The Austronesian Formal Linguistics Association (AFLA) is a
learned society
A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an discipline (academia), academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and s ...
that hosts forums for collaborative research on
Austronesian languages. Founded in 1994 at the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
, AFLA is now administered from the
University of Western Ontario
The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by resident ...
. Conferences are held annually at a multitude of institutes across the globe, including
Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
, often referred to as TUFS, is a specialist research university in Fuchū, Tokyo, Japan.
TUFS is primarily devoted to foreign language, international affairs and foreign studies. It also features an Asia-African institution.
History
The Uni ...
(AFLA 2016),
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (abbreviated as ''VU Amsterdam'' or simply ''VU'' when in context) is a public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, being founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research ...
(AFLA 2000), and
Academia Sinica
Academia Sinica (AS, la, 1=Academia Sinica, 3=Chinese Academy; ), headquartered in Nangang, Taipei, is the national academy of Taiwan. Founded in Nanking, the academy supports research activities in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from ...
(AFLA 2018) located in Taipei, Taiwan. The most recent 2019 conference was held in its home administration at the University of Western Ontario. Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, the AFLA 2020 conference was postponed and tentatively rescheduled for August 20 at the
National University of Singapore
The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in the c ...
.
Founders
Anna Maclachlan - author of "Optimality and three western Austronesian case systems" and 13 other research papers on Austronesian language
Diane Massam
Diane Massam is a Canadian linguist. She earned her PhD in linguistics under Noam Chomsky in 1985 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She held a position in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Toronto from 1989 until he ...
- professor in the department of Linguistics at the University of Toronto where she is involved in many research efforts
Richard McGinn - accomplished linguist who taught a numerous universities including Ohio University. McGinn died at the age of 78
Barry Miller - attended York University in Toronto an co-founded AFLA with Massam
Lisa Travis
Lisa deMena Travis is a researcher and educator in the field of linguistics, specializing in syntax and in the study of Austronesian languages such as Malagasy and Tagalog. She is currently a professor of linguistics at McGill University. Her 1 ...
- currently a professor of Linguistics at McGill University
Timeline
*AFLA Conference I (1994): Held at the University of Toronto, with attendees being students and faculty.
*AFLA Conference II (1995): Held at McGill University
*AFLA Conference III (1996): Held at the University of California at Los Angeles
*AFLA Conference IV (1997): Held at the University of California at Los Angeles
*AFLA Conference V (1998): Held at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa
*AFLA Conference VI (1999): Held at the University of Toronto
*AFLA Conference VII (2000): Held at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
*AFLA Conference VIII (2001): Held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
*AFLA Conference IX (2002): Held at Cornell University
*AFLA Conference X (2003): Held at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa
*AFLA Conference XI (2004): Held at Zentrum fur Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Typologie und Universalienforschung
*AFLA Conference XII (2005): Held at the University of California at Los Angeles
*AFLA Conference XIII (2006): Held at the National Tsing Hua University and Academia Sinica
*AFLA Conference XIV (2007): Held at McGill University
*AFLA Conference XV (2008): Held at the University of Sydney
*AFLA Conference XVI (2009): Held at the University of California, Santa Cruz
*AFLA Conference XVII (2010): Held at Stony Brook University, New York
*AFLA Conference XVIII (2011): Held at Harvard University
*AFLA Conference XIX (2012): Held at the Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica & Linguistic Society of Taiwan
*AFLA Conference XX (2013): Held at the University of Texas at Arlington
*AFLA Conference XXI (2014): Held at the Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica & Linguistic Society of Taiwan
*AFLA Conference XXII (2015): Held at McGill University
*AFLA Conference XXIII (2016): Held at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
*AFLA Conference XXIV (2017): Held at the University of Washington
*AFLA Conference XXV (2018): Held at the Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan
*AFLA Conference XXVI (2019): Held at the Inter-faculty Program in Linguistics, University of Western Ontario
*AFLA Conference XXVII (2020): Held at the National University of Singapore
*AFLA Conference XXVIII (2021): Organised by the National University of Singapore and McGill University, Montréal
*AFLA Conference XXIX (2022): To be held at the University of Manchester (as TripleAFLA, in collaboration with the TripleA workshop series)
See also
*
List of major and official Austronesian languages
Notes and references
External links
Austronesian Formal Linguistics Association€”official website
*LingAlert: AFLA
{{authority control
Austronesian languages
Learned societies of Canada
1994 establishments in Ontario
Linguistic societies