The Languages of the Caucasus: Scope for Study and Survival An Inaugural Lecture (13 Jan 1998) by Professor B. G. Hewitt, FBA
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- Category: Linguistics
I am honoured and humbled both by the gracious words to which Professor Rayfield has just treated me personally and all too briefly entertained us all generally and by the mere fact that so many of you have elected to interrupt your busy schedules and in some cases travel quite considerable distances in order to be present this evening. It is a source of particular pleasure to welcome so many members of the various Caucasian communities about whose languages I shall be speaking. My one regret is that neither my parents nor the person who first brought the Caucasus to my attention and roused my enthusiasm for its languages, Professor Sir Harold Bailey, lived long enough to know of the award of this professorship.
I should like to take this opportunity also to thank Catherine Lawrence and Claire Ivison in our Cartography section for drawing the three maps on the handout, Alpey Beler in Computing, technicians Michael Baptista, Patrick Campbell, and Mohini Nair, printers Patrick Quow and Austin Igwe, all of whom helped in various ways with the presentation, but above all Information Officer Mary O'Shea for the diligence and energy she has displayed in organising this whole event.
Whilst everyone embarking on an academic career no doubt dreams of ultimate elevation to a chair, the giving of the accompanying inaugural lecture is strangely somewhat less the stuff of which dreams are made! My main difficulty, as others have experienced before, was to achieve an adequate balance so that the result would hold the interest of (or at least not bore) linguists and non-linguists alike. I naturally hope that what I am about to say will be judged suitable to the occasion and worthy in terms of content, even if not everyone, I am sure, will necessarily agree with every view expressed. But only you can judge.
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