Geoffrey Neil Leech (1936.1.16 - 2014.8.19) 是英国著名的语言学家，研究领域主要是英语语法、语料库语言学、语义学和语用学。一生共出版了30多部著作（包括合著），发表了120多篇论文。突闻他去世的消息，很震惊，又一位语言学大师逝去了。（今年2月，框架语义学创始人Fillmore逝世 http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-39714-770337.html）

   Leech，国内一般翻译为利奇，1936年出生于英格兰的Gloucester，1959年本科毕业于英国的伦敦大学学院（UCL）。他受到了著名语料库语言学家Quirk和Halliday的影响，1964-1965年在MIT短期访学。1968年在UCL获得博士学位后留校任教。1969年到英国Lancaster大学任教，1974-2001年任教授。兼任了一大堆头衔。今年8月19日在Lancaster逝世。（以上内容部分采自维基百科英文资料 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Leech）

    Leech在国内的影响主要源于他的那本《语义学》被翻译到国内，被大量用作教材，多次再版。所以国内语义学界、外语界对他都很熟悉。Leech的语义研究和他对语义的七分法，成为耳熟能详之物。不过，Leech的研究不只是在语义学上。Leech的宗派是语境功能派，其师Firth（弗斯）是伦敦语境学派的代表人物。Firth主张用语料库研究语言的词汇、语义，在伦敦UCL任教期间，培养了一批学者。Halliday就是其弟子之一，其名头更是响彻国内语言学界。Halliday在国内以系统功能语法著称，不过Halliday的语料库研究也不少。Leech则更专注于语料库和语义研究。由于语义和语用的界限并不是那么分明，所以Leech在这两个领域借助语料库方法做了大量探索。著名的LOB语料库、BNC语料库都是在他的领导下完成。基于这些语料库，他还完成了英语语法的再描写。（这一点明显受到Quirk当年根据语料库编纂英语语法大全的影响）

   结语：作为语料库语言学大师，Leech对语料库方法研究语言起到了非常重要的作用，在乔姆斯基在美国一统江山的1960s-1990s，欧洲的语境派在语料库技术的支撑下另辟蹊径，对1990s兴起的统计自然语言处理方法起到了前期积累和催生的重要作用。对于他的逝世，深表哀悼！而更为重要的是，我们从Leech身上看到技术的力量对于语言学的推动作用，不惟技术，着眼点仍然是用技术解决语法、语义的难题！是为悼念！          

                                                  2014年8月21日于随园

下面是Leech的系主任的悼词，不妨一读。

Professor Geoffrey Leech, founding professor of our department, and an influential scholar who has shaped several fields of linguistics, died suddenly yesterday afternoon, 19 August.

Geoff Leech was born in Gloucester in 1936. He studied at University College London for his BA, MA, and PhD, and taught there as a lecturer. He came to Lancaster in 1969 as one of the first language specialists in the English Department, and in 1974 he became the first Head of the new Linguistics Department, and its first Professor.  He played a crucial role in almost all the developments in the department as it grew to be one of the major centres of linguistics. In 1996 he took early retirement, but he continued as a Research Professor, and he has remained active in research, departmental duties such as PhD supervision and examining, talks to students, and contacts with the many visitors who came from around the world to see him. He was a Fellow of the British Academy, was awarded honorary doctorates from Lund and Charles University, and had many other honours.

Geoff made major contributions to such fields as stylistics, (A Linguistic Guide to English Poetry [1969] and, with Mick Short,Style in Fiction [1981]), and semantics and pragmatics (Principles of Pragmatics [1983] remains a key text in the field, and his new book,The Pragmatics of Politeness, appeared just last week). He also contributed to the two major descriptive grammars of English, and many shorter, more accessible grammars for students and teachers. He is perhaps best known now as one of the founders of the field of corpus linguistics, the construction and study of large computerized datasets of language. This field has now become one of the major approaches to many linguistic and social science issues.

Colleagues, students, and collaborators remember Geoff as enormously encouraging and supportive; he helped launch many careers.  He was remarkable in his modesty (a topic he considered in his studies of pragmatics), especially for someone so widely renowned in his field. But he also had the self-confidence to pursue huge, long-term projects until the rest of the field could see their value. And he could be fiercely angry if he thought an injustice was being done.

Beyond the academic world, Geoff and his wife Fanny have had a broad circle of friends in Kirkby Lonsdale, since moving there thirty years ago. Geoff was a gifted pianist and organist, and was particularly active in the music-making in local churches.

For departmental colleagues, the intellectual loss is incalculable.  But we will also miss that so familiar sight of his striding down our corridors, with a warm smile to greet everyone, from established professors to new students.  Our thoughts are with Fanny and Geoff’s family, and with his many friends, as they deal with their loss.

Greg Myers

Head of Department