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Peter Kenneth Austin, often cited as Peter K. Austin, 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. Lingui ...
, widely published in the fields of
language documentation Language documentation (also: documentary linguistics) is a subfield of linguistics which aims to describe the grammar and use of human languages. It aims to provide a comprehensive record of the linguistic practices characteristic of a given sp ...
, syntax,
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 ...
and in particular,
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 lang ...
s and language revitalisation. After a long academic career in Australia, Hong Kong, the US, Japan, Germany and the UK, Austin is
emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
professor at SOAS University of London since retiring in December 2018.


Education and career

After completing a BA degree with first class Honours in Asian Studies (Japanese and Linguistics) in 1974, Austin earned his
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...
with his thesis entitled ''A grammar of the Diyari language of north-east South Australia'' at 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) in 1978. He then taught at the
University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...
, held a Harkness Fellowship at
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...
and
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern t ...
(MIT) in 1979–80, and in 1981 headed the Division (later Department) of Linguistics at
La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora, Victoria, Bundoora. The university was established in 196 ...
in
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...
. He held visiting appointments at Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics at
Nijmegen Nijmegen (;; Spanish and it, Nimega. Nijmeegs: ''Nimwèège'' ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and tenth largest of the Netherlands as a whole, located on the Waal river close to the German border. It is about 6 ...
, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies,
University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public university, public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest Higher education in Hong Kong, tertia ...
, and Stanford University, and was Foundation Professor of 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 n ...
from 1996 to 2002. He became the Märit Rausing Chair in Field Linguistics in January 2003 and then Emeritus Professor in Field Linguistics at SOAS on his retirement in December 2018. Throughout his career, Austin has been deeply involved in work to document and describe languages that are otherwise on the verge of extinction. He worked with Eli Timan on documenting
Judeo-Iraqi Arabic Judeo-Iraqi Arabic ( ar, عربية يهودية عراقية), also known as Iraqi Judeo-Arabic and Yahudic, is a variety of Arabic spoken by Iraqi Jews currently or formerly living in Iraq. It is estimated that there are speakers in Israel (a ...
, and with
Sabah Aldihisi Sabah () is a state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indonesia to the south. The Federal Territor ...
on Neo-Mandaic ritual language used by the
Mandean Mandaeism ( Classical Mandaic: ࡌࡀࡍࡃࡀࡉࡉࡀ ; Arabic: المندائيّة ), sometimes also known as Nasoraeanism or Sabianism, is a Gnostic, monotheistic and ethnic religion. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abe ...
communities of Syria, Iraq and Iran. During his retirement, he worked with colleagues at
University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...
and Leiden University on an EU Horizon2020 Twinning collaboration called the Engaged Humanities project. He also worked with
Stefanie Pillai Stephanie is a female name that comes from the Greek name Στέφανος (Stephanos) meaning "crown". The male form is Stephen. Forms of Stephanie in other languages include the German "Stefanie", the Italian, Czech, Polish, and Russian ...
of the
University of Malaya The University of Malaya ( ms, Universiti Malaya, UM; abbreviated as UM or informally the Malayan University) is a public research university located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the oldest and highest ranking Malaysian institution of highe ...
, on a research project funded by the British Academy in
Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
. In 2020 he was awarded a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship (2021-2023) to work on a dictionary of Diyari (South Australia) and a biography of his Diyari teacher Ben Murray.


Work

He has done fieldwork on twelve Australian Aboriginal languages, particularly those from northern
New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...
( such as Gamilaraay/Kamilaroi), northern
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
, and north-west
Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...
, publishing several bilingual dictionaries. These included, in collaboration with David Nathan, the first fully page-formatted hypertext dictionary of an Australian language, with the creation of the 1994 Gamilaraay online dictionary.


Dieri

He has worked extensively and intensively on the Dieri (Diyari) language of northern SA. He first learned Diyari in 1974, from several fluent native-speakers, including Leslie Russell, Frieda Merrick, Rosa Warren, and Ben Murray, who he encountered in Marree, South Australia. Along with Luise Hercus and David Trefry, he did much research on the language in the 1970s. Austin published a grammar of Diyari in 1981. From 2011 he has been working with the Dieri Aboriginal Corporation on revitalisation of the language. In 2013 he published a draft Diyari dictionary, writing in the preface that a companion grammar was also available, and that a text collection was in preparation. In 2014 he published an article "And still they speak Diyari", in which he wrote of the unique place of the language, as the subject of intensive interest by outsiders as well as native speakers for nearly 140 years, and that not only is it not extinct, but it is living and being maintained for the future. Since 2013 Austin has maintained a blog on Diyari. The blog is one of a number of language revitalisation and reclamation activities held in conjunction with the Dieri community.


Austronesian languages

Since 1995, Austin has also worked on the
Austronesian Austronesian may refer to: *The Austronesian languages *The historical Austronesian peoples The Austronesian peoples, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples in Taiwan, Maritime Southeast Asia, M ...
languages Sasak and Samawa, which are spoken on the islands of
Lombok Lombok is an island in West Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. It forms part of the chain of the Lesser Sunda Islands, with the Lombok Strait separating it from Bali to the west and the Alas Strait between it and Sumbawa to the east. It is ...
and Sumbawa in the Indonesian archipelago. He has also published works on historical and
comparative linguistics Comparative linguistics, or comparative-historical linguistics (formerly comparative philology) is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their history, historical relatedness. Genetic relat ...
, typology, and Aboriginal history and biography.


Awards

Austin has won the following awards and prizes: * 1974: ANU Medal in Linguistics * 1978: Harkness Fellowship of the Commonwealth Fund of New York * 1999: Deutsche Akamedische Austauschdienst (German Academic Exchange Fellowship) * 2002: Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Humboldt Research Award (''Forschungspreis'') * 2010: Grant for a visiting professorship for Professor
Anvita Abbi Professor Anvita Abbi (born 9 January 1949) is an Indian linguist and scholar of minority languages, known for her studies on tribal languages and other minority languages of South Asia. In 2013, she was honoured with the Padma Shri, the fourth ...
, from the
Leverhulme Trust The Leverhulme Trust () is a large national grant-making organisation in the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the n ...
* 2010: Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Humboldt Research Award * 2015: Honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Languages at
Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. The university rose to significance durin ...
(for playing'' "a crucial international part in drawing attention to endangered languages by emphasising the importance of documenting the human cultural heritage represented by the thousands of languages at risk of vanishing in the near future. His motto that'' 'every lost word means yet another lost world' ''has boosted schools' and the public's interest in endangered languages" ''.) * 2018–19: Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Humboldt Research Award * 2020:
Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship The Leverhulme Trust () is a large national grant-making organisation in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1925 under the will of the 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), with the instruction that its resources should be used to suppo ...
, for further research on the Diyari language.


Notes


Citations


Sources

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External links

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Curriculum vitae

EL Publishing

''Language Documentation and Description'' journal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Austin, Peter Academics of SOAS University of London Linguists from Australia Linguists of Australian Aboriginal languages Linguists of Pama–Nyungan languages Linguists of Austronesian languages Living people Syntacticians Year of birth missing (living people)