Michaël Peyrot
Professor Comparative Indo-European Linguistics
- Name
- Prof.dr. M. Peyrot
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 4177
- m.peyrot@hum.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0002-5983-9690
Michaël Peyrot is Associate Professor at the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics. As a Comparative Indo-European Linguist, he focuses on Tocharian and its relationship to Indo-Iranian and non-Indo-European languages. Currently he is leading an ERC-Starting Grant and an NWO-VIDI project on language contact and prehistory.
More information about Michaël Peyrot
News
PhD students
See also
-
The fringes of the Ancient Iranian World: lectures by Ching Chao-jung and Ogihara Hirotoshi
-
Europe’s ancient languages shed light on a great migration and weather talk (EU R&I Magazine)
-
Tocharian and Iranian in the Tarim Basin and beyond
-
The Secondary Homelands of the Indo-European Languages (IG-AT2022)
- Online conference 'Tocharian in Progress' (2020)
Research
I am fascinated by language, both as a synchronic system and in the course of change. For me the essential question is how languages have come to be as they are. For instance, how do different changes in a language correlate, i.e. how do changes in e.g. consonants and vowels, or in phonology and morphology, or in different morphological categories interact? How does language contact influence linguistic change? Which causes are there to language spread, language split and language death?
Research interests
- Historical Linguistics
- Language Contact and Prehistory
- Indo-European Studies
- Tocharian
- Central Asia / Tarim Basin
- Buddhism
Academic functions and training
| 2018- |
Assistant Professor at Leiden University with the ERC-Stg project The Tocharian Trek. |
| 2016- | Assistant Professor at Leiden University with the NWO-VIDI project Tracking the Tocharians. |
| 2014-2016 | Postdoctoral researcher at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Berlin, with the Marie Curie project Niya Tocharian: Language contact and prehistory on the Silk Road. |
| 2011-2014 | Postdoctoral researcher for A Comprehensive Edition of Tocharian Manuscripts at the University of Vienna, Austria. |
| 2009- | Editor of Tocharian and Indo-European Studies. |
| 2009-2010 | Teacher / researcher at Leiden University. |
| 2005-2009 | Teacher / researcher at Leiden University (0.2 fte). |
| 2004-2010 |
PhD student at Leiden University with The Tocharian subjunctive, supervised by Prof. Lubotsky (defence 28 September 2010, cum laude: circa best 5% of PhD awards; 0.8 fte position 2004–2009). |
| 2004-2007 | Contributor to the British Library International Dunhuang Project and the TITUS Tocharica Project at Frankfurt University. |
| 2001-2002 | Editorial assistant of Cognitive Linguistics. |
| 1999-2004 | MA Comparative Indo-European Linguistics, Leiden University (MA thesis Variant forms in Tocharian B; cum laude: circa best 5% of MA awards). |
| 1999-2003 | MA Dutch language and literature, Leiden University (MA thesis on argumentation). |
Funded projects
| 2018-2023 | “The Tocharian Trek”, European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant. |
| 2016-2021 | “Tracking the Tocharians”, The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) VIDI. |
| 2014-2016 | “Niya-Tocharian”, Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship. |
| 2004-2009 | “The Tocharian Subjunctive”, Leiden University PhD Scholarship. |
PhD students
|
Alessandro Del Tomba (2016-2020) |
The Tocharian gender system. A diachronic study.
(co-tutelle Leiden University – Sapienza, Rome; currently Research Fellow / RTDA at Sapienza, Rome) |
|
Federico Dragoni |
watañi lāntaṃ: Studies on the Contacts between Tocharian and Tumshuqese and Khotanese in the Tarim basin. (Part of my VIDI project) |
| Chams Bernard (2017-) |
Iranian Loanwords in Tocharian. (Part of my VIDI project) |
| Olga Lundysheva (2017-) |
Studies on the Tocharian manuscripts of the Saint Petersburg (IOM RAS) collection. With special focus on Central Asian Brāhmī palaeography and codicology.
(co-tutelle Leiden University – École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris) |
|
Louise Friis |
The phylogenetic position of Tocharian. (Part of my ERC-stg project) |
|
Niels Schoubben |
Niya Prakrit as a language in contact: Tocharian and Iranian elements in the Niya Documents. (Part of my ERC-stg project) |
|
Abel Warries |
Prehistoric Contact between Tocharian and Uralic. (Part of my ERC-stg project) |
Memberships and cooperations
- Cooperation partner of the “Sino-Indo-Iranica rediviva – Early Eurasian migratory terms in Chinese and their cultural implications” of Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Behr, University of Zurich.
- Member of the Young Academy of Europe (since 2017).
- Chercheur associé of the Unité Mixte de Recherche 7528, “Mondes iranien et indien”, of the CNRS / EPHE / Sorbonne Nouvelle / INALCO, Paris, France (2015–2019).
- Member of the Advisory Council of the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics (since 2017).
- Collaborator of “A Comprehensive Edition of Tocharian Manuscripts” (CEToM) of Prof. Dr. Melanie Malzahn, University of Vienna (2011–2014; since 2014 external).
Editorial tasks
- Co-editor of Tocharian and Indo-European Studies (since 2011, volume 12)
- Co-editor of a.o. two Festschrifts, a conference proceedings, and Emil Sieg: Tocharologica
Professor Comparative Indo-European Linguistics
- Faculty of Humanities
- Leiden Univ Centre for Linguistics
- LUCL VIET
No relevant ancillary activities