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the
Chameleon
edition
#2
December, 2001
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In
this edition:
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Feature
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People
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Education
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Events
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Research
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| Books |
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FAQs
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The following is a list of new
Members & Associates of the CRLC, in alphabetical order of
family name. For a complete list of the current CRLC Members
and Associates, click
here.
| Ms. Laura Daniliuc, PhD
student, School of Language Studies (Program in Linguistics),
Faculty of Arts, ANU. (full member) |
| Mr. Radu Daniliuc, PhD
student, School of Language Studies (Program in Linguistics),
Faculty of Arts, ANU. (full member) |
| Ms. Bethwyn Evans, (recent
PhD student, Linguistics, RSPAS). (associate
member) |
| Prof. Peter Hill, Visiting
Fellow, School of Language Studies, Faculty of Arts, ANU.
(full member) |
Dr. Margaret Sharpe, Hon. Research
Fellow, Dept. of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, University
of New England.
(associate
member)
|
| Dr. Angela Terrill, Native Title Unit,
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Studies, and Visiting Fellow, School of Language Studies (Program
in Linguistics), Faculty of Arts, ANU. (full
member)
|
|
Language
genealogy and human prehistory
The study of language change has
important implications for general
human prehistory. The methods of
historical linguistics include not
only a diachronic dimension - tracing
language changes downward through
time but also a retrospective dimension
- reconstructing upwards or backwards
through time to earlier stages of
language. Our methods allow us to
demonstrate the genealogical or
family relations between languages
and to reconstruct aspects of the
original parent language or "proto-language"
from which a family of languages
has descended.
The genealogical groups of languages
established by these methods constitute
facts which need to be taken into
consideration by other disciplines
concerned with history and prehistory,
such as archaeology, anthropology,
history, human geography, human
genetics. The facts of language
relationship require explanations
in terms of social factors such
as the movement, political domination,
and cultural influence of groups
of human beings.
For example, here are some well-known
discoveries of historical linguistics
that have long since been taken
on board by (pre)historians.
• The closest linguistic
relatives of Hungarian are east
of the Ural Mountains.
• The languages of Iran
and the northern part of the Indian
subcontinent are related in the
Indo-European language family
to most of the languages of Europe.
• The language of the Hittite
empire of ancient Anatolia belongs
to the Indo-European language
family.
• The closest linguistic
relatives of Romani (the language
of European Gypsies) are languages
of northern India.
• The closest linguistic
relatives of the Sinhala language
of Sri Lanka (with Divehi of the
Maldive Islands) are in northern
India.
• The closest linguistic
relatives of Malagasy are in Indonesia.
• The closest linguistic
relatives of Maori are in Polynesia.
• The languages
of Madagascar, Indonesia, the Philippines,
and most of the Pacific islands
are related in the Austronesian
language family to the indigenous
languages of Taiwan.
Some issues of linguistic relation
that still await further elucidation
involve the existence, family structure,
and geographical distribution of
languages in:
• Southeast Asia (of the
Tai-Kadai and Austroasiatic families)
• Australia (where a large
Pama-Nyungan family was apparently
spoken over much of the continent)
• New Guinea
(where a huge Trans New Guinea family
is spread across the whole island)
These latter issues
are some of the questions being studied
by ANU linguists of the CRLC, which
are of great interest to colleagues
in adjacent disciplines of (pre)history.
The genealogical classification
of languages is just one aspect of
the historical study of languages.
Another is the study of "language
contact", which is also of great importance
to human (pre)history. This will be
the topic of a future feature in the
newsletter.
|
Profile: Jennifer Hendriks,
ARC Research Associate
in the School of Language
Studies, Arts, ANU
A few years ago, just before
the concept for a Centre
for Research on Language
Change was initially proposed,
I had moved to Australia
after having completed a
PhD in Germanic Linguistics
from the Department of German
at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
My primary research interests
were in early modern Dutch
and German, particularly
in the complex language
contact situation that took
place in 16th/17th century
Holland. As a postgrad,
I had spent a Fulbright-funded
year in the Netherlands
amassing data for my dissertation.
