David W. McAlpin explained

David Wayne McAlpin
Birth Date:1945 2, df=y
Birth Place:West Frankfort, Illinois, United States of America
Death Place:South Carolina, United States of America
Spouse:Mary K. McAlpin
Children:Andrew McAlpin
Profession:Historical linguist
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David Wayne McAlpin (20 February 1945 – 23 December 2023) was an American linguist who specialized in Elamitic and Dravidian languages. Born in West Frankfort, Illinois, he received his Bachelor’s degree in linguistics at the University of Chicago, studying under A. K. Ramanujan. Following this, he received his Ph.D. in linguistics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He is best known for his work attempting to demonstrate a genetic relationship between Elamite language and the Dravidian languages.[1]

Contribution to Linguistics

McAlpin is best known for a series of articles attempting to demonstrate a relationship between the ancient Elamite language of Iran and the Dravidian languages of southern India, known as the Zagrosian Hypothesis. Whereas his Proto-Elamo-Dravidian: The Evidence and Its Implications focuses on cognation between Elamite and all of Dravidian,[2] his most recent three papers capitalize on the fact that Brahui, initially part of the North Dravidian languages, is well known to be related to other Dravidian languages and aim to prove that Brahui is instead a descendant of an unattested eastern dialect of Elamite.[3] [4] [5]

He was a member of the DravLing group, in which he presented a talk entitled “Morphology in Proto-Zagrosian” in 2022.[6]

Articles

Books

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: David Wayne McAlpin, 78 . Shawangunk Journal . January 8, 2024.
  2. Book: McAlpin . David . Proto-Elamo-Dravidian : the evidence and its implications . 1981 . American Philosophical Society . Philadelphia.
  3. McAlpin . David . Velars, Uvulars, and the North Dravidian Hypothesis . Journal of the American Oriental Society. 2003 . 123 . 3 . 521–546 . 10.2307/3217749 .
  4. McAlpin . David . Brahui and the Zagrosian Hypothesis . Journal of the American Oriental Society. 2015 . 135 . 3 . 551–586 . 10.7817/jameroriesoci.135.3.551 .
  5. McAlpin . David . Modern Colloquial Eastern Elamite . Al-Burz . 2022 . 14 . 1 . 64–123 . 10.54781/abz.v14i1.370 . free .
  6. Web site: DravLing . DravLing . January 8, 2024.