H. Craig Melchert

H. Craig Melchert

A. Richard Diebold Professor of Indo-European Studies, Emeritus, and Professor of Linguistics, Emeritus

Teaching and Professional Experience

Teaching Experience

  • 2007–2015: A. Richard Diebold Professor of Indo-European Studies & Professor of Linguistics, University of California at Los Angeles
  • 2008 (summer): Lecturer, Indo-European Dahlem Summer School: Cuneiform Luvian Grammar & Hittite Texts, September 1–5, 2008
  • 2005 (summer): Hermann and Klara Collitz Professor, Linguistic Society of America Summer Institute, M.I.T. & Harvard University, Cambridge MA
  • 2004–2007: Paul Debreczeny Distinguished Professor of Linguistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • 1997 (summer): Visiting Professor, Linguistic Society of America Summer Institute, Cornell University
  • 1996 (spring): Visiting Professor, Department of Linguistics, Harvard University
  • 1993–1996: Charles S. Smith Jr. Distinguished Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • 1990 (spring): Visiting Professor, Department of Linguistics, Yale University
  • 1989–2007: Professor, Curriculum in Linguistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • 1984–1989: Associate Professor, Curriculum in Linguistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • 1978–1984: Assistant Professor, Curriculum in Linguistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • 1977: Instructor in Linguistics, Harvard University Summer School
  • 1972–1975: Teaching fellow in Linguistics, Harvard University

Courses Taught

  • Introduction to Language (regularly)
  • Introduction to Historical Linguistics (regularly)
  • Introduction to Indo-European (2 sem.) (regularly)
  • Elementary Sanskrit (2 sem.) (regularly)
  • Structure of Mandarin Chinese (regularly)
  • Indo-European Culture and Society (regularly)
  • Elementary Hittite (2 sem.) (regularly)
  • Linguistic Structuralism: Sources and Influences
  • Introduction to Anatolian Linguistics
  • Historical Grammar of Sanskrit
  • Readings in the Rigveda (3 sem.)
  • Chinese Historical Phonology
  • Readings in Chinese Linguistics
  • Elementary Old Irish (2 sem.)
  • Old Irish Historical Phonology
  • Linguistic Phonetics

Education

  • 1967–68, 72–77: Harvard University, Ph.D. in Linguistics
    • Major: Indo-European
    • Minor: Chinese Linguistics
    • Woodrow Wilson Fellowship 1967–68
    • Whiting Fellowship in the Humanities 1976–77
    • Dissertation: ‘Ablative and Instrumental in Hittite’ (Director: Calvert Watkins)
  • 1968: Chinese (Mandarin) Course (“MAFAC”), Defense Language Institute, West Coast
  • 1970–71: Intermediate Chinese (Mandarin), National Cryptologic School, Ft. Meade, Md.
  • 1963–67: Michigan State University
    • Major: German
    • National Merit Scholarship 1963–67
    • Bachelor of Arts in German with high honor

Other Professional Experience

Ph.D. Dissertations Directed (UCLA)

  • Andrew M. Byrd, ‘Reconstructing Indo-European Syllabification,’ 2010
  • Jessica L. DeLisi, ‘Epenthesis and prosodic structure in Armenian: A diachronic account,’ 2015
  • Timothy R. Dempsey, ‘Anatolian Verbal Reduplication,’ 2015
  • Bernhard Koller, ‘Studies in Tocharian Phonology above the Word-Level,’ 2015
  • Mattyas G. C. Huggard, ‘Wh-words in Hittite: A Study in Syntax-Semantics and Syntax-Phonology Interfaces,’ 2015
  • Kaspars Ozoliņš, ‘Revisiting Proto-Indo-European Schwebeablaut,’ 2015

Ph.D. Dissertations Directed (UNC-CH)

  • A. Wesley Jones, ‘Gothic Final Syllables,’ 1979 (with Sidney R. Smith)
  • Yi Feng Chen, ‘The Reconstruction of the Nara Period Japanese Vowels,’ 1979
  • Linda McIntyre, ‘Classical Reduplication,’ 1992 (with Randall Hendrick)
  • Kirsten Reichardt, ‘The Linguistic Structure of Hittite and Luvian Curse Formulae,’ 1998
  • Fred M. Williams III, ‘The Development of the Sixth Class Strong Verb in Germanic,’ 1999
  • Donna Salisbury, ‘Local Adverbs in Neo-Hittite,’ 2005

M.A. Theses Directed (UNC-CH)

  • Cynthia Beard, ‘A Transformational Analysis of the Chinese Passive Construction,’ 1982
  • Jeffrey Davis, ‘The Semantics of “Vision” in Old Irish,’ 1982
  • Phyllis McCraw, ‘The Indo-European Stop System,’ 1986
  • Linda McIntyre, ‘Animate Plural in Neo-Hittite,’ 1986
  • Peter Johnson, ‘The PIE Thematic Ablative Ending,’ 1991
  • Kristin Reichardt, ‘Old English wif and cwen/cwene,’ 1996
  • Donna Salisbury, ‘anda and andan in Neo-Hittite,’ 1996
  • Benito Vilá, ‘The Vocabulary of Self and Other in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Chilean Documents,’ 2000

Administrative Duties (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

  • Departmental Director of Graduate Admissions (1979–1984, 2000–2004)
  • Departmental Director of Graduate Studies (1979–1999, 2002–2007)
  • Chair, Curriculum in Linguistics & Linguistics Advisory Committee (1984–1989)
  • Assistant Chair, Curriculum in Linguistics & East Asian Language (1990–1993)
  • Chair, Department of Linguistics (1994–1999, 2004–2007)

Administrative Duties (University of California, Los Angeles)

  • Chair, Program in Indo-European Studies (2009–2015)

Professional Affiliations

  • American Oriental Society
  • Indogermanische Gesellschaft, member and American representative on the Internationaler Beirat (Stellvertreter 2008–2012)
  • Co-editor, Brill’s Studies in Indo-European Languages and Linguistics
  • Consultant, The Hittite Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago
  • Member, Editorial Advisory Board of Tocharian and Indo-European Studies
  • Member, Redaktioneller Beirat, Kratylos
  • Member, Editorial Board, Eisenbrauns’ book series Language of the Ancient Near East