I was particularly interested
in finding materials that
historical linguists had
never used before, and,
more importantly, I wanted
to use ego-documents (informal
personal letters and journals)
which I felt would reflect
the spoken language varieties
more closely than the highly
formal, stylized writings
on which the Dutch linguistic
histories (which are histories
of the development of the
written standard language)
are based. After getting
over the initial shock of
not being able to read the
archival materials I intended
to use and after becoming
paleographically proficient,
I collected hundreds of
photos and photocopies of
archival materials, only
a fraction of which I have
been able to transcribe
for my research to date.
Letter from Hedewig Bachers to
her brother, Samuel from 29 December
1606
In 1999 I became a visiting
fellow in the Department
of Linguistics, Faculty
of Arts, but instead of
being able to just concentrate
on my research, I spent
the next few years tutoring
linguistics units, teaching
a few semesters of Reading
Dutch, working half time
as assistant administrator
in the School of Language
Studies (!) and half time
as a lecturer in Academic
English. My status at the
ANU has recently changed
yet again, but this time
it represents a significant
improvement. In addition
to being appointed (fractional)
lecturer in the School of
Language Studies, from 2002-2004,
I will be an ARC Research
Associate (also fractional)
for a project with Dr Cynthia
Allen (Chief Investigator)
entitled Linguistic typology
and the demise of morphological
case: The development of
the genitive in the Germanic
Languages. My primary
role in this project will
be to conduct a detailed
investigation into the deterioration
of the case marking system
in Dutch based on my collection
of archival materials from
the 16th/17th centuryÑa
period crucial to our understanding
of the development of the
Dutch grammar of possession.
The approach of using previously
unanalyzed colloquial texts
as data yielded some very
significant results in my
dissertation, and is sure
to prove to be a linguistic
goldmine for our current
project.
| Acting
Director: |
Dr. Cynthia Allen (FAHA, School of Language Studies
(Program in Linguistics), Faculty of Arts) |
|
Representatives:
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| Dr. Peter Hendriks (Japan Studies Centre, Faculty
of Asian Studies) |
| Dr. Harold Koch (School of Language Studies (Program
in Linguistics), Faculty of Arts) |
Dr. Ann Kumar (FAHA, Centre for Asian Societies and
Histories, Faculty of Asian Studies)
|
|
Administrator:
|
Ms. Pascale Jacq (Visiting Fellow, Southeast Asia
Centre, Faculty of Asian Studies, and Research Assistant,
Linguistics RSPAS)
|
Courses
relevant to Language Change offered at ANU in 2002
In 2002 the ANU School of Language Studies
is offering a number of units related to historical
linguistics and language change:
Semester 1
• Language Change and Linguistic Reconstruction
(LING2005), Lecturer: Harold Koch
•Languages in Contact (LING2018), Lecturer: Michael
Dunn
•Study of a Language Family (Australian),
Lecturers Harold Koch & Patrick McConvell
See also the courses on offer at the Australian
Linguistics Institute 2002 (see below
under Upcoming
Conferences for details).
Congratulations
to
Bethwyn
Evans
on
her
PhD
thesis:
“A
study
of
valency-changing
devices
in
Proto
Oceanic”
Summary:
This
thesis
presents
a
reconstruction
of
several
valency-changing
devices
and
a
system
of
verb
classes
for
Proto
Oceanic.
Proto
Oceanic
is
the
ancestor
language
of
the
Oceanic
languages
of
the
Pacific,
a
subgroup
of
the
Austronesian
language
family.
A
characteristic
of
many
Oceanic
languages,
and
indeed
Proto
Oceanic,
is
the
presence
of
several
valency-changing
devices.
Those
examined
here
are:
the
transitive
suffix
*-i;
transitivising
*akin[i];
the
causative
prefix
*pa[ka]-;
and
the
two
valency-decreasing
prefixes
*ma-
and
*ta-.
