Robert Blust Explained
Robert A. Blust (; ; Pinyin: Bái Lèsī; May 9, 1940 – January 5, 2022[1] [2] [3]) was an American linguist who worked in several areas, including historical linguistics, lexicography and ethnology. He was Professor of Linguistics at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Blust specialized in the Austronesian languages and made major contributions to the field of Austronesian linguistics.
Early life and career
Blust was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on May 9, 1940,[4] and raised in California. He received both a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology in 1967 and a PhD in linguistics in 1974 from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.[5] He taught at Leiden University in The Netherlands from 1976 to 1984, after which he returned to the Department of Linguistics at Mānoa for the rest of his career, serving as department chair from 2005 to 2008.[4] He was a Fellow of the Linguistic Society of America.[6]
Austronesian languages
Until 2018, he served as the review editor for Oceanic Linguistics, an academic journal that covers the Austronesian languages. Blust is best known for his work on this large language family, including the comprehensive Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (1995) and a Thao-English dictionary (2003). 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
As part of his field work, Blust studied 97 Austronesian languages spoken in locations such as Sarawak, Papua New Guinea, and Taiwan. In Taiwan, he performed field work on Formosan languages such as Thao, Kavalan, Pazeh, Amis, Paiwan and Saisiyat. His dictionary of the highly endangered Thao language, at over 1100 pages, is one of the most complete ever compiled for a Formosan language. Blust also had an abiding research interest in both linguistic and cultural aspects of rainbows and dragons.
Personal life and death
Blust died in Honolulu, Hawaii, on January 5, 2022, at the age of 81, after a 13-year battle with cancer.[2]
See also
Selected publications
- Blust . Robert . 1974 . The Proto-North-Sarawak vowel deletion hypothesis . PhD . 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.
- Book: Blust, Robert. Austronesian Root Theory: An Essay on the Limits of Morphology. 1988. John Benjamins Publishing. 90-272-3020-X.
- Book: Blust, Robert . 1993 .
- s metathesis and the Formosan/Malayo-Polynesian language boundary
. Dahl. Øyvind. Language, a Doorway Between Human Cultures: Tributes to Dr. Otto Chr. Dahl on His Ninetieth Birthday. Novus Forlag . 978-82-7099-205-8.
- Book: Blust, Robert . 1995 . Austronesian Studies Relating to Taiwan . The position of the Formosan languages: method and theory in Austronesian comparative linguistics . Paul Jen-kuei . Li . Li Jen-kuei . Cheng-hwa . Tsang . Ying-kuei . Huang . Dah-an . Ho . Chiu-yu . Tseng . 585–650 . Symposium Series of the Institute of History and Philology . Academia Sinica . 3 . Taipei.
- Blust . Robert . Some Remarks on the Linguistic Position of Thao . Oceanic Linguistics . December 1996 . 35 . 2 . 272–294 . 10.2307/3623175 . University of Hawaiʻi Press . 3623175.
- Blust . Robert . Notes on Pazeh Phonology and Morphology . Oceanic Linguistics . 1999 . 38 . 2 . 321–365 . 10.2307/3623296 . University of Hawaiʻi Press . 3623296.
- Blust . Robert . Three Notes on Early Austronesian Morphology . Oceanic Linguistics . 2003 . 42 . 2 . 438–478 . 10.2307/3623246 . University of Hawaiʻi Press . 3623246.
- Book: Blust, Robert . Thao Dictionary . 2003 . Institute of Linguistics (Preparatory Office), Academia Sinica . Language and Linguistics, Monograph Series A5 . Taipei . en . Robert Blust . https://web.archive.org/web/20220121150941/http://ling.sinica.edu.tw/Files/LL/UploadFiles/MonoFullText/Thao%20Dictionary.pdf . 21 January 2022 . 978-957-01-4785-8.
- Book: Blust . Robert . A short morphology, phonology and vocabulary of Kiput, Sarawak . 2003 . Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University . Canberra . 0858835363 . Shorter Grammars . 1885/146714 . 10.15144/PL-546 . free.
- Blust . Robert A. . Must sound change be linguistically motivated? . Diachronica . 2005 . 22 . 2 . 219–269 . 10.1075/dia.22.2.02blu . John Benjamins . 1569-9714.
- Blust . Robert . The Origin of the Kelabit Voiced Aspirates: A Historical Hypothesis Revisited . Oceanic Linguistics . 2006 . 45 . 2 . 311–338 . 10.1353/ol.2007.0001 . University of Hawaiʻi Press . 4499967. 145261116 .
- Book: Blust. Robert. The Austronesian languages. 2009. Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University. 978-0-85883-602-0.
- Web site: Blust . Robert . Trussel . Stephen . The Austronesian Comparative Dictionary .
- Book: Blust . Robert . The Dragon and the Rainbow: Man's Oldest Story . 2023 . Brill, Leiden. 978-90-04-67829-3 .
References
- Web site: Zeitoun . Elizabeth . Three Western scholars' contributions to Formosan linguistics . The International Conference for the 100th anniversary of linguistics in Taiwan: In honor of the linguistics pioneer Professor Naoyosi Ogawa . National Taichung University of Education . 2007 . February 18, 2022 . May 24, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110524070019/http://www.ntcu.edu.tw/taiwanese/ogawa100/a/tsuliau/4.%E9%BD%8A%E8%8E%89%E8%8E%8E-%E8%AC%9B%E7%BE%A9.pdf . dead .
- Web site: Robert A. Blust . University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Linguistics Department . 18 February 2022 . January 6, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220106080331/http://www.ling.hawaii.edu/faculty/blust/ . dead .
- Web site: Townsend . Bethany . Robert Blust . LinguistList . https://web.archive.org/web/20131221071420/http://linguistlist.org/fund-drive/2007/linguists/RobertBlust.cfm . 21 December 2013 . Linguist of the Day .
- Web site: Dictionary of Taiwan Aboriginal History, Language and Culture . https://web.archive.org/web/20210513200754/https://e-dictionary.apc.gov.tw/ . 13 May 2021 . zh .
- Web site: Chen . Victoria . In Memoriam: Dr. Robert A. Blust, 1940–2022 . Taiwan Insight . 2022-02-21 .
External links
Notes and References
- Lobel . Jason William . In Memoriam: Dr. Robert A. Blust, 1940–2022 . Obituary . Language and Linguistics . 2022 . 23 . 2 . 141–146 . 10.1075/lali.00116.lob . free.
- Lobel . Jason William, Victoria Chen and Lani Blust-Char . In Memoriam: Robert A. Blust, 1940–2022 . Oceanic Linguistics . 2022 . 61 . 2 . 614–649. 10.1353/ol.2022.0010 . 250269537 .
- Editorial . Language & Linguistics in Melanesia . 7 January 2022 . 40 . Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea . 0023-1959.
- Book: Adelaar . Alexander . K. Alexander Adelaar . Pawley . Andrew . Andrew Pawley . Austronesian historical linguistics and culture history: a festschrift for Robert Blust . 2009 . Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University . Canberra . 9780858836013 . 3 . Reflections on Bob Blust’s career . 10.15144/PL-601 . January 31, 2024 . 1885/34582 . free.
- Web site: About. 11 January 2021. Robert Blust.
- Web site: LSA Fellows by Name. Linguistic Society of America.