Tamaz V. Gamkrelidze

Tamaz V. Gamkrelidze
თამაზ გამყრელიძე
Born	(1929-10-23)October 23, 1929 Kutaisi,Georgian SSR,TSFSR,Soviet Union
Died	February 10, 2021(2021-02-10)(aged 91) Tbilisi,Georgia
Citizenship	Soviet Union(until 1991) Georgia(since 1991)
Education	Doctor of Sciences in Philology,Tbilisi State University(1962)
Occupation(s)	Linguist,university teacher,politicianandHittitologist
Employer	Tbilisi State University
Awards	Lenin Prize Order of Friendship of Peoples Honoured Scientist of the Georgian SSR Ivane Javakhishvili Prize

Tamaz Valerianis dze Gamkrelidze(Georgian:თამაზ ვალერიანის ძე გამყრელიძე;23 October 1929 – 10 February 2021) was aGeorgianlinguist,orientalistpublic benefactor andHittitologist,Academic(since 1974) and President (2005–2013) of theGeorgian Academy of Sciences(GAS), Doctor of Sciences (1963), Professor (1964).

Biography

Gamkrelidze was born inKutaisi,Georgian SSR.His brotherRevaz Gamkrelidzeis a mathematician.

Tamaz Gamkrelidze graduated from the Faculty of Oriental Studies of theTbilisi State University(TSU) in 1952.Since 1964 Gamkrelidze was a professor of this university, and since 1966 the Head of the Chair of Structural and Applied Linguistics. In 1973–2006 he was a Director of the Tsereteli Institute of Oriental Studies (Tbilisi). He was the author of many outstanding works in the fields ofIndo-Europeanlinguistics,Ancient languages,Theoretical linguistics,Structural and Applied Linguistics andKartvelology.He was a leading proponent of theglottalic theoryof Proto-Indo-European consonants.

In the 1980s Gamkrelidze worked withVyacheslav Ivanovon a new theory of Indo-European migrations, which was most recently advocated by them in Indo-European and Indo-Europeans (1995).

In 1988–1995 he edited the premier linguistics journal of the Russian Academy of Science "Voprosy jazykoznanija". He was a Foreign Associate of theUnited States National Academy of Sciences(2006), Foreign Honorary Member of theAmerican Academy of Arts & Sciences,Corresponding Fellow of theBritish Academy,Fellow of the European Society of Linguistics (in 1986-1988 President of this Society), Corresponding Member of theAustrian Academy of Sciences,Academician of theRussian Academy of Science,a Fellow of theWorld Academy of Art and Science(2006),Doctor honoris causaof theBonn University(Germany) and theUniversity of Chicago(U.S.), Honorary Member of theLinguistic Society of America,etc. He has received theLenin Prize(1988), the Humboldt International Prize (1989) and theIvane JavakhishviliPrize of the Georgian Academy of Sciences (1992). From 1992 to 2005 Gamkrelidze was a member of the Parliament of Georgia.

In August 1991 Tamaz Gamkrelidze was appointed the Rector of the Tbilisi State University, however, he stayed on this post for a very short time.

Since 2000, he was an honorary citizen ofTbilisi.

Gamkrelidze died on 10 February 2021, aged 91.

Selected bibliography

• “The Akkado-Hittite syllabary and the problem of the origin of the Hittite script”,Archiv Orientální,vol. 29 (1960).
• Anatolian languages and the problem of Indo-European migration to Asia Minor,Studies in General and Oriental Linguistics. Tokyo, 1970
• withV. V. Ivanov,Indoevropjskij jazyk i indoevropejcy: Rekonstrukcija i istoriko-tipologieskij analiz prajazyka i protokultury.Tiflis: Tiflis University Press 1984. xcvi + 1328 p.
  • English translation:Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans: A reconstruction and historical analysis of a proto-language and a proto-culture.2 vols. Trans. J. Nichols. Berlin–New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1: 1994, 2: 1995.
• with V. V. Ivanov, “The ancient Near East and the Indo-European question: Temporal and territorial characteristics of Proto-Indo-European based on linguistic and historico-cultural data”,Soviet Studies in Historyvol. 22, no. 1–2 (1983): 7–52. doi: 10.2753/RSH1061-19832201027
• with V. V. Ivanov, “The migrations of tribes speaking Indo-European dialects from their original homeland in the Near East to their historical habitations in Eurasia”,Soviet Studies in Historyvol. 22, no. 1–2 (1983): 53–95. doi: 10.2753/RSH1061-198322010253
• “Proto-Indo-European as a Stative-Active Typology”, inIndogermanica et Caucasica: Festschrift für Karl Horst Schmidt zum 65. Geburtstag,eds. Roland Bielmeier & Reinhard Stempel. Berlin–NY: Mouton de Gruyter, 1994, pp. 25–34.
• Alphabetic writing and the old Georgian script.New York: Caravan Books, 1994.
• Ivo Hajnal, ed.Thomas V. Gamkrelidze, Selected writings: Linguistic sign, typology and language reconstruction.Innsbruck 2006.

See also

• Georgian Academy of Sciences
• Glottalic theory

External links

• Home Page of Tamaz Gamkrelidze(2015-07-05 not accessible)
• Georgian Academy of Sciences (GAS)
• Tbilisi State University