Reflexes
of
all
of
these
forms
are
found
in
many
Oceanic
languages
and
all
had
previously
been
reconstructed
for
Proto
Oceanic.
The
thesis
uses
the
previous
work
on
these
devices
as
the
starting
point
for
describing
them
in
more
detail,
in
particular
with
respect
to
their
functions
and
distributions.
Chapters
3
to
7
look
in
detail
at
each
of
the
five
valency-changing
devices,
presenting
descriptions
of
their
reflexes
in
a
number
of
modern
Oceanic
languages
and
a
description
of
the
Proto
Oceanic
form
and
its
behaviour.
The
investigation
of
valency-changing
devices
led
to
the
study
of
morphosyntactic
classes
of
verbs
as
it
became
clear
that
the
valency-changing
devices
are
best
described
as
part
of
a
system
of
verb
classes
since:
(i)
they
had
different
uses
with
different
types
of
verbs;
and
(ii)
they
occurred
with
only
particular
types
of
verbs.
The
proposed
system
of
Proto
Oceanic
verb
classes
is
presented
in
Chapter
2,
along
with
an
examination
of
verb
classes
in
a
number
of
modern
Oceanic
languages.
Congratulations
to
Pascale
Jacq
on
her
MPhil
thesis
(a
language
description
with
important
historical
components):
“A
Description
of
Jruq
(Loven):
a
Mon-Khmer
language
of
the
Lao
PDR”
Summary:
Jruq
is
a
minority
language
spoken
in
the
Champassak,
Attapeu
and
Saravane
provinces
of
the
Lao
People's
Democratic
Republic
(Lao
PDR).
The
investigation
is
based
predominantly
on
the
data
collected
during
four
intensive
fieldwork
trips
between
1997
and
2000.
Jruq
has
not
been
studied
thoroughly
by
linguists,
and
as
a
result
there
is
very
little
literature
available
on
it,
mostly
some
wordlists,
some
very
basic
grammatical
information
and
a
small
amount
of
text.
This
thesis
is
an
attempt
at
a
more
complete
and
systematic
description,
within
the
limits
of
a
Masters
thesis.
The
range
of
topics
covered
include
phonetics,
phonology,
morphology
and
syntax.
Special
attention
is
given
to
some
particular
features
of
Jruq
which
are
typologically
unusual,
or
otherwise
noteworthy,
these
include:
1)
the
phonation-type
distinctions
among
initial
consonants
(this
is
treated
as
a
phonological
rather
than
phonetic
distinction)
2)
the
distinction
of
active
rather
than
passive
articulators
in
determining
the
major
places
of
consonant
articulation,
3)
word
and
syllable
structure,
and
my
proposal
to
treat
the
phonological
word
as
basically
monosyllabic,
4)
the
interesting
system
of
prefixation
which
is
now
no
longer
productive,
and
has
been
partly
obscured
by
phonological
changes
to
the
language,
5)
the
complex
Tense,
Aspect
and
Mood
system
unusual
for
other
Mon-Khmer
languages,
6)
the
indigenous
'Khom'
script,
previously
not
described
in
detail
in
the
literature.
|
HistLing
Seminars, Series 2:
November-December,
2001 [back
to top]
Co-ordinator:
Harold Koch, 6125 3203, harold.koch@anu.edu.au
A very successful second series of HistLing
seminars was held at ANU in November and December. A summary
of the program is given below (click on links to view abstracts).
