Professor George Hewitt FBA

Modern and Medieval Middle Eastern Language and Literature Linguistics
Fellow type
UK Fellow
Year elected
1997
Subjects
Linguistics

Summary

George Hewitt retired in 2015 from SOAS, serving as Lecturer in Linguistics/Caucasian Languages (1988-1992), Reader in Caucasian Languages (1992-96), and finally Professor of Caucasian Languages (1996-2015). He previously lectured in Linguistics at Hull University (1981-88). Educated at Doncaster Grammar School (founded before 1350), he studied Classics at St. John's College (Cambridge), gaining his doctorate there following two years at Tbilisi University (Soviet Georgia) as a British Council exchange-postgraduate (1975-76, 1979-80). His publications address philological questions in Caucasian languages (principally Georgian and Abkhaz) and aspects of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict. First president of the Societas Caucasologica Europaea (1986-90), he is Honorary Member of the International Circassian Academy and of Abkhazian Regional Academy of Sciences; he holds Abkhazia Order of Fame and Glory, a Medal of Abkhazia's Foreign Ministry, and a Medal of Abkhazia Defence Ministry. He is Abkhazia Honorary Consul in the UK.

Current post

Professor Emeritus of Caucasian Languages, SOAS, University of London

Past appointments

Soas, University Of London Emeritus Professor of Caucasian Languages

2017 -

Soas, University Of London Professor of Caucasian Languages, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

1996 - 2017

Soas, University Of London Lecturer in Linguistics/Caucasian Languages, Reader, Professor of Caucasian Languages

1988 - 1996

University of Hull Lecturer in Linguistics

1981 - 1988

Publications

Lingua descriptive studies 2: Abkhaz 1979

Georgian: a structural-reference grammar 1995

The Abkhazians: a handbook 1999

Introduction to the Study of the Languages of the Caucasus 2004

Abkhaz: a Comprehensive Self-Tutor 2010

Discordant Neighbours. A Reassessment of the Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-South Ossetian Conflicts

Other Fellows of the British Academy

Professor Janet Watson FBA

The documentation and morpho-syntactic description of modern Arabic dialects and Modern South Arabian languages; theoretical phonology and morphology with reference to Arabic and Modern South Arabian

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Professor Gavin Flood FBA

Hindu religious literature in the Middle Ages (post-Gupta period); comparative religion, with particular reference to Hinduism and Christianity; philosophical phenomenology and hermeneutics

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Professor Jennifer Smith FBA

Jennifer Smith's research investigates speech patterns across time, space and the social system, uncovering the mechanisms which drive language variation and change.

Headshot of Professor Jennifer Smith FBA

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