Indo-European linguistics and Tibeto-Burman languages
Faculty of Humanities/Arts
Comparative Indo-European linguistics used to be part of the teaching commitment of professors in Sanskrit. Thus, in Leiden Indo-European linguistics was the responsibility of Frans Kuiper up to 1972, in Utrecht of Henk Bodewitz up to 1992, and in Amsterdam (UvA) of Adriaan Scharpé up to 1978. In 1974, a separate chair for comparative Indo-European linguistics was established at Leiden University. The first to occupy it was Robert Beekes and since 1999 the chair is held by Sasha Lubotsky. The chair belongs to the Leiden Centre for Linguistics, one of the seven institutes of the Faculty of Humanities.
Until recently, the linguistics department had a section for Tibeto-Burman languages led by professor George van Driem.
Leiden Centre for Linguistics
| 1974-1998 | R.S.P. Beekes (professor in comparative Indo-European linguistics) |
| 1980-present | A. Lubotsky (assistant professor and, from 1999 onwards, full professor in comparative Indo-European linguistics) |
| 1985-2011 | F.H.H. Kortlandt (also: professor of descriptive and comparative Indo-European linguistics) |
| 1998-2010 | Heleen Plaisier (research coordinator, Kortlandt-Spinoza programme) |
| 1999-2009 | G. van Driem (professor in descriptive linguistics) |
| 1999-present | M.A.C. de Vaan (assistant professor in comparative Indo-European linguistics, and from 2002 also in historical linguistics and dialectology) |
| 2008-present | L. Kulikov (associated member and lecturer) |