The next series is projected for March and April 2002. Anyone
wanting to present a seminar should contact Harold.
| Date |
Speaker |
Topic |
| 8
Nov. |
Andrew
Pawley
(Dept. Linguistics, RSPAS)
|
“Proto-Polynesian
*-Cia” [Abstract] |
| 14
Nov. |
Jennifer
Hendriks
(School of Langiage Studies, Arts)
|
“On
the use and abuse of social history in the history of the
Dutch language” [Abstract] |
| 21Nov.
|
Lawrence
A. Reid
(Visiting Fellow, Linguistics,
RSPAS)
|
“Austric:
Is it a real language family or not?” [Abstract] |
| 28
Nov. |
Ritsuko
Kikusawa
(Visiting Post-doctoral Fellow,
Linguistics, RSPAS)
|
“Taking
Advantages of both the Comparative Method and Syntactic Typology:
An examination of the development of Indonesian basic sentence
structures” [Abstract] |
| 5
Dec. |
Mark
Dras
(Macquarie University)
|
“Evolution
of Turkic vowel harmony: a computational simulation”
[Abstract] |
| 12
Dec . |
Patrick
McConvell (AIATSIS)&
Jane Simpson
(University of Sydney)
|
“Language
change among Central Australian Aboriginal children”
[Abstract] |
| 19
Dec. |
Bethwyn
Evans
(PhD student, Linguistics, RSPAS)
|
“Proto
Oceanic *akin[i]: reconstructing a process of grammaticalisation”
[Abstract] |
January
8th-11th, 2002
The
9th International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics (9ICAL) |
The 9th International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics
(9ICAL) will be held in Canberra, at Burgmann College, ANU,
from January 8-11, 2002. The papers to be presented at 9ICAL
are on a broad range of topics concerning Austronesian languages.
Keynote speakers are Frank Lichtenberk (Auckland, New Zealand)
“The possessive-benefactive connection”
and Dr. Bambang Kaswanti Purwo “Bitransitive Verbs
in some Austronesian Languages ”
Workshops:
•Dr. Miriam van Staden and Professor Gunter Senft “Multiverb
and Serial Verb Constructions in Austronesian Languages”
•Dr. Anna Margetts and Dr. Jae Jung Song “Benefactives
in Oceanic Languages”
•Dr. Cecilia Odé “Basics for the experimental
phonetic study of intonation in the field.With examples
from AN (Indonesian, Local Bird’s Head Malay (West
Papua) and NAN (Mpur, tone language, Northeastern Bird’s
Head) languages.”
Registration fees for 9ICAL only A$100 for students,
A$170 for non-students. If you wish to attend both 9ICAL
and COOL5 conferences the fees are: A$120 for students,
and A$200 for non-students.
More information on both conferences is available on-line
at http://rspas.anu.edu.au/linguistics/ANConfs,
or please e-mail: Anconf@anu.edu.au.
Note that payment is not required at this stage.
|
|
January
14th-16th, 2002
The
5th International Conference on Oceanic Languages (COOL5)
|
The 5th International Conference of Oceanic Languages (COOL5)
will be held from 14-16 January at Burgmann College, ANU,
with papers specifically addressing Oceanic languages, and
keynote address by Dr. Jean-Claude Rivierre and Dr. Françoise
Ozanne-Rivierre “Verbal compounds and ‘classifying’
verbal prefixes in the languages of New-Caledonia”.
Registration fees for COOL5 only A$60 for Students,
A$ 100 for non-Students. If you wish to attend both 9ICAL
and COOL5 conferences the fees are: A$120 for students,
and A$200 for non-students.
More information on both conferences is avaiiable on-line
at http://rspas.anu.edu.au/linguistics/ANConfs,
or please e-mail: Anconf@anu.edu.au.
Note that payment is not required at this stage.
|
July
8-12 & 15-19, 2002
Australian
Linguistics Institute 2002 |
The Australian Linguistics Institute 2002 will be held
at Macquarie University, Sydney.
Several courses will be offered that relate directly to
language change and historical linguistics:
Comparative Australian Linguistics, Dr Harold Koch
(ANU) & Dr Patrick McConvell (AIATSIS). Level: Intermediate.
Language spread since antiquity, Dr Nicholas Ostler
(Foundation for Endangered Languages). Level: Introductory.
Language change and reconstruction: a practical introduction,
Dr Paul Sidwell (ANU). Level: Introductory
For more detailed information please see http://www.ling.mq.edu.au/ali/
.
|
|
|
The Second Conference on the Archaeology and Linguistics
of Australia to be held at the National Museum of Australia
and Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Studies Canberra.
