News & Events

Clause chains are a special type of complex sentence, found in hundreds of languages outside Western Europe, in which clauses are dependent but not embedded, and dozens of clauses can be combined into a single morphologically-indicated syntactic unit. Clause chains in some languages contain a further special feature: switch-reference marking, in which speakers must announce in advance whether the subject of the following clause will differ from that of the current clause. A comprehensive typological study of clause chains across languages is underway; I report a few known parameters of variation.

Comparison of child clause chain productions in six languages (Japanese, Korean, Turkish, Ku Waru, Nungon, and Pitjantjatjara) yields a major finding for child language research: children seem to universally go through a two-clause production phase first. These studies also have ramifications for typology more broadly, however: i) children learning at least one clause chaining language, Nungon (Papuan), have special distributions of complex sentence types, and ii) production of switch-reference marking depends on the distribution in the ambient language, which varies greatly across languages.

Psycholinguistic work has not targeted clause chains, but they would seem specially suited to exploration of long-distance associations, working memory, and planning scope. I show preliminary results from eye-tracking and EEG studies of switch-reference marking in Nungon clause chains.

The presentation can be viewed at Abralin ao Vivo website.

The anthropologist and LCRC Adjunct Research Fellow Mario Arrien was the invited expert in the television program Sociedad Abierta [Open Society], presented by the journalist Enrique Fernández. The topic of the program was the concept of ‘Culture’. The program was filmed in Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia) and broadcasted on the Bolivian channel SNTV on March 18, 2020 at 22:30. Watch the interview below.

Interview with Luca Ciucci (LCRC), José Chuvé, Brittany Hausen, Andrey Nikulin and Claudia Vaca, organizers of the conference Bobikíxh - I Encuentro de lenguas originarias de la región chiquitana [First meeting on the languages of the Chiquitania region] in the program Voces Indígenas Urbanas, Radio Santa Cruz 92.2. November 14, 2020.

Unserdeutsch (ISO 639-3 language code: uln) is an endangered creole language in the South Pacific, nowadays spoken mainly in Australia and to a small extent also in Papua New Guinea. It represents the only documented case of a German-lexified creole among the numerous creole languages of the world. Further information from Péter Maitz about the Unserdeutch Project read the article on the Institute of Germanic Languages and Literatures website.

Prof Dr Maarten MOUS, (7 July to 24 August 2019)

Maarten Mous (PhD University of Leiden) is one of the leading experts in African linguistics, and African studies in general, with a focus on Cushitic languages, Bantu languages, language and identity, and also derivation and valency-changing devices. In his capacity as a Partner Investigator of the ARC DP 'The integration of language and society' (CIs Distinguished Professor Alexandra Aikhenvald, Professor R. M. W. Dixon and Dr Nerida Jarkey), he will spend July-August at LCRC working within the framework of the project professor of African linguistics Leiden University, member of the Netherlands Royal Member of Sciences and a Visiting Fellow at LCRC, has worked on Cushitic languages of East Africa (two grammars, a dictionary and a lexical reconstruction, overview articles) and Bantu languages (two grammars, numerous articles). Areas of interest include language contact, language and identity, verbal derivation, gender and number. He will bring unparalleled knowledge and expertise in Cushitic and Bantu languages, and their social structures, and the construction of language identity, working closely together with the members of the team on establishing correlations between societal structures and linguistic structures in the focal areas. Collaboration with Prof Dr Mous is essential for expanding studies of linguistic and social structures in PNG, Australia, and Amazonia in a wide perspective. During his stay, he will work on a number of papers, and prepare and present a paper at the International Workshop, “The Integration of Language in Society”

Prof Felix AMEKA (31 July to 31 August 2019)

Felix Ameka lectures in African Languages and Cultures at the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics and is an Associate Researcher, Language and Cognition Group at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen. He is interested in language documentation and description, typology, cross-cultural semantics, pragmatics, the sociocultural, and cognitive motivations of grammar, anthropological and contact linguistics. His empirical specialisation is West African languages, mainly Kwa languages and other languages of wider communication, namely, Hausa and Fulfulde, with a focus is on Gbe, i.e. Ewe, Gen Aja and Fon; Ghana-Togo-Mountain languages, especially Likpe; Guang and Akanic languages. The purpose of his visit will be to undertake research work within the framework of the ARC DP 'The integration of Language and Society' (CIs Distinguished Professor Alexandra Aikhenvald, Professor R. M. W. Dixon and Dr Nerida Jarkey). The project will draw on his academic experience in the field of African languages, language and cognition and the interrelationship between language and culture. In addition, during his stay at JCU he will deliver a keynote address at the International Workshop 'The Integration of language and society' and present a seminar at the LCRC.

