Irine Melikishvili ( ka, ირინე მელიქიშვილი; May 29, 1943 – December 2, 2013) was a Georgian linguist. From 2000 she was Professor of

Comparative linguistics Comparative linguistics, or comparative-historical linguistics (formerly comparative philology) is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness. Genetic relatedness ...

and

Phonetics Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...

at Javakishvili

Tbilisi State University Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University ( ka, ივანე ჯავახიშვილის სახელობის თბილისის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტი ''Ivane Javaxishvi ...

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

, Georgia.

Career

A native of Tbilisi, Melikishvili received the Candidate's degree in 1972, with her thesis ''Application of Marking in Phonology''. She earned her Dr. of Philological Sciences degree in 1997, from Tbilisi State University, where she had previously completed her previous degrees. Her PhD dissertation was titled ''Common Kartvelian root in structural and typological terms.'' From 1965 to 1986 she worked at the Linguistics Institute of the

Georgian Academy of Sciences The Georgian National Academy of Sciences (GNAS) ( ka, საქართველოს მეცნიერებათა ეროვნული აკადემია, tr) is a main learned society of the Georgia. It was named Georgian S ...

. From 1986 until her death she worked as Senior Researcher in the Department of General Phonetics and Typology of Oriental Linguistics at the Tsereteli Institute of Oriental Studies. In 1995 she was appointed to the Laboratory of Research on

Kartvelian languages The Kartvelian languages (; ka, ქართველური ენები, tr; also known as South Caucasian, Kartvelic, and Iberian languagesBoeder (2002), p. 3) are a language family indigenous to the South Caucasus and spoken primari ...

at the Orbeliani Pedagogical University, and from 2000 until her death in 2013, she was Acting Department Head and a full professor at Tbilisi State University.

Awards

Melikishvili was elected a Corresponding Member of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences in 2009.

Selected publications

* 1976. ''Mark'irebis mimarteba ponologiaši''. The relation of marking in phonology'.Tbilisi: Mecniereba. * 1980. Struktura kornja v obščekartvel'skom i obščeindoevropejskom. ''Voprosy jazykoznanija'' 4: 60–70. * 1998. Nominat'iur da ergat'iul (akt'iur) k'onst'rukciata urtiertmimartebistvis. n the relationships of nominative and ergative (active) constructions. ''Kartuli enis k'atedris šromebi'' 4: 127–144. * 2002. Kartvelur-indoevrop'uli genet'uri urtiertmimartebis sak'itxisatvis. n the question of the genetic relations of Kartvelian and Indoeuropean. ''Enatmecnierebis sak'itxebi'' 1: 34–54.

References

Women linguists Linguists from Georgia (country) 1943 births 2013 deaths Philologists from Georgia (country) Tbilisi State University alumni {{Georgia-bio-stub