The last decade has advanced our knowledge of Australian
indigenous languages and the archaeological record, and
has also seen an upsurge in hypotheses and controversies
in prehistory, including linguistic prehistory. The time
is ripe to assess the discoveries and theories, and to provide
a forum for cross-fertilisation between Australian and world
prehistory; and between the different disciplines which
contribute to our overall understanding of prehistory. ARCLING
II has been planned for 2002 to bring together archaeologists,
linguists and others to record progress made and map out
the challenges we now face.
Registration will be A$220 if paid before March
1 2002 and A$275 after that date.
If you wish to give a paper, please send a title and abstract
to Patrick McConvell by Feb. I5, 2001. This should
be a Word or RTF attachment to an email message of between
200 and 500 words.
Contact: Dr. Patrick McConvell, Convener, Planning
Committee Phone: 02-62461116; E-mail: patrick@aiatsis.gov.au
|
|
RESEARCH:
new Research Projects, Grants & Updates
[back
to top]
Click here
for more details of Research Projects by CRLC members & associates
ARC
Grants awarded for 2002
Congratulations to CRLC members who were successful
in the most recent round of ARC Discovery Grants and ANU Faculty
based Small Research Grants!
Cynthia Allen: $95,000 over three years for
her project “Linguistic Typology and the Demise of Morphological
Case: The Development of the Genitive in the Germanic Languages”.
Summary: This project will investigate how changes
to the case marking systems of the Germanic languages affected
the expression of the relationships originally encoded by genitive
case. New data will be gathered concerning changes in Dutch and
English. The investigation will then be extended to the other
Germanic languages. A primary aim of the project is to present
a case study of how closely related languages can diverge significantly
while undergoing a similar shift from one overall ‘type’
to another, adding to our understanding of what sort of changes
the human language capability allows in the transmission of language
across generations.
Harold Koch: $22,860 by the ANU's
Faculties Research Grants Scheme for his project "Reconstruction
of verb inflection in Australian languages".
Summary: The project will compare verbs and their
inflections that mark Tense, Aspect, and Mood across a number
of Australian Aboriginal languages of the Pama-Nyungan family,
to reconstruct (a) the earliest inflectional paradigms of widely
attested verbs, (b) the changes that they have undergone in various
languages, and (c) the grouping of languages that these changes
imply. The project has significance for three controversial issues
in Australian historical linguistics: (a) the testing of methods
for reconstructing inflectional morphology, (b) the description
of Proto-Pama-Nyungan, the presumed ancestral language, and (c)
the establishment of a chronology of diversification of the Pama-Nyungan
languages.
Pascale Jacq: $4,980 by the ANU's Faculties
Research Grants Scheme for her "Nhaheun Language Project".
Summary: The project is an intensive effort to record
and document the Nhaheun language, of Mon-Khmer family, spoken
in the Lao PDR. The aim is to produce a linguistic description,
lexicon and texts useful to the Nhaheun people for language and
culture preservation/planning.
Updates
on continuing and other projects [back
to top]
The “Updates” item will be included in each issue
of the newsletter. Members and Associates are invited to
keep the centre administrator updated on thier research
projects concerning language change.
Claire Bowern and Harold Koch
are editing a volume of papers from the “Workshop on
Reconstruction and Subgrouping in Australian Languages”,
held at the 15th International conference on Historical
Linguistics, Melbourne, 16 August 2001.
Laura and Radu Daniliuc
The Daniliucs have a project
entitled “The Romanian Verbal System”. The
project is a description of the Romanian verbal system, and
an account of its historical evolution from Latin up to the
present compared with other Romance languages. Some linguists
have called Romanian “the least Romance” of the
Romance languages, however the essential Latin character of
Romanian has lasted in spite of the long history of separation
from other Romance languages.
