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. Lingu ...
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 narra ...
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, V ...
. 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 31,63 ...
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 capit ...
.
In 2002, he published a grammatical description of Araki, a language spoken by a handful of speakers on an islet south of Espiritu Santo (Vanuatu).
Most of his research focuses on the northern islands of Vanuatu, known as the Torres 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 inclu ...
, 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
Lehali (previously known as ''Teqel'') is an Oceanic language spoken by about 200 people, on the west coast of Ureparapara Island in Vanuatu.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 ...
(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 Ver ...
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
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 ...
, 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, the experience of two or ...
and
historical
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
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 ...
".
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 thou ...
(
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 capit ...
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 in ...
.
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 geogra ...
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 French ...
.
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 var ...
– 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 aspe ...
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". 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 dia ...
ANU
, image=Detail, upper part, Kudurru of Ritti-Marduk, from Sippar, Iraq, 1125-1104 BCE. British Museum.jpg
, caption=Symbols of various deities, including Anu (bottom right corner) on a kudurru of Ritti-Marduk, from Sippar, Iraq, 1125–1104 BCE
, ...