Nicholas "Nick" Evans (born 1956) is an Australian
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 ...
and a leading expert on
endangered language
An endangered language or moribund language is a language that is at risk of disappearing as its speakers die out or shift to speaking other languages. Language loss occurs when the language has no more native speakers and becomes a "dead langu ...
s. He was born in
Los Angeles, USA
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
.
[Our Story: Asia and the Pacific: ANU]
anu.edu.au. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
Holding a
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
in
Linguistics
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 ...
from the
Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...
(ANU), he is Head of the Department of Linguistics and Distinguished Professor in the School of Culture, History and Language at the College of Asia and the Pacific at ANU. Formerly, he held a personal chair in the Department of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics at the
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...
.
His research interests include
Aboriginal Australian languages
The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...
,
Papuan languages
The Papuan languages are the non- Austronesian and non-Australian languages spoken on the western Pacific island of New Guinea in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, as well as neighbouring islands, by around 4 million people. It is a strictly geogra ...
,
linguistic typology
Linguistic typology (or language typology) is a field of linguistics that studies and classifies languages according to their structural features to allow their comparison. Its aim is to describe and explain the structural diversity and the co ...
,
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 ...
and
contact linguistics
Contact may refer to:
Interaction Physical interaction
* Contact (geology), a common geological feature
* Contact lens or contact, a lens placed on the eye
* Contact sport, a sport in which players make contact with other players or objects
* ...
,
semantics
Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy
Philosophy (f ...
, and the mutual influence of language and culture. He worked at the
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) ( ga, Institiúid Ard-Léinn Bhaile Átha Cliath) is a statutory independent research institute in Ireland. It was established in 1940 on the initiative of the Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera, in Dub ...
in 2003 for the school of Celtic Studies. Recent focuses include the way in which diverse grammars underpin social cognition (with Alan Rumsey and others); ongoing fieldwork on various Aboriginal languages of Northern Australia (
Dalabon,
Iwaidja
The Iwaidja are an indigenous Australian people of the Northern Territory.
Name
Norman Tindale states that the name is based on their word for 'no' (''ii'').
Language
Iwaidja is one of the Iwaidjan languages of the Cobourg Peninsula, all of whi ...
,
Marrku,
Bininj Kunwok
Bininj Kunwok is an Australian Aboriginal language which includes six dialects: Kunwinjku (formerly Gunwinggu), Kuninjku, Kundjeyhmi (formerly Gundjeihmi), Manyallaluk Mayali (Mayali), Kundedjnjenghmi, and two varieties of Kune (Kune Dulerayek a ...
,
Kayardild); Papuan languages (
Nen,
Idi), work on endangered song-language traditions of Western
Arnhem Land
Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia, with the term still in use. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compan ...
(with Allan Marett,
Linda Barwick
Linda Mary Barwick (born 1954) is an Australian musicologist and professor emerita at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Barwick has focused on researching Australian Indigenous music and the music of immigrant communities. She also works in ...
and Murray Garde), and the development of coevolutionary approaches that integrate the dynamic interactions between language, culture and cognition. In addition to his linguistic research he has carried out more applied work in
Australian Aboriginal
Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...
communities in various capacities, including interpreting and preparing anthropologists' reports in Native Title claims, and writing about the new art being produced by artists from
Bentinck Island
Bentinck Island is a small island in the Strait of Juan de Fuca just off the southern tip of Vancouver Island in Metchosin, British Columbia, Canada near Race Rocks. It served as a leper colony beginning in 1924, when the federal government shut d ...
.
Evans signed the
Declaration on the Common Language
The Declaration on the Common Language ( sh, Deklaracija o zajedničkom jeziku / ) was issued in 2017 by a group of intellectuals and NGOs from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia who were working under the banner of a projec ...
of the
Croats
The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, G ...
,
Serbs
The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language.
The majority of Serbs live in their na ...
,
Bosniaks
The Bosniaks ( bs, Bošnjaci, Cyrillic: Бошњаци, ; , ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Southeast European historical region of Bosnia, which is today part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who share a common Bosnian ancestry ...
and
Montenegrins
Montenegrins ( cnr, Црногорци, Crnogorci, or ; lit. "Black Mountain People") are a South Slavic ethnic group that share a common Montenegrin culture, history, and language, identified with the country of Montenegro.
Genetics
Accordin ...
in 2019.
Awards and honours
In 2013, he was awarded an
Australian Laureate Fellowship
The Australian Laureate Fellowship is an Australian professorial research fellowship awarded by the Australian Research Council. Up to 17 fellows are chosen each year for five-year awards.
Kathleen Fitzpatrick and Georgina Sweet fellowships
In 201 ...
.
Selected works
*Evans, Nicholas (2011). ''Dying Words: Endangered Languages and What They Have to Tell Us'', John Wiley & Sons. .
*
[Note: Evans is quoted i]
''Blak Roots''
an exhibition catalogue.
*Evans, Nicholas (2005). "Australian Languages Reconsidered: A Review of Dixon (2002)". ''Oceanic Linguistics'' 44 (1), pp. 242–286.
*Evans, Nicholas (ed.) (2003). ''The non-Pama-Nyungan languages of northern Australia: comparative studies of the continent's most linguistically complex region.'' Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. pp. x + 513.
*Evans, Nicholas (2003). ''Bininj Gun-wok: a pan-dialectal grammar of Mayali, Kunwinjku and Kune.'' (2 volumes). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
*Evans, Nicholas and Hans-Jürgen Sasse (eds) (2002). ''Problems of Polysynthesis.'' Berlin: Akademie Verlag. Studia Typologica, Neue Reihe.
*Evans, Nicholas (1998). "Aborigines Speak a Primitive Language". In: Bauer, Laurie; Trudgill, Peter. ''Language Myths'', Penguin Books, pp. 159–168. .
*
*Evans, Nicholas (1995). ''A Grammar of Kayardild''. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
References
External links
Professor Nicholas Evans - Researchers - ANU anu.edu.au.
Languages of Southern New Guinea - SNG Project anu.edu.au.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Nicholas
1956 births
Linguists from Australia
Living people
Australian National University alumni
Australian National University faculty
University of Melbourne faculty
Linguists of Australian Aboriginal languages
Paleolinguists
Linguists of Tangkic languages
Linguists of Gunwinyguan languages
Linguists of Papuan languages
Linguists of Yam languages
Signatories of the Declaration on the Common Language
Corresponding Fellows of the British Academy
Academics of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies