We are delighted to share that our Senior Research Fellow in Linguistics, Professor Aditi Lahiri FBA CBE, was earlier this month awarded the Linguistic Society of Germany’s (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft or DGfS) Wilhelm von Humboldt Award for Lifetime Achievements in Linguistics.
Professor Aditi Lahiri delivering her keynote speech
Last weekend, Professor Lahiri marked this latest milestone in her career by hosting an evening in celebration of the ERC and her latest ERC Synergy Grant-receiving project PAAL.
Professor Lahiri’s career has been extraordinary. Her research, which focuses on the phonological and morphological representations of the mental lexicon, has garnered a record-breaking six European Research Council grants, most recently including a prestigious ERC Synergy grant. At Oxford, Professor Lahiri is also notable for being the first Indian woman to hold a professorial chair at Oxford, and for helping to establish Oxford University’s Faculty of Linguistics, Philology, and Phonetics.
In recognition of these many achievements and her devotion to teaching and mentoring others, the Linguistic Society of Germany DGfS (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft) honoured Professor Aditi Lahiri’s contribution to linguistics by awarding her the Wilhelm von Humboldt Award for Lifetime Achievements in Linguistics earlier this year. Professor Sophie Repp, President of the DGfS, commented: “Professor Aditi Lahiri has had a large impact in linguistics in Germany and beyond through her outstanding scientific work…and through the education of students and young scientists…who are shaping Germany’s linguistics landscape today.”
Professor Lahiri with Vice Chancellor Irene Tracey
Vice Chancellor Irene Tracey giving her keynote speech
Professor Irene Tracey, Vice Chancellor of the University of Oxford; Professor Aditi Lahiri; Professor Maria Leptin, President of the ERC; and Catherine Royle, Principal of Somerville College
At last week’s celebration, Professor Lahiri paid tribute to the partnerships that have underpinned and enabled the PAAL project. PAAL, which stands for “Phonological cognisance and allied linguistic representations: acquisition, bilingualism, change and script” (PAAL), seeks to investigate the interaction of phonological representations with cognisance and script.
The PAAL Celebration at Somerville was attended by Catherine Royle, Principal of Somerville College; Professor Maria Leptin, President of the ERC; and Professor Irene Tracey, Vice Chancellor of the University of Oxford. The keynote speeches by Professors Lahiri, Tracey and Leptin all highlighted the strong bond between the University of Oxford and the ERC, which has to date generated 411 ERC Grants. Vice Chancellor Professor Irene Tracey was also keen to point out her deep admiration for the humanities, and her determination to advocate for these subjects in the future. After all, Professor Tracey commented, “we cannot live by STEM alone”.