Anthony Diller
Tony is in the last stages of a large
ARC grant project correlating Thai and Lao orthographic variation
with diachronic sound changes as established through the Comparative
Method. He is also co-editing, with Jerry Edmondson, the Curzon/Routledge
volume on the Tai-Kadai languages. This book will have a strong
diachronic emphasis and will feature some results of the ARC
project.
In an interesting development, the ARC offered Paul Sidwell
a second postdoctoral fellowship for his project “Linguistic
prehistory in Mainland Southeast Asia: 2000 years of language
and culture contact between Austroasiatic and Chamic speakers”.
However, it seems that Paul may not be able to take up the grant,
under the ARC rule that prevents researchers accepting two fellowships
of the same class. We await developments in this story in the
new year.
2001
publications in Historical Linguistics and Language Change
[back
to top]
Below is a list of publications appearing 2001compiled
from information sent in by members.
Cynthia Allen
• “The development of a new passive in English”.
In Butt, M. & T. H. King (eds.) Time over matter: Diachronic
perspectives on morphosyntax. Stanford, California: CSLI Publications.
43-72.
Anthony Diller
• “Grammaticalization and Thai Syntactic
Change”. In: Essays in Tai Linguistics. Edited by M.R.
Kalaya Tingsabadh and Arthur S. Abramson. Chulalongkorn University
Press. Pp. 139-175. ISBN 974-347-222-3.
• “Thai Grammar and Grammaticality”. In: Indigenous
Grammars Across Cultures. Edited by Hannes Kniffka. Frankfurt
am Main: Peter Lang. Pp. 219-244. ISBN 3-631-38581-1.
Koch, Harold
• “Basic vocabulary of the Arandic languages: From classification
to reconstruction.” In Jane Simpson, David Nash, Mary Laughren,
Peter Austin, Barry Alpher (eds), Forty years on: Ken Hale
and Australian languages. (Pacific Linguistics 512) Canberra:
Pacific Linguistics. 71-87.
Andrew Pawley
• “The Proto Trans New Guinea obstruents: arguments
from top-down reconstruction.” In A. Pawley, M. Ross and
D. Tryon (eds) The Boy from Bundaberg: Essays in Melanesian
Linguistics in Honour of Tom Dutton, 261-300. Canberra: Pacific
Linguistics.
• “Proto-Polynesian *-CIA”. In J. Bradshaw and
K. Rehg (eds), Issues in Austronesian morphology: a focusschrift
for Byron W. Bender, 193-217. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
Malcolm Ross
• “Is there an East Papuan phylum? Evidence from pronouns”.
In: Andrew Pawley, Malcolm Ross and Darrell Tryon eds, The
Boy from Bundaberg: Studies in Melanesian linguistics in honour
of Tom Dutton, 301-321. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
• “Contact-induced change in Oceanic languages in north-west
Melanesia”. In: Alexandra Aikhenvald and R.M.W. Dixon eds,
Areal diffusion and genetic inheritance: problems in comparative
linguistics, 134-166. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• “Proto Oceanic *i, *qi and *-ki”. In Joel Bradshaw
and Kenneth L. Rehg, eds, Issues in Austronesian morphology:
a focusschrift for Byron W. Bender, 259-278. Canberra: Pacific
Linguistics.
• (with John Lynch and Terry Crowley) The Oceanic languages.
London: Curzon Press.
Book
News
[back
to top]
Reader
are encouraged to submit details of new books and other publications
of interest to members and associates.
Processes of language contact: Case studies from
Australia and the South Pacific. Edited by Jeff Siegel (Champs
linguistiques [Series editor: Claire Lefebvre]) Quebec, Canada: Fides.
xi+326 pp.2001. ISBN: 2-7621-2098-5.
Contents:
• Jeff Siegel. Introduction: The processes of language contact.
1-11.
• Harold Koch. The role of Australian Aboriginal languages in
the formation of Australian Pidgin grammar: Transitive verbs and adjectives.
13-46.
• Terry Crowley. "Predicate Marking" in Bislama. 47-74.
