Well, you would never just say "He is professor." You can say "He is professor of chemistry at NYU" or something like that, with only marginal strangeness. I think it's because "Professor" is often a title, and not just a description of what you are. My guess is that "teacher" much less often is. Compare also "He is president" and "He is leader". (Though you can't say "He is General" or other military titles either. Hmm...)
I agree with the title analysis. I would say "Professor Jones" but not *"Teacher Jones", "President Jones", but not *"Leader Jones".
Also I think you could almost say "he is lieutenant of the fourth brigade" or some such. I don't know if lieutenants lead brigades, but you get my point.
Hm... I almost always prefer the version with "a" or "the" unless it's really clear you have a unique job title on your hands -- and sometimes not even then. "He is dean of students at CMU" is less weird than "He is professor of mathematics," yes, but I like "He is the dean of students at CMU" a lot better.
My first guess at the Google results, though it may be a bit convoluted, is that it may be due to the number of non-English speakers who come to U.S. universities or otherwise write about universities in a college context. Leaving out the article is a (stereotypically?) common mistake if you're just learning the language, and I feel there are more new speakers writing in English at the university level (where instructors are called professors) than there are in high school (where they're called teachers).
to clarify what people wrote above, I would suggest we not say "He is [title]..." is grammatical, but rather that "He is [title] at [organization]" is a grammatical sentence, or alternatively that "[title] at [organization]" is a grammatical noun phrase. In cases where "He is [title]" is grammatical by itself, as in "He is president", I would analyze that as homophora (though IANAL).
or maybe a better analysis, as Jason more or less said, is that "[title]" is a grammatical noun phrase when it has a unique reference, and that in some cases it is given a unique reference through homophora.
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-18 02:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-18 03:07 am (UTC)Also I think you could almost say "he is lieutenant of the fourth brigade" or some such. I don't know if lieutenants lead brigades, but you get my point.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-18 03:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-18 03:43 am (UTC)"She's doctor of internal medicine at [name of hospital]"
Somehow it sounds even more grammatical to me if there happens to be only one such doctor at that hospital. Compare
"He's dean of students at [name of university]"
When it's not only a title but a unique position, it sounds most natural.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-18 03:59 am (UTC)My first guess at the Google results, though it may be a bit convoluted, is that it may be due to the number of non-English speakers who come to U.S. universities or otherwise write about universities in a college context. Leaving out the article is a (stereotypically?) common mistake if you're just learning the language, and I feel there are more new speakers writing in English at the university level (where instructors are called professors) than there are in high school (where they're called teachers).
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-18 04:35 am (UTC)just to throw a spanner in the works. A spanner made of papier mâché.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-18 05:09 am (UTC)"He is Mister Jones"
"I am Mister Jones"
etc.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-18 05:19 am (UTC)But:
"He is Doctor of Flat-Panel Medicine at Wean."
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-18 05:46 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-18 05:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-18 06:59 am (UTC)