Professor Peter Austin
BA (AS) Hons, PhD (ANU)
Overview
Department of Linguistics
(Marit Rausing Chair in Field Linguistics)
Typology, morpho-syntax, language documentation and description, historical linguistics, Lexical-Functional grammar, computer-aided linguistic analysis, Austronesian languages, Australian Aboriginal languages
Contact Details
- Name:
- Professor Peter Austin
- Email address:
- pa2@soas.ac.uk
- Telephone:
- 020 7898 4586
- Address:
- School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG - Building:
- Russell Square: College Buildings
- Office No:
- 363
Teaching
I teach theory and practice of language documentation, including Technology and Documentation, and Applied Documentation and Description, as well as courses in descriptive and theoretical linguistics such as Advanced Syntax, Typology, Historical Linguistics, Austronesian Languages, and Australian Aboriginal Languages. I supervise students working on languages from the Pacific, Australia, India, Mexico, and Nigeria.
In 2008/9, I'm teaching Technology and Language Documentation (Term 1), Advanced Syntax (Term 2) and Historical Linguistics (Term 2).
Students supervised
Programmes Convened
Courses Taught
Research
My research interests cover descriptive, theoretical and applied linguistics. I have extensive fieldwork experience on Australian Aboriginal languages (northern New South Wales, northern South Australia, and north-west Western Australia) and co-authored with David Nathan the first fully page-formatted hypertext dictionary on the World Wide Web, a bilingual dictionary of Gamilaraay (Kamilaroi), northern New South Wales, as well as publishing seven bilingual dictionaries of Aboriginal languages.
Since 1995 I have been carrying out research on Sasak and Sumbawan, Austronesian languages spoken on Lombok and Sumbawa islands, eastern Indonesia, in collaboration with colleagues at Mataram University and Frankfurt University. My theoretical research is mainly on syntax and focuses on Lexical Functional Grammar, morpho-syntactic typology, computer-aided lexicography and multi-media for endangered languages. I have also published on historical and comparative linguistics, typology, and Aboriginal history and biography. I currently have a small research grant from the British Academy to work with native-speaker scholar Eli Timan on the Jewish Iraqi language, including recording the oldest generation of speakers talking about traditional practices and their memories of life in Iraq. This work is being done with the diaspora community in London, Canada and Israel. For more details and a list of recent publications see my HRELP web page.
Expertise
For help in contacting SOAS academics and advice on services to business and the community, please contact SOAS Enterprise on 020 7898 4837 or email interface@soas.ac.uk.
For all press and media enquiries please call 020 7898 4956 or email jf51@soas.ac.uk
Available for
- TV
- Radio
- Press
- Briefings
- Special Study Programmes
- Short Term Consultancy
Regional Expertise
- South East Asia
Country Expertise
- Indonesia
Languages
Publications
Edited Books
Austin , Peter, ed. (2008) 1000 languages. The worldwide history of living and lost tongues. London: Thames & Hudson.
Austin, Peter K. and Bond, Oliver and Nathan, David, eds. (2007) Proceedings of Conference on Language Documentation & Linguistic Theory. London, UK: Department of Linguistics, SOAS.
Chapters in Books
Austin , Peter (2008) 'Survival of Language.' In: Shuckburgh, E., (ed.), Survival. The Darwin College lectures. Cambridge University Press, pp. 80-98.
Austin, Peter K. and Bond, Oliver and Nathan, David (2007) 'Introduction.' In: Austin, Peter K. and Bond, Oliver and Nathan, David, (eds.), Proceedings of Conference on Language Documentation & Linguistic Theory. London, UK: Department of Linguistics, SOAS, pp. 1-2.
Austin , Peter (2006) 'Data and Language Documentation.' In: Gippert, J. and Himmelmann, N.P. and Mosel, U., (eds.), Essentials of Language Documentation. Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 87-112.
Austin , Peter (2006) 'Content Questions in Sasak, Eastern Indonesia: An Optimality Theoric Syntax Account.' In: Schulze, F. and Warnk, H., (eds.), Insular Southeast Asia. Linguistic and Cultural Studies in Honour of Bernd Nothofer. Harrassowitz, pp. 1-12.
Articles
McGill, Stuart (2009) 'Documenting grammatical tone using Toolbox: an evaluation of Buseman's interlinearisation technique.' Language Documentation and Description, 6 . pp. 236-250.
