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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:
|
|
|
|
|
| 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.
|
