Flinders University’s Emeritus Professor Andy Butcher has been elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, one of the highest honours available for achievement in the humanities in Australia.

Professor Butcher (pictured), former Head of the Department of Speech Pathology and the Foundation Professor of Communication Disorders in the School of Medicine, was honoured as ”the leading researcher on the phonetics of Australian Indigenous languages, with particular experience in the area of communication disorders”.

As part of his research into Indigenous languages, he led two Discovery projects funded by the Australian Research Council, and the resulting publications include the journal article Linguistic aspects of Australian Aboriginal English and a book chapter, Australian Aboriginal Languages: Consonant-Salient Phonologies and the ‘Place-of-Articulation Imperative’.

The Academy announced the election of 19 new Fellows at its AGM on November 22.

The 15 leading scholars elected as Fellows have made major contributions in diverse areas of expertise. The four Honorary Fellows also elected this year – a category which can include distinguished public advocates and practitioners of the arts – included performer and arts festival director Robyn Archer, who has a long association with the Flinders Drama Centre.