Eric P. Hamp

Eric P. Hamp

Eric Pratt Hamp (born November 16, 1920 in London) is an American linguist who is known for his wide fields of linguistic interest which include Indo-European linguistics, particularly Celtic languages, and Albanian but more importantly, unlike many Indo-Europeanists, who work entirely on the basis of written materials, he has conducted extensive fieldwork on lesser-known Indo-European languages and dialects, such as Albanian, Breton, Welsh, Irish, and Scots Gaelic.

His wide-ranging interests have also included American Indian languages. For example, he served for many years as editor of the International Journal of American Linguistics and did field work on Quileute and Ojibwa.

He is the Robert Maynard Hutchins Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago and in spite of his advanced age, he continues to write, edit, speak and travel at select meetings and conferences, and remains an Associate Editor of the journal Anthropological Linguistics.