• Jeff Siegel, Barbara Sandeman, and Chris Corne. Predicting
substrate influence: Tense-Modality-Aspect marking in Tayo. 75-97.
• Christine Jourdan. My Nephew is my aunt: Features and transformation
of kinship terminology in Solomon Islands Pijin. 99-121.
• Ian Malcolm. Aboriginal English: From Contact Variety to Social
Dialect. 123-144.
• Joan Bresnan. Pidgin genesis and Optimality Theory. 145-173.
• Terry Crowley. Simplicity, complexity, emblematicity and grammatical
change. 175-193.
• Jane Simpson. Camels as Pidgin-carriers: Afghan cameleers as
a vector for the spread of features of Australian Aboriginal pidgins
and creoles. 195-244.
• Jennifer Munro. Kriol on the move: A case of language spread
and shift in northern Australia. 245-270.
• Geoff Smith. Tok Pisin and English: The current relationship.
271-291.
• Chris Corne. Na pa kekan, na person: The evolution of Tayo
negatives. 193-317.
Time over Matter: Diachronic Perspectives on Morphosyntax.
Edited by Miriam Butt and Tracy Holloway King. Center for the
Study of Language and Information, Stanford University, California.
2001.
Contents:
• Cynthia Allen. The Development of a New Passive in English.
• Julia Barron. Perception and Raising Verbs.
• Miriam Butt. Accusative to Ergative Shift in Indo-Aryan.
• Christoph Schwarze. Representation and Variation.
• Jane Simpson. The Grammaticalisation Of Associated Path.
• Ida Toivonen. Language Change, Lexical Features and Finnish
Possessors.
The History and Typology of Western Austronesian
Voice Systems, edited by Fay Wouk and Malcolm Ross, Pacific
Linguistics 518. 2002. ISBN 0 85883 477 4.
Contents:
• Part I: Overviews
• Part II: Languages of Sulawesi
• Part III: Languages of the rest of Indonesia and Malaysia
• Part IV: Languages outside Indonesia and Malaysia
• Part V: Discussion notes
Time Depth in Historical Linguistics,
edited by Colin Renfrew, April McMahon and Larry Trask, McDonald Institute
for Archaeological Research, Cambridge. 2000. 2 volumes. ISBN 1902937139
(v.1), 1902937147 (v.2).
Contents:
Volume 1
• Part I: Questions of Time Depth
• Part II: Towards Lexicostatistics and Glottochronology
Volume 2
• Part III: Critique of Glottochronology; Linguistic Palaeontology
• Part IV: Family Affairs: Indo-European and Hittite
• Part V: Process: Phonetics, Grammar and Convergence
• Part VI: Morphology, Spatial Patterning, and Beyond
Historical Linguistics and Lexicostatistics,
edited by Vitaly Shevoroshkin and Paul Sidwell, Association for the
History of Language, Melbourne. 1999. ISBN 0 9577251 1 6
Contents:
• Part I: Lexicostatistic: way of application
• Part II: Genetic Relationship of Languages and “Mass Comparison”
• Part III: Calculating Language Relationship
An Introduction to Historical Linguistics
(4th edition), Terry Crowley .
Oxford University Press have indicated that they would like Terry
to prepare a fourth edition of his textbook An Introduction to
Historical Linguistics. He is keen to receive any comments at
all from people who have read this book or used it as a teaching text
regarding areas for improvement in the next edition. Please keep in
mind, though, that this is to remain an INTRODUCTORY text, and that
the publishers are not keen for me to expand the size of the volume
by more than 10% of its current size. Comments should reach Terry
at tcrowley@waikato.ac.nz
by around the middle of 2002 .
Palgrave Studies in Language History and Language
(from Charles Jones)
Palgrave Publishing have agreed to establish, under my general editorship,
a new monograph series, entitled Palgrave Studies in Language History
and Language Change, dedicated to general issues in Historical Linguistics.
