George W. Grace

George W. Grace
George W. Grace (right) in Houaïlou, New Caledonia, in 1955.
Born
George William Grace

(1921-09-08)September 8, 1921
DiedJanuary 17, 2015(2015-01-17) (aged 93)
OccupationLinguist
Academic background
Alma materColumbia University
ThesisThe Position of the Polynesian Languages within the Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) Language Family (1958)
Doctoral advisorJoseph Greenberg
InfluencesAlfred L. Kroeber
Academic work
InstitutionsSouthern Illinois University, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Doctoral studentsRobert Blust
Main interestsAustronesian languages

George William Grace (8 September 1921 in Corinth, Mississippi – January 17, 2015)[1] was an American linguist who specialized in historical and comparative linguistics, ethnolinguistics, and Austronesian languages, especially the Oceanic languages of Melanesia. He joined the Department of Linguistics at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 1964, serving three years as chair (1966–1969) and three decades as editor of Oceanic Linguistics (1962–1991), a journal he founded while teaching anthropology at Southern Illinois University (1960–1964).

  1. ^ Obituary in the Honolulu Star Advertiser, 24 Jan 2015.