Professor Robert Dixon
PhD Litt D DLittAdjunct Professor-670996
Research Division
My linguistic research has fallen into four areas.
1. Documentation of the Original languages of Australia which I have been working on since 1963. I published grammars and vocabularies of Yidiñ, Warrgamay, Nyawaygi, and Mbarbaram. My major work has been with Dyirbal. I have published on the kinship system, song styles, texts, and vocabulary. My 1972 book The Dyirbal language of North Queensland received much praise and has been oft quoted. I am currently putting finishing touches to A new grammar of Dyirbal, to be published in 2022, fifty years after the original. This provides a more in-deph analysis and is written in terms of the latest developments of the typological theory. I have also published two monumental volumes, The languages of Australia (1980 and Australian languages: their nature and development, 2002, both Cambridge University Press. My popular introduction to Australia's Original languages was published by Allen and Unwin in 2019.
2. I have also done intensive fieldwork in other parts of the world. A grammar of Boumaa Fijian (1988) was based upon my sojourn in a Fijian village. I then ventured into Amazonia, and fieldwork between 1991-2003, resulting in a hefty volume The Jarawara language of southern Amazonia.
3. I have made significant contributions to general linguistic theory. Notably, Where have all the adjectives gone (1982), Ergativity (1994), and the much-acclaimed three-volume typological study The Basic Linguistic Theory (2010-2012, Oxford University Press).
4. I spent many years thinking about and analysing my native tongue. A new approach to English grammar, on semantic principles was published in 1991 and then expanded into A semantic approach to English grammar (2005), both by Oxford University Press. This was followed by Making new words: morphological derivations in English (OUP, 2014) and The Unmasking of English dictionaries (2018, Cambridge University Press). My newest book English prepositions: their meanings and uses will be published by Oxford University Press towards the end of 2021.
Background
I am a major authority on several areas of linguistics, including syntax, morphology, semantics, typology, and historical and comparative linguistics.
My major areas of cutting edge expertise lie in the languages of the First Nations of Australia (especially those in the Cairns-Townsville region), languages of the Pacific, southern Amazonia, and Modern English.
Universities Studied At
Oxford University (Open Exhibition at Christ Church, 1957; Honorary Scholar, l958): Honour Moderations in Mathematics, 1958 (First Class); Final Honours in Mathematics (BA), 1960 (Second Class);
MA 1964
University of London: PhD in Linguistics, 1968. Thesis title: The Dyirbal language of North Queensland
Australian National University: Doctor of Letters, 1991 (by examination of published work - four books and five papers)
James Cook University: Honorary Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, 2018
Universities Worked At
Research Fellow in Linguistics, University of Edinburgh, 1961-3
Research Officer in Linguistics, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, 1963-4
Lecturer in Linguistics, University College London, 1964-70 (Acting
Head of Department, 1967-8)
Professor of Linguistics, Australian National University, 1970-99 (Head of Department, 1970-1990)
Australian Research Council Senior Research Fellow, 1991-96,
1996-2001, 2002-2006. ARC Special Investigator Grant, 1997-9.
(Have had one or more ARGC/ARC grants each year 1972 - present)
Director, Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, Australian National University, 1996-1999
Professor of Linguistics and Director of the Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, La Trobe University, 2000-2008
Adjunct Professor and Senior Fellow of the Cairns Institute, James Cook University from 2008 until 2021.
Deputy Director, Language and Culture Research Centre, James Cook University from 2011-2021
Awards
Prizes
• Stanner Award, from the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Studies for Dyirbal song poetry, the oral literature of an Australian rain forest people, as the best contribution to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies published in 1996-7 (jointly with Grace Koch).
• Leonard Bloomfield Award, from the Linguistic Society of America, for The Jarawara language of southern Amazonia, as the best book across all field of linguistics published worldwide between March 2003 and February 2005.
Membership of Learned Societies, etc.
Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy (elected 1998)
Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (elected 1982)
Member of Linguistic Society of America since 1962; elected Honorary Member 1987 (the number of Honorary Members is limited to 40 by the LSA constitution; they are spread over 25 countries)
Member of the Australian Linguistic Society since 1977; Vice-President 1977-80; President 1980-82
Member of the Philological Society, London, since 1962
James Cook University: Honorary Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, 2018
Previous teaching
Teaching experience
Courses on: Principles of Linguistics; Syntax; Semantics; Field Methods;
Comparative/Historical Linguistics; Methods of Linguistic Description; Typology; History of Linguistics; Australian Aboriginal Linguistics; Basic Linguistic Theory, etc.
Professional Experience
Field Work
—North-east Queensland, Australia - over 20 field trips, 1963-2001, working mainly in Dyirbal (six different dialects), Yidiny, Warrgamay, Nyawaygi and Mbabaram; also a little work on Wakaman, Djangun, Koko-Mini, Olgolo, Warungu, etc.
—Taveuni, Fiji - Jan-June 1985 with short return trips in 1986, 1989, 2006, working on the Boumaa dialect of Fijian
—Purús River region, State of Amazonas, Brazil - March-April 1991, June-August 1992, June-August 1993, July-August 1994, May-June 1995, April-May 1999, March-April 2003, working on Jarawara and other languages of the Arawá family
Orcid ID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8294-5806
Professional Memberships
Membership of Learned Societies, etc.
Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy (elected 1998)
Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (elected 1982)
Member of Linguistic Society of America since 1962; elected Honorary Member 1987 (the number of Honorary Members is limited to 40 by the LSA constitution; they are spread over 25 countries)
Member of the Australian Linguistic Society since 1977; Vice-President 1977-80; President 1980-82
Member of the Philological Society, London, since 1962
Responsibilities
Head of Linguistics Department, Faculty of Arts ANU, 1970-1990
Deputy Dean, Faculty of Arts ANU, 1986
Director of the Research Centre for Linguistic typology, ANU/La Trobe, 1996-2008
Deputy Director, Language and Culture Research Centre, JCU, 2011-2021
Professional Interests
Linguistics
Language documentation
Original languages of Australia, especially North Queensland
Languages and cultures of the Pacific and Amazonia
Blues and Gospel discography
Key Achievements
Foundational work on
- lnguistic theory
- Language documentation
- Original languages of Australia, especially North Queensland
- Languages and cultures of the Pacific and Amazonia, and language and health
Blues and Gospel discography
Editor
Co-editor, Handbook of Australian Languages, 1979-present (see list of publications)
Explorations in linguistic typology, 2004 on, Oxford University Press (includes volumes emanating from RCLT's and LCRC's International Workshops);
Co-editor of Brill's studies in language, cognition and culture (2010-present)
Member of Editorial Boards: Foundations of Language, 1964-76
Studies in Language, 1977-1997
Lingua/Croom Helm Descriptive Series, 1979-2000
Australian Journal of Linguistics, 1981- 2004
Typological Studies in Language Monograph Series, 1981-present
Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 1983-6
Anthropological Linguistics, 1991-present
Studia Linguistica, 1992-2004
Italian Journal of Linguistics, from 2008
Consultancy Work
Consultancy work for Mitchell Library and numerous organizations on the Original languages of Australia
Other language, communication and culture - Other language, communication and culture not elsewhere classified
Indigenous languages
Linguistic theory
English
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8294-5806