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 Javed Majeed FBA

Intellectual and literary history of colonial and postcolonial South Asia; colonialism, nationalism and literature; language politics and ideas of language in South Asia; Islam and colonialism; modern Urdu literature

Javed Majeed.jpg

Professor Li Wei FBA

Language contact; bilingualism and multilingualism; language learning, and language education

Li Wei.jpg

Professor Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad FBA

Indian philosophy focusing on Sanskrit and Pali, comparative philosophy of epistemology, metaphysics and phenomenology; classical Indian religions, especially Hindu theology in Sanskrit and Tamil, and comparative Hindu-Christian studies

chakravarthi-ram-prasad.jpg

Sign up to our email newsletters

Join our mailing list to explore the ideas and impact of the British Academy. Get updates on research, funding, policy, international collaborations, and events that bring the humanities and social sciences to life.