Alexandre François is a French

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

specialising in the

description Description is the pattern of narrative development that aims to make vivid a place, object, character, or group. Description is one of four rhetorical modes (also known as ''modes of discourse''), along with exposition, argumentation, and narr ...

and study of the indigenous languages of

Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Va ...

. He belongs t
''Lattice''
a research centre of the

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 ...

and

École Normale Supérieure École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

dedicated to linguistics.

Research

Language description and documentation

François has done linguistic fieldwork in

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

and the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

. In 2002, he published a grammatical description of

Araki Araki may refer to: People * Araki (surname) (荒木) * Hirohiko Araki (荒木飛呂彦), a Japanese manga artist, fashion designer and illustrator * Nobuyoshi Araki (荒木経惟), a Japanese photographer and contemporary artist also known by t ...

, a language spoken by a handful of speakers on an islet south of

Espiritu Santo Espiritu Santo (, ; ) is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, with an area of and a population of around 40,000 according to the 2009 census. Geography The island belongs to the archipelago of the New Hebrides in the Pacific region o ...

(Vanuatu). Most of his research focuses on the northern islands of Vanuatu, known as the

Torres Torres may refer to: People *Torres (surname), a Spanish and Portuguese surname *Torres (musician), singer-songwriter Mackenzie Scott **Torres (album), ''Torres'' (album), 2013 self-titled album by Torres Places Americas *Torres, Colorado, an un ...

and

Banks Islands The Banks Islands (in Bislama ''Bankis'') are a group of islands in northern Vanuatu. Together with the Torres Islands to their northwest, they make up the northernmost province of Torba. The island group lies about north of Maewo, and include ...

, an area where sixteen out of seventeen languages are still spoken: Hiw,

Lo-Toga Lo-Toga is an Oceanic language spoken by about 580 people on the islands of Lo and Toga, in the Torres group of northern Vanuatu. The language has sometimes been called ''Loh'' ('' sic'') or ''Toga'', after either of its two dialects. Name T ...

, Lehali, Löyöp,

Mwotlap Mwotlap (pronounced ; formerly known as ''Motlav'') is an Oceanic language spoken by about 2,100 people in Vanuatu. The majority of speakers are found on the island of Motalava in the Banks Islands, with smaller communities in the islands of Ra ...

Volow Volow (formerly known as ''Valuwa'' or ''Valuga'') is an Oceanic language variety which used to be spoken in the area of Aplow, in the eastern part of the island of Motalava, in Vanuatu. Name The name ''Volow'' is originally a placename: it c ...

(extinct),

Lemerig Lemerig is an Oceanic language spoken on Vanua Lava, in Vanuatu. Lemerig is no longer actively spoken. The 2 remaining speakers live on the northern coast of the island. The language has receded in favour of its neighbours Mwotlap and Vera' ...

, Vera'a, Vurës, Mwesen,

Mota Mota, MOTA or variations thereof may refer to: Geography * Mota (island), Vanuatu * Mota, Ethiopia, a town * Mota, Gujarat, India, a town * Mota, Ljutomer, Slovenia, a village Music * ''M.O.T.A.'' (album), a 2005 album by Cultura Profética * "M ...

, Nume, Dorig,

Koro Koro may refer to: Geography *Koro Island, a Fijian island * Koro Sea, in the Pacific Ocean * Koro, Ivory Coast *Koro, Mali * Koro, Wisconsin, United States, an unincorporated community Languages *Koro language (India), an endangered language spo ...

, Olrat, Lakon, Mwerlap - all descended from the

Proto-Torres–Banks language Proto-Torres-Banks (abbr. PTB) is the Linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed ancestor of the Torres-Banks languages, seventeen languages of the Torres Islands, Torres and Banks Islands of Vanuatu. Like all Languages of Vanuatu#List of Vanuatu� ...

, which was also reconstructed by him. After describing

, the language with most speakers in that area, he has published articles comparing the languages of the area more generally – both from a

synchronic Synchronic may refer to: * ''Synchronic'' (film), a 2019 American science fiction film starring Jamie Dornan and Anthony Mackie * Synchronic analysis, the analysis of a language at a specific point of time *Synchronicity Synchronicity (german: ...

and

historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

perspectives. He has described the

sociolinguistic Sociolinguistics is the descriptive study of the effect of any or all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used, and society's effect on language. It can overlap with the sociology of l ...

profile of this area as one of "egalitarian

multilingualism Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

". In 2005, François took part in a scientific expedition to

Vanikoro Vanikoro (sometimes wrongly named ''Vanikolo'') is an island in the Santa Cruz group, located to the Southeast of the main Santa Cruz group. It is part of the Temotu Province of the Solomon Islands. The name ''Vanikoro'' is always used as thoug ...

(

Solomon islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

), whose objective was to understand the wreckage of the French navigator La Pérouse in 1788. As a member of a multidisciplinary team, he recorded the oral tradition of the Melanesian and Polynesian populations of this island, concerning popular representations of this historical event. On that occasion, he also documented the three languages spoken on Vanikoro – Teanu, Lovono and

Tanema Tanema (Tetawo, Tetau) is a nearly extinct language of the island of Vanikoro, in the easternmost province of the Solomon Islands. Vitality As of 2012, Tanema is only spoken by one speaker, Lainol Nalo.endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

. In 2015, he coauthored with Jean-Michel Charpentier the ''Linguistic Atlas of French Polynesia'', an

atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic ...

showcasing the internal linguistic diversity of

French Polynesia )Territorial motto: ( en, "Great Tahiti of the Golden Haze") , anthem = , song_type = Regional anthem , song = " Ia Ora 'O Tahiti Nui" , image_map = French Polynesia on the globe (French Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of Frenc ...

. In 2020, he was elected a member of the

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...

Documentation of languages and cultures in Melanesia

François recorded texts from the

oral literature Oral literature, orature or folk literature is a genre of literature that is spoken or sung as opposed to that which is written, though much oral literature has been transcribed. There is no standard definition, as anthropologists have used vary ...

– myths, legends, folktales – in various language communities of Vanuatu and the Solomons. He provided local communities with various books in their languages, in the perspective of promoting the use of vernacular languages in writing. Together with

ethnomusicologist Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...

Monika Stern and anthropologist Éric Wittersheim, he ran a multidisciplinary project on traditional

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

and poetry in Vanuatu. This led to the publication of ''Music of Vanuatu: Celebrations and Mysteries'', a CD album of songs and dances recorded during social events in the field.

Contribution to linguistic typology and theory

François coined the term "

colexification Colexification, together with its associated verb colexify, are terms used in semantics and lexical typology. It refers to the case when a language expresses different meanings using the same word. Definition Colexification describes the case when ...

". This term captures the fact that certain concepts, which some languages distinguish in their lexicons, are encoded in the same way ("colexified") in other languages. Colexification i
increasingly used
in research about lexical typology. Together with Siva Kalyan (ANU), he also developed

Historical glottometry Historical Glottometry is a method used in historical linguistics. It is a quantitative, non-cladistic approach to language subgrouping. The aim of Historical Glottometry (HG) is to address the limitations of the tree model when applied to dialec ...

, a non-cladistic approach to language genealogy, inspired by the

Wave model In historical linguistics, the wave model or wave theory (German ''Wellentheorie'') is a model of language change in which a new language feature (innovation) or a new combination of language features spreads from its region of origin, affecting ...

. François (2014), Kalyan & François (2018).

Selected publications

* * * * * * * . * * * .

Notes

External links

''A linguist in Melanesia'', personal website

Professional page
(Lattice-CNRS).
Professional page
(Linguistics, ANU).
Access to François' fieldwork archives
on 23 languages of Island Melanesia. {{DEFAULTSORT:Francois, Alexandre Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Linguists of Austronesian languages Linguists of Oceanic languages Linguists from France Members of Academia Europaea French National Centre for Scientific Research scientists