Gatty Lecture, Daniel Kaufman, "Between Mainland and Island Southeast Asia"

Daniel Kaufman, Assistant Professor - Dept. of Linguistics, Queens College, City University of New York & Co-Director - Endangered Language Alliance

Between Mainland and Island Southeast Asia: Evidence for a Mon-Khmer presence in Borneo

The Austronesians are responsible for one of the greatest human migrations and expansions in the world, diversifying into over 1,200 languages  and spanning half the globe from Madagascar to Easter Island. The beginnings of this expansion can be traced to Taiwan roughly 6,000 years ago. Within 2,000 years of leaving Taiwan, speakers of Austronesian languages occupied far flung areas within what is today the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. Much research has focused on the eastern contact zones between Austronesians and non-Austronesian (Melanesian/Papuan) populations. With the exception of the Acehnese and Chamic languages, much less attention has been given to western Indonesia in this regard.

Co-sponsored by Linguistics.

Lunch will be provided.