Dr Gerda (Dineke) Hendrike SCHOKKIN (6 August to 27 August 2019)

Dineke Schokkin is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific. She is an expert on Paluai, an Oceanic language of Baluan (Manus Province, PNG) and also Idi, a language from the Pahoturi River Family spoken in the Morehead District of Southern New Guinea. She will be working on various issues in these languages and take part in the discussion panel at the LCRC International Workshop 'The integration of language and society'.

Dr Timothy Henry-Rodriguez (6 August to 22 August 2019)

Tim Henry-Rodriquez (PhD UCSb) is a lecturer in linguistics in Fullerton University, USA. He is a major expert on Ventureño and other Chumashan languages, will be visiting LCRC, working on various grammatical topics in Chumashan languages and also Papuan languages of Madang Province, in close cooperation with Dr Alexander Walker, Research Fellow at LCRC.

Dr Katarzyna (Kasia) I. WOJTYLAK (10 August to 12 November 2019)

Dr. Katarzyna I. Wojtylak at present is an academic researcher at the University of Regensburg (Germany). She is an expert in Witotoan languages spoken in North Amazonia. In 2017, she graduated from JCU with the 'Cum Laude' distinction for her PhD thesis "A grammar of Murui (Bue), a language of Northwest Amazonia". After her graduation, she worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Language and Culture Research Centre (LCRC) at JCU in Cairns. Her main interests include language documentation, anthropological linguistics, typology, and language contact, with a particular focus on languages spoken between the Caquetá-Putumayo region in Northwest Amazonia. Her research fits in with the research priority 'Peoples and societies of the tropics', and will contribute to our understanding of the role of language contact in the context of South America. Proposed activities will include: i) research activities in the analysis of various features of Amazonian of Colombia; ii) preparing high-quality publications in international peer-reviewed journals (papers and books chapters) that deal with the relevant topics in descriptive and anthropological linguistics; iii) expanding our knowledge of previously undescribed tropical languages, especially those of Amazonia, iv) enhancing outreach activities and impact of our work with regard to community involvement and collaboration with indigenous peoples, empowering them in documenting their own languages, v) strengthening already existing links with the University of Regensburg (Germany) making an important contribution to the internationalization of research at JCU. She will also take part in the discussion panel at the LCRC International Workshop 'The integration of language and society'

Dr Stephen Andrew WATTERS (10 August – 25 December 2019)

Dr Steve Watters is an established expert in Tibeto-Burman languages and cultures, and has additional expertise in the languages of Nepal and Bhutan. His special areas of strength lie in the domain of marking information source and noun categorization - the focal issues of the ALF Project 'How gender shapes the world: a linguistic perspective', under the leadership of Dist Prof Aikhenvald. His expertise is highly relevant for JCU and the LCRC, as Tibeto-Burman languages and the languages of South Asia, and their unusual typological features, are one of the high points of our investigation (especially relevant for a number of international HDRs, e.g. Pema Wangdi and Junwei Bai). Dr Watters' stay will bring immense benefits to the LCRC members in terms of contributing to our understanding of Tibeto-Burman languages and cultures. He himself will profit from the productive environment and interactions with students and staff. He will also take part in the discussion panel at the LCRC International Workshop 'The integration of language and society'.

Dr Nerida Jarkey (20 August to 24 August 2019)

Nerida Jarkey is Senior Lecturer at The University of Sydney (Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, School of Languages and Cultures, Japanese Studies). She is a major expert in Japanese and also in Hmong and Hmongic languages, with special focus on language gender, politeness, noun categorization, serial verb constructions, and the interaction between language and culture. In her capacity as a Chief Investigator on the ARC DP Project 'The integration of language and society', alongside Distinguished Professor A. Y. Aikhenvald and Professor R. M. W. Dixon, she will be working on the project, and will present a paper at the International Workshop, “The Integration of Language in Society”.

Professor Anne Storch (20 August to 24 August 2019)

Anne Storch is Professor of African Linguistics, Department of African Studies and Egyptology, School of Arts and Humanities, University of Cologne and is among the half-dozen top experts in African Linguistics, and African Studies in general, spanning the study of languages and the contexts within which they are spoken, the anthropology and history of the African continent within an ethnographic and sociological perspective. She is recipient of the prestigious Leibnitz award. Her expertise and achievements encompass in-depth studies of numerous languages and societies in East and West Africa (with a special focus on Benue-Congo, Nilotic and Atlantic language areas), in addition to her recent engagement with the language of tourism and the African and German diaspora communities in Jamaica. In her capacity as a Partner Investigator of the ARC DP 'The integration of language and society' (CIs Distinguished Professor Alexandra Aikhenvald, Professor R. M. W. Dixon and Dr Nerida Jarkey), she will be at the LCRC in August 2019 working within the framework of the project and will present a paper at the International Workshop, “The Integration of Language in Society”

Dr Knut OLAWSKY (13 September to 13 December 2019)

Knut Olawsky has been conducting linguistic research in the tropics for more than two decades (Ghana, 1993-1999; Peru, 2000-2005; Australia, 2005 ongoing) and has written grammars of the Dagbani and Urarina languages. Since 2005 he manages the Mirima Dawang Woorlab-gerring Language and Culture Centre in Kununurra (East Kimberley), where he works with the Miriwoong people to document and revitalise their language. Dr Olawsky has also published a range of linguistic book chapters and journal articles on languages of his expertise as well in the areas of linguistic fieldwork and language revitalisation. He has been a member of the Executive Board of the Resource Network for Linguistic Diversity (Melbourne) and is widely connected within the field of language maintenance and revitalisation within Australia.

