Jeanette (Kohn) Gundel (July 16, 1942 – November 8, 2019) was an American linguist noted for her work on information structure and pragmatics.
Gundel received her PhD in Linguistics from the University of Texas at Austin, in 1974.
[5] Gundel's research focused primarily on the interface between linguistic theory and pragmatics.
[6] Her foundational 1993 Language paper with Nancy Hedberg and Ron Zacharski, "Cognitive Status and the Form of Referring Expression in Discourse," established the Givenness Hierarchy, a concept that has become crucial not only in linguistics, but also in the domains of psychology and computer science.
[7] In addition to her publications as author, Gundel co-edited major volumes on reference, including The Oxford Handbook of Reference, published by Oxford University Press in 2019.