Re AN native speaker/scholars

[Paz B Naylor]

Dear Colleagues:

Having just seen the names on the AFLA list of "invited speakers" for
their meeting in May to be held in Amsterdam, I was struck by the
remarkable absence on the list of the name of a scholar who was also a
native speaker of an Austronesian language.

THIS HAPPENS ALL THE TIME!  Not just AFLA!

True, there are very, very few of them around.  But isn't the work of
those few worth hearing?  Are their contributions not worth recognizing?

With very few exceptions among our colleagues, in the society of linguists
in general, there seems to have been a dismissive attitude toward the
work of nativespeaker/analysts.

WHY?

--Paz



Paz Buenaventura Naylor, Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor, Asian Languages and Cultures
Faculty Associate, Center for Southeast Asian Studies
Program Associate, Linguistics
The University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI  48109, U.S.A.
Tel./Fax:  (734) 995-2371