CRRC, ARISC and American Councils are pleased to announce the 5th talk of the Spring 2023 Tbilisi Works-in-Progress series!
This week’s WiP session will take place in hybrid format in-person at CRRC Georgia and virtually via this Zoom link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEscumtqTIjGtxNOoqpMmt7JuZJCtEZJwin
“The Place of Udi in the Language History of the South Caucasus”
By Thomas Wier, Free University of Tbilisi and ARISC Fellow
Date: Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 18:30 Tbilisi time (10:30 am EDT)
This talk will survey the contributions of the Udi language to the history of the south Caucasus: from its origins within the Lezgic branch of Nakh-Daghestanian, its connection to the ancient Caucasian Albanian people, the role it played in the birth of indigenous Caucasian writing systems and literatures, and the sociolinguistic factors for its gradual decline over the course of the last millennium. It will also examine features of the Udi language that illustrate why documenting endangered languages is important today, and not just for the past.
Thomas Wier is a professor of linguistics at the Free University of Tbilisi. His research focuses on the typology and history of the languages of the Caucasus, including his most recent project documenting the endangered Udi language, funded by a fellowship from ARISC.
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Works-in-Progress is an ongoing academic discussion series based in Tbilisi, Georgia, that takes place office of CRRC at Liziko Kavtaradze St. 1 and online. It is co-organized by the Caucasus Research Resource Centers (CRRC), the American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS, and the American Research Institute of the South Caucasus (ARISC). All of the talks are free and open to the public.
In observation of the spirit of the Chatham House Rule, the talks will not be recorded, and we courteously request that the other participants refrain from recording and/or distributing recordings as well. The opinions expressed in WiP talks are those of the speakers alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of CRRC, ARISC or of American Councils.