Abaev Vasiliy (Vaso) Ivanovich

27 December [ 15 December] 1900 (1900-12-27), Kobi — 18 March 2001 (2001-03-19), Moscow

Biography, education, career:

From a peasant family. In 1918 he graduated from the Tiflis classical gymnasium and worked as a teacher in his native village. In 1922—1925 he was a student of the Faculty of Social Sciences of Leningrad State University. In 1925—1928, he was a post-graduate student at the Leningrad State University's Research Institute for Comparative Studies of Literature and Languages of the West and East. Since 1929, Professor of the Department of General Linguistics, Leningrad Institute of Philosophy, Literature and History , Philological faculty of Leningrad State University. In 1928—1930 — researcher at the Caucasian Historical and Archaeological Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences in Tiflis. In the period from 1930—1941, 1945—1950 — researcher at the Institute of language and thinking (since 1935, head of the Iranian Cabinet); in 1941—1945 — researcher at the North Ossetian and South Ossetian Research Institute; since 1950 — Researcher at the Institute of Linguistics of the USSR Academy of Sciences in Leningrad (since 1952 in Moscow); in 1930—1931 — researcher at the State Public library (Leningrad). Was awarded by degrees of Candidate (1935) and Doctor of Philology (1962) without defense; Professor (1969).

Areas of expertise: Ethnolinguistics; history and ethnography of the peoples of the North and South Caucasus; General linguistics, dialectology and history of the Ossetian language, folklore and ethnography of the Ossetians

Awards and titles:

In 1981 was awarded by the State Prize of the USSR.

Membership in academic organizations and unions:

Since 1966 — honorary member of the Asian Royal Society of Great Britain and Ireland; since 1973 — corresponding member of the Finno-Ugric society in Helsinki.

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