Alexander Adelaar, born in The Hague, the Netherlands, in 1953. Ph.D. from Leiden University. Principal Fellow at the University of Melbourne.
Fellow (1 September 2013 – 30 June 2014)
A HISTORICAL STUDY OF THE SOUTH EAST BARITO LANGUAGES IN BORNEO AND MADAGASCAR
Research Question
The reconstruction of Proto South East Barito grammar, sounds and (basic and cultural) vocabulary. This will provide scholars with an invaluable tool to deal with more general questions involving contacts between South East Asia and East Africa and the settlement history of Madagascar.
Project Description
My aim is to document and describe the South East Barito languages in Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) and to compare them with Malagasy (the language of Madagascar), with which they are closely related. I will trace the linguistic changes that have led to the separate development of these languages and reconstruct Proto South East Barito, their common ancestral language. Studying the history and interrelationship of these languages as well as reconstructing Proto South East Barito will throw new light on the early history of Malagasy, and on processes of language evolution, migrations and cultural exchange in Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean and East Africa. I will also study mutual influence between Indonesian and Bantu languages in the past.
Selected Publications
1) Siraya. Retrieving the phonology, grammar and lexicon of a dormant Formosan language. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. 2012.
2) Salako or Badameà. Sketch grammar, texts and lexicon of a Kanayatn language (West Kalimantan). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 2005.
3) Proto-Malayic: the reconstruction of its phonology and parts of its morphology and lexicon. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. 1992.