Department of Linguistics, School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics

Emeritus Professor in Field Linguistics

Name:

Professor Peter Austin

Email address:

pa2@soas.ac.uk

Biography

Prof Austin retired on 1st January 2019.

PhD Students supervised

• Ebany Dohle, Náhuat-Pipil: The Encoding of Ecological Knowledge in Semantic and Lexical Categorisation Systems
• Lin Li, Flexibility and Constraints in Lexical Meaning Construction in Mandarin Chinese
• Lingxia Zhou, Hegemony and Counter-hegemony in Multilingual China: A case study of language policy and campaigns in Shanghai [WORKING TITLE]
• Martha Tsutsui, A Documentation and Description of Disappearing Predicates in Southern Amami-Ōshima
• Meriem Sallemine,
• Robert Laub, A Comparison of the Portuguese Creoles of Malacca and Macau
• Takako Kawabata, Choice of languages and scripts in the Japanese linguistic landscape (tentative title)

My research interests cover documentary, descriptive, theoretical, historical and applied linguistics. I have extensive fieldwork experience since 1972 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 2011 I have been working with the Dieri Aboriginal Corporation on revitalisation of the Dieri language spoken in South Australia (see Dieri Wordpress).

Since 1995 I have been carrying out research on Sasak and Samawa, 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 am currently working with Dr Julia Sallabank and with colleagues at University of Warsaw and Leiden University on an EU Horizon2020 Twinning project called Engaged Humanities, and with Professor Stefanie Pillai, University of Malaya, on a British Academy-funded collaborative research project in Malaysia.

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Available for

• Radio
• Press
• TV
• Briefings
• Special Study Programmes
• Short Term Consultancy

Regional Expertise

• South East Asia

Country Expertise

Languages

Articles

Nathan, David and Austin, Peter (2014) 'Editor's Introduction'. Language Documentation and Description, (12), pp 4-16.

Austin, Peter (2014) 'And still they speak Diyari: the life history of an endangered language.'. Ethnorema, (10), pp 1-17.

Austin, Peter and Sallabank, Julia (2013) 'Endangered Languages: An introduction'. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, (34) 4, pp 313-316.

McGill, Stuart (2009) 'Documenting grammatical tone using Toolbox: an evaluation of Buseman's interlinearisation technique'. Language Documentation and Description, (6), pp 236-250.

Edited Books or Journals

Austin, Peter K. and Sallabank, Julia, (eds.), (2014) Endangered Languages: Beliefs and Ideologies in Language Documentation and Revitalization. London: British Academy. (Proceedings of the British Academy Vol. 199).

Nathan, David and Austin, Peter, (eds.), (2014) Language Documentation and Description, Volume 12. London: EL Publishing.

Austin, Peter K. and Sallabank, Julia, (eds.), (2014) Endangered Languages: Beliefs and Ideologies in Language Documentation and Revitalization. Oxford: Oxford University Press / British Academy. (Proceedings of the British Academy).

Austin, Peter and Sallabank, Julia, (eds.), (2013) Endangered Languages. Special issue of Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Vol 34. No. 4. London: Taylor & Francis.

Austin, Peter and McGill, Stuart, (eds.), (2011) Critical Concepts in Linguistics: Endangered Languages. London: Routledge. (Critical Concepts in Lingusitics).

Austin, Peter K. and Sallabank, Julia, (eds.), (2011) Cambridge Handbook of Endangered Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Cambridge Handbooks in Language and Linguistics).

Austin, Peter and Bond, Oliver and Marten, Lutz and Nathan, David, (eds.), (2011) Proceedings of the 3rd Conference on Language Description and Theory. London: SOAS.

Austin, Peter and Bond, Oliver and Charette, Monik and Nathan, David and Sells, Peter, (eds.), (2009) Proceedings of Conference on Language Documentation and Linguistic Theory 2. London: Department of Linguistics, SOAS.

Austin, Peter and Musgrave, Simon, (eds.), (2008) Transitivity and Voice in Austronesian Languages. Stanford: CSLI Publications. (Studies in Constraint-Based Lexicalism).

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.

Book Chapters

Austin, Peter and Sallabank, Julia (2018) 'Language Documentation and Language Revitalization: Some Methodological Considerations'. In: Hinton, Leanne and Huss, Leena and Roche, Gerald, (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Language Revitalization. Abingdon: Routledge.

Austin, Peter (2016) 'Language documentation 20 years on'. In: Filipovic, Luna and Pütz, Martin, (eds.), Endangered Languages: Issues of Ecology, Policy and Documentation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp 147-170.

Austin, Peter (2014) 'Going, going, gone? The ideology and politics of language revitalisation in eastern Australia'. In: Austin, Peter K. and Sallabank, Julia, (eds.), Endangered Languages: Beliefs and Ideologies in Language Documentation and Revitalisation. London: British Academy, pp 109-124.

Austin, Peter (2008) 'Survival of Language'. In: Shuckburgh, E., (ed.), Survival. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp 80-98.

Austin, Peter K. and Bond, Oliver and Nathan, David (2007) 'Introduction to Proceedings of Conference on Language Documentation & Linguistic Theory'. 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. Berlin: 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.. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, pp 1-12.

This list was last generated on Monday, 25th January 2021, 18:16 Europe/London.