The Institute of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University hosted an event marking the 85th birth anniversary of Georgian scientist, Bakar Gigineishvili.
Rector of TSU, Giorgi Sharvashidze, professors and students attended the event. Rector Sharvashidze spoke about Gigineishvili’s scientific heritage, his monographs, which are still very popular. He also noted that “Kartvelian centers will be opened in seven European capitals, where our postdoctoral researchers will have an opportunity to conduct research and lecturers will be able to deliver lectures.”
Bakar Gigineishvili served as the head of the TSU Department of General Linguistics in 1992-1997. His main works are about comparative linguistics and etymology of Kartvelian languages, Caucasian linguistics, old Georgian language; he is the author of a monograph: “Comparative Phonetics of Dagestani Languages.” He has published Shatberdi Collection of the 10th Century and old Georgian translations of the Bible.
The Institute of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics was established in 2006 on the basis of the Departments of General Linguistics (established in 1918) and Structural and Applied Linguistics (established in 1964). Academician Tamaz Gamkrelidze is the head of the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics.
The Department of General Linguistics was led by Academician Giorgi Akhvlediani almost for half a century, since its establishment. He delivered the first university course and published a relevant textbook Introduction to Linguistics (1918-1919). Giorgi Akhvlediani, together with Akaki Shanidze and Ioseb Kipshidze, is one of the founders of Georgian linguistics. In his works he outlines new principles of phonetic system of a language, which are extremely important not only for Kartvelian studies, but also for international linguistics from general theoretical point of view.
An important stage of the development of Kartvelian linguistics is related to the monograph “The System of Sonants and Ablaut in the Kartvelian Languages” by Tamaz Gamkrelidze and Givi Machavariani. This work actually represents a new concept of studying the Kartvelian languages and is the best achievement of Kartvelian studies in the 1960s. A two-volume monograph “Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans” co-authored by Tamaz Gamkrelidze and Vyacheslav Ivanov has become an important research work worldwide.
