Robert Blust

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American linguist

Robert Blust

Born

Robert Andrew Blust

1940

Cincinnati, Ohio, United States

Nationality | American
Other names | Bai Lesi (白樂思)
Education | PhD in linguistics (1974), University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Occupation | Historical linguistics, lexicography and ethnology
Employer | University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Title

Professor of Linguistics;
Review editor for the journal Oceanic Linguistics

Spouse(s) | Laura Chang-Blust

Chinese name
Traditional Chinese | 白樂思

Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin | Bái Lèsī

Website | www.ling.hawaii.edu/faculty/blust/

Robert A. Blust (born 1940, Chinese: 白樂思; pinyin: Bái Lèsī) is a prominent linguist in several areas, including historical linguistics, lexicography and ethnology. Blust specializes in the Austronesian languages and has made major contributions to the field of Austronesian linguistics.

Contents

1 Biography

1.1 Austronesian Languages

1.2 Field work

2 See also

3 Selected publications

4 References

Biography[edit]

Robert Blust was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in California. He received a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology and a PhD in linguistics from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 1974. Currently, he is a professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, and served as the department chair from 2005 to 2008. He is also a Fellow of the Linguistic Society of America.[1]

Austronesian Languages[edit]

Until 2018, he also served as the review editor for Oceanic Linguistics, an academic journal that covers the Austronesian languages. Blust is best known for his work on Austronesian, including a large Austronesian comparative dictionary (Blust 1995c) and a Thao-English dictionary (Blust 2003b). Another one of his well-known works is a 2009 work called The Austronesian Languages, which is the first single-authored book to cover all aspects (phonology, syntax, morphology, sound changes, classification, etc.) of the Austronesian language family in its entirety.

Field work[edit]

Blust has done field work on 97 Austronesian languages spoken in locations such as Sarawak, Papua New Guinea, and Taiwan. In Taiwan, he has performed field work on Formosan languages such as Thao, Kavalan, Pazeh, Amis, Paiwan and Saisiyat. His dictionary of the highly endangered Thao language is currently the most complete of any Formosan language dictionary, containing over 1100 pages. Blust also has an abiding interest in both linguistic and cultural aspects of rainbows and dragons.

See also[edit]

Austronesian Hypothesis

Selected publications[edit]

Blust, Robert. 1974. The Proto-North-Sarawak vowel deletion hypothesis. PhD dissertation. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Blust, Robert. 1977. The Proto-Austronesian pronouns and Austronesian subgrouping: a preliminary report. University of Hawaiʻi Working Papers in Linguistics 9.2: 1–15.

Blust, Robert (1988). Austronesian Root Theory: An Essay on the Limits of Morphology. John Benjamins Publishing. ISBN 90-272-3020-X.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Blust, Robert. 1993. *S metathesis and the Formosan/Malayo-Polynesian language boundary. In Dahl, Øyvind (1993). Language--a Doorway Between Human Cultures: Tributes to Dr. Otto Chr. Dahl on His Ninetieth Birthday. Novus Forlag. ISBN 978-82-7099-205-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Blust, Robert. 1995a. The position of the Formosan languages: method and theory in Austronesian comparative linguistics. In Paul Jen-kuei Li et al., eds., Austronesian Studies Relating to Taiwan: 585—650. Symposium Series of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, No. 3. Taipei: Academia Sinica.

Blust, Robert. 1995b. Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (ACD). Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Blust, Robert. 1996. Some remarks on the linguistic position of Thao. Oceanic Linguistics 35: 272–294.

Blust, Robert. 1999. Pazeh phonology and morphology. Oceanic Linguistics 38.2: 321–365.

Blust, Robert. 2003a. Three notes on early Austronesian morphology. Oceanic Linguistics, 42.2: 438–478.

Blust, Robert. 2003b. Thao dictionary[1]. Language and Linguistics Monograph Series, No. A5. Taipei: Institute of Linguistics (Preparatory Office), Academia Sinica.ISBN 978-957-01-4785-8

Blust, Robert. 2003c. 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.

Blust, Robert. 2005. Must sound change be linguistically motivated? Diachronica 22: 219–269.

Blust, Robert. 2006. The origin of the Kelabit voiced aspirates: a historical hypothesis revisited. Oceanic Linguistics 45.2: 311–338.

Blust, Robert (2009). The Austronesian languages. Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-85883-602-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

References[edit]

^ https://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/lsa-fellows-name

Zeitoun, Elizabeth (Chinese: 齊莉莎; pinyin: Qi Li-sha, 2007). Three Western scholars' contributions to Formosan linguistics. Paper presented at "The International Conference for the 100th anniversary of linguistics in Taiwan: In honor of the linguistics pioneer Professor Naoyosi Ogawa". 8–9 September 2007. National Taichung University, Taichung, Taiwan ROC.

Robert A. Blust, UH-Manoa Linguistics Department

LinguistList “Linguist of the Day”: Robert Blust

白樂思—台灣原住民歷史語言文化大辭典網路版 (Robert Blust—Dictionary of Taiwan Aboriginal History, Language and Culture — online edition) (in Chinese)

Authority control

BIBSYS: 90383459

BNF: cb127337765 (data)

CiNii: DA03304759

GND: 139085521

ISNI: 0000 0000 8214 9562

LCCN: n80063570

NTA: 074314696

SUDOC: 07779477X

Trove: 826784

VIAF: 30836396

WorldCat Identities: lccn-n80063570

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robert_Blust&oldid=958081316"

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This page was last edited on 21 May 2020, at 22:13 (UTC).

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