Conference: Support for Three Professional Meetings on Southeast Asian Linguistics; Honolulu, HI - May 2020

University Of Hawaii, Honolulu

Investigators

Abstract

The languages of Southeast Asia, including Malaysia and Indonesia, have provided the field of linguistics with numerous important scientific discoveries regarding the nature of human language. However, in recent years, venues for learning about and sharing current research on Southeast Asia languages have been vanishingly rare within the United States. Thus, this project aims to bring together scholars to present current research focused on Southeast Asian languages for an unprecedented week-long event in May 2020 at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. This week-long event comprises three professional meetings on the languages of Southeast Asia that have not traditionally been held together---the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society (SEALS), the International Symposium on Malay-Indonesian Linguistics (ISMIL), and the International Symposium on the Language of Java (ISLOJ)---alongside a special series of master classes on cutting-edge topics in several sub-disciplines in linguistics. SEALS, the largest of the three meetings, is internationally-recognized as the foremost conference for disseminating research on Southeast Asian linguistics. ISMIL and ISLOJ are important venues for two linguistically important yet sorely under-researched areas of western Indonesia. Thus, by bringing together these previously disparate meetings, this project promises to foster communication and collaboration between like-minded scholars who may not otherwise interact. The special series of master classes leverages specializations of faculty at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in experimental, theoretical and documentary linguistics, offering students and scholars from the US and various Southeast Asian countries important educational opportunities that promise to promote the progress of the scientific study of human language. The funding from the National Science Foundation will be used to increase the diversity of participants at this week-long event on Southeast Asian languages by offering funding to US students as well as students and scholars from Southeast Asia who would not otherwise be able to travel to the United States. Broadening participation in this week-long event has the potential to be transformative in forging new collaborations and creating new threads of linguistics research. The master classes will provide important training at basic and advanced levels on cutting-edge research methodologies and current topics in several sub-disciplines of linguistics. These workshops will be targeted at students and scholars from Southeast Asia because of their potential to make a significant impact on the future of linguistic research on the languages of Southeast Asia. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.