Topuria Guram

Guram Topuria (b. March 27, 1930, Tbilisi – d. May 31, 2006, Tbilisi), linguist, researcher of Kartvelian and Ibero-Caucasian (Dagestan) languages, corresponding member of the Georgian Academy of Sciences (1997), Doctor of Philological Sciences (1988). He graduated from the Department of Caucasian Languages ​​of the Faculty of Philology of Tbilisi State University (1954). From 1957, he was involved in scientific work at the Arnold Chikobava Institute of Linguistics. In 1973–1987, he was the Deputy Director of the same institute, and from 1987 — the Head of the Department of Ibero-Caucasian Languages.

Topuria's main works are devoted to the issues of morphology, phonetics and vocabulary of Lezgic and other Dagestanian languages, general problems of Dagestanian languages ​​(classification of declension, issues of its formation and development, the concept of paleo-ergativity, etc.). He is the author of the monographs: The Main Morphological Categories of the Lezgic Verb (1959), Morphology of Inflection in Dagestanian Languages (1995, in Russian); Works on the morphology, vocabulary, and historical toponymy of the Kartvelian languages: On the Reality of a Hypothetical Form from the Zan Language Area (Toponymy of Samtskhe) (1968), On the History of Instrumental Case in Svan Language (1977), On a Model of Word Derivation in Georgian (1998) and etc.

Topuria was elected Vice-President of the European Society of Caucasologists three times. He was a member of the editorial board of several scientific journals (“Ibero-Caucasian Linguistics”, “Yearbook of Ibero-Caucasian Linguistics”, “Matsne”, “Etymological Investigations”). He received the Arnold Chikobava Prize (1996).

 

Literary works: ქართულ-ქართველური ეთნონიმიკის ლინგვისტური საკითხები, I. – «იკე», XVII, თბ., 1970; ლინგვისტური გეოგრაფია, ტოპონიმია და ენის ისტორია (ქართველურ ენათა მასალაზე) კრ.: «ხელეური» (ეძღვნება გ. ჩიტაიას დაბადებიდან 90 წლისთავს), თბ., 1985.

 

G. Burchuladze