Olaf Broch

Olaf Broch
File:Olaf Broch.jpg
Born	(1867-08-04)4 August 1867 Horten, Norway
Died	28 January 1961(1961-01-28) (aged 93) Oslo
Occupation	Linguist
Employer	University of Oslo
Relatives	Lagertha Broch (1864–1952), sister Nanna Broch (1879–1971), sister Hjalmar Broch (1882–1969), brother
Awards	Order of St. Olav (1946)

Olaf Broch (4 August 1867, Horten – 28 January 1961, Oslo) was a Norwegian linguist. He was born in Horten, and was a brother of children's writer Lagertha Broch, zoologist Hjalmar Broch, and social worker Nanna Broch. He was a professor of Slavic languages at the University of Oslo from 1900 to 1937. Among his works are Очеркъ физіологіи славянскиой рѣчи from 1910 (published as Slavische Phonetik in 1911), Håndbok i elementær fonetikk from 1921, and Proletariatets diktatur from 1923. He translated works by Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky into Norwegian. He was decorated Commander of the Order of St. Olav in 1946.

Broch was a pioneer in the field of Slavic studies in Norway and one of the first scholars to use modern methods to describe the phonetics of Slavic languages.