The monograph series will be designed to attract works of the highest
scholarly standard in what is an increasingly active area of general
linguistic research. The series will comprise monographs providing
insights into general theoretical issues relating to language change
through time and the relevance these might have for models of linguistic
behaviour at all levels of the grammar. The series will encompass
issues relating to linguistic mutation across a broad set of the world's
languages. The series will also seek descriptions of the historical
development of lesser-studied languages and embrace topics relating
to the dissemination of language change through time, notably the
sociolinguistic (as well as other extra-linguistic) parameters relevant
to linguistic innovation. The series will not be dominated by any
single theoretical or descriptive model.
I have established a group of eminent scholars who will act as an
Editorial Board alongside me as General Editor of the series; it includes
Peter Austin (Melbourne), Lyle Campbell (Canterbury, New Zealand),
Donka Minkova (UCLA), Matti Rissanen (Helsinki), Irma Taavitsainen
(Helsinki) and Ans van Kemenade (Nijmegen).
It is hoped to commission two volumes in any given year. Proposals
should be of around 100,000-150,000 words in length, although I intend
to be as flexible in this area as possible. Proposals for publication
are now cordially invited and should be sent to Professor Charles
Jones, Department of English Language, University of Edinburgh, 14
Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh EH9 9LN, UK.
Palgrave is the global brand for Macmillan academic and college publishing,
publishes some 500 titles a year across the Humanities and Social
Sciences and intends to develop further its programme of Linguistics
publishing. Palgrave has an extensive overseas representation with
offices in over 35 countries around the world and has the means to
reach a wide international market through prestigious academic outlets.
Further details of the series will be posted on the web site of the
English Language Department at the University of Edinburgh. In the
meantime, I shall be happy to answer any queries concerning the series.
The CRLC promotes, coordinates and sponsors research
on all aspects of language change
and on the history of particular languages
and language families.
The Centre is a focus for all research
in this field at the Australian National University
(ANU), combining interests previously divided amongst
the Department
of Linguistics in the Research School of Pacific
and Asian Studies (RSPAS), the School
of Language Studies in the Faculty of Arts,
various centres in the Faculty
of Asian Studies, and members of the Departments
of Anthropology
and of Archaeology
and Natural History, RSPAS, and the School
of Archaeology and Anthropology, Faculty of
Arts.
We seek to actively promote the formulation
of cross-campus and inter-university projects and
seek appropriate funding for them, support directly
selected projects or aspects of them, organise seminars,
lectures and conferences, publish appropriate works
and publicise the interests and achievements of
historical linguistics at the ANU. The CRLC
is unique in the world. There is no other
centre devoted exclusively to research on language
change across language families. ANU scholars connected
with the Centre will play a role in defining the
discipline on a world scale.
I created the chameleon mascot for the CRLC
to symbolise change. Also chameleons symbolise
the 'exotic' language families we are involved
in with our research (Chamaeleontidae
lizards are found in Africa and Madagascar).
Harold Koch suggested I make him pop his tongue
out to show a dynamic representation of change,
and also because the word 'language' in English
is derived historically from the Latin root
(lingua) meaning 'tongue'. The different
colours are used on the CRLC's web page to distinguish
the different pages and the CRLC's areas of
interest, e.g. events, education, research,
members, etc. Some may argue that theoretically
we shouldn't be able to see our chameleon at
any time on the web page because of the chameleon's
remarkable camouflaging ability, but where's
the fun in that?
When asked by the committee
to come up with a logo for the CRLC, I was a
little stumped. How do you represent 'change'
with an unmoving image? Playing around with
shapes, Paul Sidwell noticed how one my triangles
looked like the Greek 'delta' symbol (uppercase).
Knowing more logic than I did, he remarked how
the symbol is used in logic to symbolise change.
I slanted it a little to the right to emphasise
the CRLC's aims in the future and our aim to
make advances in the field of historical linguistics.
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This document last modified: 24th December, 2001
Copyright © 2001 by the Centre for Research on
Language Change, ANU.
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