Ralf-Stefan Georg (November 7, 1962 in Bottrop) is a German linguist. He is currently Professor at the University of Bonn in Bonn, Germany, for Altaic Linguistics and Culture Studies.
Education
Georg earned an M.A. in Mongolian Linguistics, Indo-European and Semitic Linguistics at Bonn University (1990), and later completed his Ph.D. (Central Asian Studies, Indo-European and Manchu Studies), with a descriptive grammar of the Thakali language (a Tibeto-Burman language of Mustang in Mid-Western Nepal), at the same institution (1995).
Research
Since 1992, Georg has been engaged in linguistic fieldwork and the writing of descriptive grammars of unwritten/endangered/understudied languages. Apart from a grammar of a ThakaliLinguistlist: Dissertation abstracts: Stefan Georg . Retrieved on 2009-08-10 dialect, he has co-authored a grammar of ItelmenMatsumura, Kazuto (University of Tokyo) (2008): Itelmen: Bibliographical guide , retrieved on 2009-08-10. Google scholar: Citation index, retrieved 2009-08-10 (Chukchi–Kamchatkan language family) and written a grammar of Ket (Yeniseian languages), as well as shorter grammatical descriptions of Ordos MongolianGeorg 2003 and Huzhu MongghulGeorg 2003a (a variety of the so-called Monguor group).
He has published widely on problems of language classification,e.g. Georg 2003b, especially on the controversy surrounding the Altaic hypothesisGeorg, Michalove, Manaster Ramer and Sidwell 1999 includes a history of that debate by Georg (the putative genetic relationship between the Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic language families to which Korean and Japanese are sometimes added). He belongs to the critics of this hypothesis and argues for a non-genetic, areal interpretation of the commonalities between these languages.E.g. Georg 1999/2000, , , Other fields of interest he is active in include Palaeosiberian languages, Tibeto-Burman languages, Indo-European and Kartvelian linguistics and linguistic typology.Association for Linguistic Typology, Membership entry Stefan Georg . Retrieved on 2009-08-10.
Publications
Georg, Stefan, Peter A. Michalove, Alexis Manaster Ramer, and Paul J. Sidwell (1999): "Telling general linguists about Altaic." Journal of Linguistics 35:65–98. Mongolian translation: Ерөнхий хэл шинжлэлчид алтай судлалын тухай. Алтай Судлал/Studia Altaica I/2001: 174-215 (transl.: P. Ajuulzhav/G. Tujaa/O. Sambuudorzh). Georg, Stefan (1999/2000): Haupt und Glieder der altaischen Hypothese: die Körperteilbezeichnungen im Türkischen, Mongolischen und Tungusischen (= Head and members of the Altaic hypothesis: The body-part designations in Turkic, Mongolic, and Tungusic'). Ural-altaische Jahrbücher, neue Folge B 16: 143–182. Georg, Stefan (2001): Türkisch/Mongolisch tengri "Himmel/Gott" und seine Herkunft. Studia Etymologica Cracoviensia 6: 83–100. Georg, Stefan (2002): Altaic Languages. In: David Levinson and Karen Christensen (eds.): Encyclopedia of Modern Asia, Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons: 86–87. Georg, Stefan (2003) Ordos. In: J. Janhunen (ed.): The Mongolic Languages. London: Routledge: 193–209. Georg, Stefan (2003a): Mongghul, in: J. Janhunen (ed.): The Mongolic Languages. London: Routledge: 286–306. Georg, Stefan (2003b): The Gradual Disappearance of a Eurasian Language Family – The Case of Yenisseyan. In: M. Janse and S. Tol (eds.): Language Death and Language Maintenance. Theoretical, Practical and Descriptive Approaches. Amsterdam: Benjamins: 89–106.
Georg, Stefan (2008): Yeniseic languages and the Siberian linguistic area In: A. Lubotsky, J. Schaeken and J. Wiedenhof (eds.): Evidence and Counter-Evidence. Festschrift Frederik Kortlandt, Vol.I. Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi.
References
External links
Personal homepage of Stefan Georg at academia.edu