Ludwig Gerhardt (born November 1, 1938 in

Halle an der Saale Halle (Saale), or simply Halle (; from the 15th to the 17th century: ''Hall in Sachsen''; until the beginning of the 20th century: ''Halle an der Saale'' ; from 1965 to 1995: ''Halle/Saale'') is the largest city of the German state of Saxony-Anh ...

) is a German linguist and Africanist. He is known for his work on various

languages of Africa The languages of Africa are divided into several major language families: * Niger–Congo or perhaps Atlantic–Congo languages (includes Bantu and non-Bantu, and possibly Mande and others) are spoken in West, Central, Southeast and Southern ...

, particularly the

Plateau languages The forty or so Plateau languages are a tentative group of Benue–Congo languages spoken by 15 million people on the Jos Plateau, Southern Kaduna, Nasarawa State and in adjacent areas in central Nigeria. Berom and Eggon have the most speakers. ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

Education

Ludwig Gerhardt is the son of Dietrich Kurt Gerhardt. He attended school in Zorbau from 1944 to 1945, in

from 1945 to 1946, in

Erlangen Erlangen (; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Erlang'', Bavarian language, Bavarian: ''Erlanga'') is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative d ...

from 1946 to 1948, and grammar school from 1948 to 1958 in

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...

. After graduating from high school in 1958 at the Schillergymnasium, Münster, he served in the military from 1958 to 1959, where he was a first lieutenant. Gerhardt studied African studies, phonetics and ethnomusicology at the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vor ...

from 1959 to 1967, where he obtained a doctorate in 1967.

Career

Gerhardt performed fieldwork on the

of north-central Nigeria in 1968–1969,Gerhardt, Ludwig. 1983. ''Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Sprachen des Nigerianischen Plateaus'' (Afrikanistische Forschungen 9). Glückstadt: J. J. Augustin. and on the

Jarawan languages Jarawan is a group of languages spoken mostly in Bauchi State, Nigeria, with some also scattered in Plateau State, Taraba State, and Adamawa State in the same country. Two related languages formerly spoken in Cameroon are now extinct but are bel ...

of Nigeria in 1982–1983. From 1968 to 1970 and 1973–1975, he was a research assistant at the

. From 1972 to 1973, he had a postdoctoral fellowship from the DFG. After completing his habilitation in 1974, he became Professor of African Studies at the University of Hamburg in 1975.Prof. Dr. Ludwig Gerhardt
University of Hamburg.

References

External links

Academia.edu
page Living people 1938 births Linguists from Germany Academic staff of the University of Hamburg University of Hamburg alumni Linguists of Niger–Congo languages {{Germany-linguist-stub