Dr Gwendolyn Hyslop (8-10 October 2019)

Gwen Hyslop (PhD U of Oregon) is Senior Lecturer at University of Sydney and a major expert in Tibeto-Burman languages, with a focus on the languages of Bhutan, and various issues in grammar, including egophoricity, mirativity, and evidentiality. She will give a lecture on a topical issue in Tibeto-Burman linguistics and interact with the members of the LCRC, with special focus on the experts in Tibeto-Burman.

Professor Dr Iwona Kraska-Szlenk (11-18 November 2019)

Iwona Kraska-Szlenk (PhD University of Warsaw), of the University of Warsaw, is a major expert in African languages (including Swahili) and various issue in general linguistics, with a focus on cognitive aspects, and language and cognition. During her stay at the LCRC, she will be working on issues related to studying body part terms, with a focus on cognitive linguistics approach (embodiment as key to “universal” conceptualizations, metaphor, metonymic chains, cultural conceptualizations, etc.), but also with an eye on a cross-linguistic perspective and the problems we encounter here (body partonomy and metonymy observed in “corporeal” senses, equivalence of extended senses, semantic extension vis-à-vis morphological derivation, etc.). She will be working on a collaborative focusing on the documentation of the data from multiple languages, generalizations as to: (ir)regularity of semantic change, common domains of semantic extension due to embodiment and shared culture, etc.). She will also offer a talk within the LCRC seminar series.

Professor Heronides MOURA (1 December to 22 December 2019)

Prof Dr Moura has an extensive knowledge of grammatical aspects of Brazilian Portuguese. His current research project focuses on interesting typological properties of Brazilian Portuguese. Unlike Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese shows directed motion with goal PPs (or telic path adverbs) and resultative constructions. On the other hand, Brazilian Portuguese behaves like Spanish, presenting (albeit residual) DOM (Differential Object Marking). These combined properties make Brazilian Portuguese an interesting case among Romance languages. His unique expertise in Portuguese, Spanish, and other Romance languages. His project during his stay at JCU will involve investigating a number of features of Brazilian Portuguese in typological perspective, especially in the light of indigenous languages of South America (a major focus of the LCRC), with special focus on directed motion, resultatives, and object marking. Prof Dr Moura's expertise is highly relevant to LCRC's and JCU's focus on languages of South America and potential contact-induced change. His visit will bring substantial benefits to Research Fellows and PhD students at the LCRC working on minority languages of South America. The Visiting Fellow will benefit from being exposed to an enhanced typological perspective on different languages and interaction with researchers at different levels. His visit will further reinforce international collaborative links between LCRC, JCU, and the Brazilian academic community. During his stay, Prof Dr Moura will present a seminar on typological features of Brazilian Portuguese, and interact with student and staff in various areas of linguistics, focusing on Romance languages and the languages of South America. The specific benefits to JCU and the LCRC lie in fortifying connections with the Brazilian academic community, and expanding our knowledge on Brazilian Portuguese in relationship to the indigenous languages of the tropics (a major focus of the linguistic research at LCRC).

ALS August 2019 Newsletter

Luca Ciucci makes Headlines "Da Livorno all’ Australia «Come Indiana Jones scopro le lingue più antiche del mondo» "(Francesca Suggi: Il Tirreno 5 August 2019 viii)

Read the article

In May 2019, Dr Luca Ciucci gave a television interview that is now available on YouTube. The interview can be viewed below:

In June 2014, Kasia Wojtylak and Kristian Lupinski were awarded a Firebird Foundation for Anthropological Research Fellowship for the documentation of oral literature among the Murui people in Colombian parts of the Amazon. Kasia is a PhD student in linguistics at the Language and Culture Research Centre (LCRC). She has been studying the Murui language since 2009 and has a substantial knowledge of the Murui culture. Her Research Master thesis dealt with the Murui phonology and verbal morphology (VU University, Amsterdam 2012). Kristian, on the other hand, is gifted BA student of the Creative Industries program at the James Cook University. He is an aspiring cinematographer with a great deal of experience in media design and film production. The couple is passionate about documenting indigenous languages and cultures. Both Kasia and Kristian are active members of ALTAR (Anthropological Laboratory for Tropical Audio-visual Research). Currently, they are preparing for their fieldwork in Colombia, which will commence in November 2015.

To follow their project see more here.