|0195323319}}
The Language of Colour: An Introduction (2011) London & New York: Routledge {{ISBN|0415495385}}

References

{{Department of Linguistics and English Language, Lancaster University|state=collapsed}}

Category:1947 births

Category:Living people

Category:Communication theorists

Category:Linguists from the Netherlands

Category:Macquarie University alumni

Category:University of Sydney alumni

Category:Academics of Cardiff University

Category:Academics of Lancaster University

Category:Academics of the London College of Communication

Category:Academic staff of Macquarie University

Category:Academic staff of the University of Sydney

Category:Academic staff of the University of Southern Denmark

Category:Dutch expatriates in Australia

Category:Dutch expatriates in Denmark

Category:Department of Linguistics and English Language, Lancaster University

Category:Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities