Robert Blust
| Robert Blust | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Robert Andrew Blust (Chinese: 白樂思) 1940 Cincinnati, Ohio, USA |
| Residence | Honolulu, Hawaiʻi |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | PhD in linguistics (1974), University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa |
| Occupation | Historical linguistics, lexicography and ethnology |
| Employer | University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa |
| Title | Professor of Linguistics; Review editor for the journal Oceanic Linguistics |
| Spouse(s) | Laura Chang-Blust |
| Website | http://www.ling.hawaii.edu/faculty/blust/ |
Robert A. Blust (born 1940, Chinese: 白樂思; pinyin: Bái Lèsī) is a prominent linguist in several areas, including historical linguistics, lexicography and ethnology. Blust specializes in the Austronesian languages and has made major contributions to the field of Austronesian linguistics.
Robert Blust was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in California. He received a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology and a PhD in linguistics from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 1974. Currently, he is a professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, and served as the department chair from 2005 to 2008.
He also serves as the review editor for the Oceanic Linguistics, an academic journal that covers the Austronesian languages. Blust is best known for his work on Austronesian, including a large Austronesian comparative dictionary (Blust 1995c) and a Thao-English dictionary (Blust 2003b). Another one of his well-known works is a 2009 work called The Austronesian Languages, which is the first single-authored book to cover all aspects (phonology, syntax, morphology, sound changes, classification, etc.) of the Austronesian language family in its entirety.
Blust has done field work on 97 Austronesian languages spoken in locations such as Sarawak, Papua New Guinea, and Taiwan. In Taiwan, he has performed field work on Formosan languages such as Thao, Kavalan, Pazeh, Amis, Paiwan and Saisiyat. His dictionary of the highly endangered Thao language is currently the most complete of any Formosan language dictionary, containing over 1100 pages. Blust also has an abiding interest in both linguistic and cultural aspects of rainbows and dragons.
...
Wikipedia