Gerhardt Laves (July 15, 1906 – March 14, 1993) was a graduate student at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

and

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

who between August 1929 and August 1931 undertook extensive fieldwork on Australian Aboriginal languages. Laves was probably the first person trained in modern linguistic fieldwork and analysis to study Australian languages. He intensively studied six languages: 'Kumbaingeri' ( Gumbaynggir) in northern New South Wales; 'Karadjeri' (

Karajarri The Karajarri are an Aboriginal Australian people, who once lived south-west of the Kimberleys in the northern Pilbara region, predominantly between the coastal area and the Great Sandy Desert. They now mostly reside at Bidyadanga, south of B ...

) at

Lagrange Bay Lagrange Bay is located south of Broome, Western Australia in the Kimberley region. It is the site of the Catholic Pallottine The Pallottines officially named the Society of the Catholic Apostolate ( la, Societas Apostolatus Catholici), abbr ...

, north-west Western Australia; 'Barda' ( Bardi) at

Cape Leveque Cape Leveque is at the northernmost tip of the Dampier Peninsula in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Cape Leveque is (via the Cape Leveque Road) north of Broome, and is remote with few facilities. Nevertheless, the Cape's sandy be ...

, north-west Western Australia; 'Kurin' ( Goreng) near Albany Western Australia; and 'Hermit Hill' ( Matngele) and 'Ngengumeri ( Ngan'gimerri) at Daly River Northern Territory. On the basis of his work Laves concluded that all Australian languages belong to a single language family. After his fieldwork he returned to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, married

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and followed his mentor,

Edward Sapir Edward Sapir (; January 26, 1884 – February 4, 1939) was an American Jewish anthropologist-linguist, who is widely considered to be one of the most important figures in the development of the discipline of linguistics in the United States. Sap ...

, to Yale in

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, CT where he continued his graduate studies. Before completing his Ph.D. (which he never finished) he left Yale to be a teacher on the Navajo reservation at

Shiprock Shiprock ( nv, , "rock with wings" or "winged rock") is a monadnock rising nearly above the high-desert plain of the Navajo Nation in San Juan County, New Mexico, United States. Its peak elevation is above sea level. It is about southwest ...

, New Mexico. Several years later he returned to Chicago where he began a career with the

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Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Laves never returned to linguistics or anthropology and only published two notes based on his work on Australian languages (listed below). His collection of materials from his fieldwork sat in storage until Mark Francillon (an anthropology student at the University of Chicago) heard about it and made contact with Laves in 1983. He arranged for the collection to be copied and deposited (as were the originals, sometime later) in the library at the

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, ...

. The collection of Aboriginal objects he acquired during his fieldwork in Australia is now held in the

National Museum of Australia The National Museum of Australia, in the national capital Canberra, preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation. It was formally established by the ''National Muse ...

Laves' publications

* Laves, Gerhardt. 1929a ''Words among Australian Aborigines'', Science n.s. 70, no.1823 : Supplement, xiv. * Laves, Gerhardt. 1929b ''Collecting native words'', El Palacio 27(8/9), 290-1.

External links

Laves materials and biographical information
1906 births 1993 deaths Linguists of Australian Aboriginal languages University of Chicago alumni Yale University alumni American educators Linguists from the United States {{US-linguist-stub