Robert A. Blust

Department of Linguistics,
University of Hawai'i at Manoa
1890 East-West Road, Moore Hall 569
Honolulu, HI 96822

Office: Moore 573

E-mail: blust@hawaii.edu
Phone: (808) 956-3647

 

Interests

Historical linguistics, Austronesian linguistics and culture history, fieldwork, lexicography, ethnology, rainbows, dragons.

Courses

Selected Publications

·         to app Malaita-Micronesian once again.  OL.

·         to app Austronesian: A sleeping giant?  Language and Linguistics Compass.

·         2010   Five patterns of semantic change in Austronesian languages.  In John Bowden, Nikolaus P. Himmellmann and Malcolm Ross, eds., A journey through Austronesian and Papuan linguistic and cultural space: papers in honour of Andrew K. Pawley:525-546. Canberra:  Pacific Linguistics.

·         2010   The Greater North Borneo hypothesis.  OL 49:44-118.          

·         2010   On datus, ancient and modern.  In Loren Billings and Nelleke Goudswaard, eds., Piakandatu ami Dr. Howard P.  McKaughan:36-51.  Manila: Linguistic Society of the Philippines and SIL Philippines.

·         2010   Lexicography on the internet --- Austronesian language sources.  Lexicographica 26:199-201.

·         2010   Historical reconstruction.  In Patrick Colm Hogan, ed., Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the language sciences:362-364.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

·         2009   The Austronesian Languages. Pacific Linguistics. 824pp.

·         2009   In Memoriam, Isidore Dyen, 1913-2008.  OL 48:488-508.

·         2009   Palauan historical phonology: whence the intrusive velar nasal?  OL 48:307-336.

·         2009   The historical value of single words. In Bethwyn Evans, ed., Discovering history through language.  Papers in honour of Malcolm Ross:61-71. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.

·         2009   The position of the languages of eastern Indonesia: a reply to Donohue and Grimes.  OL 48:36-77.

·         2008  Remote Melanesia: one history or two?  An addendum to Donohue and Denham.  OL 47:445-459.

·         2008  A reanalysis of Wuvulu phonology.  OL 47:275-293.

·         2008  Greenhill, Simon J., Robert Blust and Russell D. Gray.  The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: from bioinformatics to lexomics.  Evolutionary Bioinformatics:271-283.

·         2008  Is there a Bima-Sumba subgroup?   OL 47:46-114.

·         2007   Proto-Oceanic *mana revisited.   OL 46:404-423.

·         2007   The linguistic position of Sama-Bajaw.   Studies in Philippine languages and cultures 15:73-114.

·         2007   Òma Lóngh historical phonology.  OL 46:1-53.

·         2007   The prenasalized trills of Manus.   In Jeff Siegel, John Lynch and Diana Eades, eds., Language description, history and development: Linguistic indulgence in memory of Terry Crowley:297-311.  Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

·         2007   Antiantigemination: canonical constraints in Austronesian languages.  Phonology 24:1-36.

·         2006   The origin of the Kelabit voiced aspirates: a historical hypothesis revisited. OL 45:311-338.

·         2006   Supertemplatic reduplication and beyond.  In Henry Y. Chang, Lillian M. Huang, and Dah-an Ho, eds., Streams converging into an ocean: festschrift in honor of Professor Paul Jen-kuei Li on his 70th birthday:439-460. Taipei: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica.

·         2006   Anomalous liquid : sibilant correspondences in western Austronesian.  OL 45:210-216.

·         2006   Whence the Malays?  In James T. Collins and Awang Sariyan, eds., Borneo and the homeland of the Malays: four essays:64-88.  Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa.

·         2005   Borneo and iron: Dempwolff’s *besi revisited.  Bulletin of the IndoPacific Prehistory Association 25:31-40.

·         2005   The linguistic macrohistory of the Philippines: some speculations.  In Hsiu-chuan Liao and Carl R. Galvez Rubino, eds., Current issues in Philippine linguistics and anthropology parangal kay Lawrence A. Reid:31-68.  Manila:The Linguistic Society of the Philippines and SIL Philippines.

·         2005   Liver and lungs: a semantic dyad in Austronesian languages.  OL 44:537-543.

·         2005   Must sound change be linguistically motivated?  Diachronica 22:219-269.

·         2005   A note on the history of genitive marking in Austronesian languages.  OL 44:215-222.

·         2003   Thao dictionary (1,106pp). Language and Linguistics Monograph Series A5. Taipei: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica.

·         2003   A short morphology, phonology and vocabulary of Kiput, Sarawak. Shorter Grammars. Pacific Linguistics 546. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University.

·         2002   Between worlds: Linguistic papers in memory of David John Prentice (co-edited with K. Alexander Adelaar).  PL 529.  

 

Background

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and raised in California, where I did undergraduate work in English. Once aspired to be a poet, but was seduced by science. Received a BA in Anthropology and a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Hawaii. Have field experience on 97 Austronesian languages in Sarawak, Papua New Guinea, and Taiwan.

Go to the UH-Manoa Linguistics Department Page.

blust@hawaii.edu

10/06/10