28.3061, All: Obituary: Gary Bevington (1944-2017)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-28-3061. Fri Jul 14 2017. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 28.3061, All: Obituary: Gary Bevington (1944-2017)

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Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2017 09:53:48
From: MIzuki Miyashita [mizuki.miyashita at mso.umt.edu]
Subject: Obituary: Gary Bevington (1944-2017)

 
Gary Loyd Bevington passed away on July 6th at the age of 73, in Missoula,
Montana.

Gary Bevington was born on February 3, 1944 in Fort Madison, Iowa. He received
a Ph.D. in linguistics at the University Massachusetts in 1970. He served as
assistant professor at University Massachusetts, Amherst, 1970-1971,
Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, 1971-1975, and as associate
professor, 1975-1980, professor, since 1980. He also served as a linguist for
tribal languages at the Native American Educational Services College, Chicago,
from 1988 till he retired in 1999. He was also a visiting lecturer at the F.
Schiller University, Jena, Germany, in 1991 and a scholar-in-residence at the
Newberry Library in 1995.

In his early linguistics career, he researched Albanian, worked on its
phonology. His later career focused on Indigenous languages and linguistics.
While he was joint-appointed at NAES College and Northeastern Illinois
University, he published an article, English Language and Indians in
“Encyclopedia of North American Indians.” He also researched Yucatec Mayan and
developed the language’s description. Gary’s contribution is represented by
his book published in 1995 “Maya for travelers and students: A guide to
language and culture in Yucatán,” which is a general introduction to the
Yucatec Maya language, covering pronunciation, grammar and invaluable advice
on studying indigenous languages in the field.

Gary retired early in 1999, in part so that he could more effectively be a
caregiver for his wife who was suffered from a cognitively impairment starting
in 1997. Gary visited Missoula, Montana in 2001, spending half a year there
and the other half in Yucatan until they finally moved to Missoula in 2005. In
early 2000s, Gary taught courses and gave special talks for the Linguistics
Program at University of Montana. It was an inspiring experience for the
students to hear the voice of a linguist who conducted research with the data
he collected first hand.

Gary was a knowledgeable and passionate linguist and touched the lives of so
many. He will be greatly missed.
 


Linguistic Field(s): Not Applicable



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