Harold Craig Melchert (born April 5, 1945) is an American linguist known particularly for his work on the
Anatolian
Anatolian or anatolica may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the region Anatolia
* Anatolians, ancient Indo-European peoples who spoke the Anatolian languages
* Anatolian High School, a type of Turkish educational institution
* Anatol ...
branch of
Indo-European
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...
.
Biography
He received his B.A. in German from
Michigan State University in 1967 and his Ph.D. in Linguistics from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
in 1977. From 1968 to 1972 he served in the United States Air Force, where he learned
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
and worked as a Chinese radio listener. In 1978 he accepted a position at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
, where he became Paul Debreczeny Distinguished Professor of Linguistics. In 2005 he was the
Collitz Professor at the
Linguistic Society of America
The Linguistic Society of America (LSA) is a learned society for the field of linguistics. Founded in New York City in 1924, the LSA works to promote the scientific study of language. The society publishes three scholarly journals: ''Language'', ...
Summer Institute. As of July 1, 2007 he is A. Richard Diebold Professor of Indo-European Studies at the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...
.
Selected works
*''Studies in Hittite Historical Phonology''. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1984,
*''Lycian Lexicon''. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Copytron, 1989, iv + 122pp.; 2nd edn. Chapel Hill University Press, 1993, vi + 130pp.
*''Cuneiform Luvian Lexicon''. Chapel Hill, N.C.: self-published, 1993,
*''Anatolian Historical Phonology'', Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1994,
*''A Grammar of the Hittite Language'', Eisenbrauns, 2008,
*''A Dictionary of the Lycian Language'', Ann Arbor–NY: Beech Stave Press, 2004,
Further reading
Craig Melchert's home pageh1>
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Melchert, Craig
Hittitologists
Linguists from the United States
Defense Language Institute alumni
Historical linguists
Michigan State University alumni
Harvard University alumni
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty
University of California, Los Angeles faculty
Living people
Indo-Europeanists
Linguists of Indo-European languages
1945 births
Linguists of Anatolian languages