Peter John Mayo (16 February 1944, London - 1 January 2004) was an English

slavist Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics, is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic peoples, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was ...

and promoter of

Belarusian Belarusian may refer to: * Something of, or related to Belarus * Belarusians, people from Belarus, or of Belarusian descent * A citizen of Belarus, see Demographics of Belarus * Belarusian language * Belarusian culture * Belarusian cuisine * Byelor ...

studies in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

Career

Mayo was born in London. He graduated from the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

in 1966. From 1969 to 1997 he worked as a lecturer at the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

, and since 1998 at the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of ...

. He was a member of the British University Association of Slavists (in 1978-80 its secretary). In 1982 Mayo earned a PhD in philology.

Belarusian studies

Mayo studied the lexicography, morphology and syntax of the

and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

languages. He authored "Grammar of the Byelorussian" reviewed in the

Journal of Belarusian Studies The ''Journal of Belarusian Studies'' (formerly the ''Journal of Byelorussian Studies'') is an English language academic journal in the field of Belarusian studies. It was described as “one of the longest lasting Belarusian publishing projects ...

Shirin Akiner Shirin Akiner (16 June 1943 – 6 April 2019) was a scholar of Central Asia and Belarus. She was a research associate at London University's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). Life Shirin Akiner was born in 1943 in Dacca, British In ...

as well as section "Belarusian language" in the collective monograph "Slavic languages", numerous articles on Belarusian and Slavic studies. He also wrote reviews of Belarusian linguistic research, textbooks and dictionaries. In 1979-88 Mayo was the editor of the Journal of Byelorussian Studies, and from 1989 of the Slavic Section of “Modern Languages Studies”. He prepared an English-Belarusian dictionary, a version of which was published in Minsk in 1995 as "Pocket English-Belarusian-Russian Dictionary". Mayo was one of the editors of English-Belarusian Dictionary published in 2013. Mayo was a longtime member of the

Anglo-Belarusian Society The Anglo-Belarusian Society () is one of the oldest Belarus-related organisations in the UK with an object of “diffusion, interchange and publication of knowledge relating to the Belarusian people, their land, history and culture”. History ...

and a trustee of the Francis Skaryna Belarusian Library and Museum in London.

Death

Mayo died in April 2004. The University of Sheffield prize for Russian was renamed in his honour.

References

External links

Journal of Belarusian Studies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayo, Peter John 1944 births 2004 deaths Slavists Belarus–United Kingdom relations Academics of the University of Sheffield Alumni of the University of Birmingham Academics of the University of Exeter