[An-lang] In memoriam Robert Blust

Tue Jan 25 06:42:21 UTC 2022

Obituary : Robert Andrew Blust (Cincinnati 9 May 1940 – Honolulu 5 January 2022)

Sander Adelaar writes:

Robert Andrew Blust died on January 5th in Honolulu at the age of 81, and with his passing Austronesian historical linguistics lost the greatest scholar it has ever had.

Bob’s first encounter with Austronesian languages was in the US Army, when he was sent to the 25th Division Language School in Hawai’i for a six-month Indonesian language course in 1963-64. He was subsequently attached to a U.S. Military Technical and Advisory Group (MILTAG), Jakarta, Indonesia for a short period in 1964. He taught Indonesian in the 25th Division Language School from September 1964 until the end of 1965.

Bob then did undergraduate studies in Anthropology followed by graduate studies in Linguistics at the University of Hawai’i. After finishing his PhD in 1974, he had a. Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Australian National University in Canberra. He subsequently moved to Leiden University (Netherlands), where he stayed from 1976 to 1984, first as an Assistant Professor and then as an Associate Professor. His final academic home, where he spent the last 37 years of his career (1984-2022), was back at the Department of Linguistics of the University of Hawai’i, initially as Associate Professor, and from 1987 onwards, as Full Professor.

Bob’s career spans more than half a century. His first article, ‘Some new Proto-Oceanic trisyllables’, was published in 1969. His three final works are still in press as I write. His contributions to the field of Austronesian linguistics were enormous, in terms of the amount, range and quality of his publications. It is no overstatement to say that in that period he singlehandedly fast-forwarded the development of Austronesian historical linguistics by another half a century. He established and fine-tuned a genealogical subgrouping of the entire family, reconstructed extensive lexicons of several high-order proto-languages, and reconstructed elements of the social organisation and material culture of speakers of Proto Malayo-Polynesian. He also did substantial lexicographical and descriptive linguistic work.  

Bob (co-)edited four volumes and (co-)authored 10 books, 210 journal articles and book chapters, 31 reviews, 2 review articles, and 20 other publications (reviews, obituaries, position statements, forewords, a personal reminiscence) and a massive online comparative Austronesian dictionary. He also contributed substantially to the Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database (ABVD) at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena. In the last twenty years alone, he produced the following eight major works and a huge database:

	1.     A short morphology, phonology and vocabulary of Kiput, Sarawak. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics (PL 546), 2003;

	2.     Thao dictionary. (1,106 pages). Taipei: Academia Sinica, 2003.

	3.     a seminal introduction to Austronesian linguistics (887 pages). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, 2009; revised edition Canberra: Asia-Pacific Linguistics, 2013); Pacific Linguistics. Berlin: de Gruyter Mouton; in press;

	4.     Eight languages of the Admiralty islands, Papua New Guinea (639 pages), Language and Linguistics in Melanesia special issue 2021 (Online: https://langlxmelanesia.com/llm-special-issue-2021);

	5.     (With the assistance of Hsiu-chuan Liao) 101 problems and solutions in historical linguistics: a workbook. (512 pages). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press; 2018;

	6.     (With Alexander D. Smith). A bibliography of the languages of Borneo (and Madagascar) (218 pages). Borneo Research Council Reference Series No. 2. Philipps, Maine: Borneo Research Council, Inc. 2014; <>
	7.     (With Stephen Trussel). A heavily annotated “Austronesian Comparative Dictionary” containing nearly 9000 single-spaced lines  <>(Online:  <>www.trussel2.com/ACD <http://www.trussel2.com/ACD> and https://acd.clld.org/);

	8.     A dictionary of Austronesian monosyllabic roots (submorphemes). (269 pages). Pacific Linguistics Series. Berlin: de Gruyter Mouton. In press;

	9.     The dragon and the rainbow: Man’s oldest story. Ms., 270pp. Baden-Baden: Studia Instituti Anthropos, In press.

Bob’s main contributions to Austronesian linguistics were perhaps in the areas of language classification and phonological and lexical reconstruction, but it is hard to think of any aspect of this research field where he has not left a distinct mark. Among others, he made the case for comprehensive classifications of the indigenous languages of northern Borneo, the Philippines, and Taiwan. In case of the Formosan languages, he argued on several occasions that they belonged to separate primary branches of Austronesian and that none of them had a closer genetic affiliation with Philippine languages, which belong in the Malayo-Polynesian language branch. He also pointed out that the Sama-Bajau languages were directly related to the Barito languages in Borneo, and he was the first to give solid evidence for a Malayo-Chamic subgroup.

He furthermore defined some major subgroups (Central Malayo-Polynesian, Central-East-Malayo-Polynesian, Greater North Borneo, Western Indonesian) and reinforced or fine-tuned other ones. He “started” the online Austronesian Comparative Dictionary, which has become an indispensable tool for many scholars, used on a daily basis. He reconstructed taxonomic systems including PAn and PMP personal pronouns, and PMP kinship terminology. Other aspects of Austronesian culture history that he investigated include the house, social organisation (authority, kinship), ironworking, and the linguistic relevance of the Wallace Line.

He was also fascinated by the phonology and phonesthetic structure of Austronesian languages, both individually (e.g. Rejang, Chamorro, Soboyo, Thao...) and as a group (e.g. the phonologies of north Bornean languages, nasality in Borneo, etc.). He wrote two books on the phonesthetic implications of final syllables (1988 and in press). Many other works could be added to this list, which is by no means exhaustive.[1] <applewebdata://509EF5CB-57DE-4F5E-92AE-11EFE6D8ACB1#_ftn1>
Bob was very generous in sharing his vast knowledge, and he was always prepared to help those who asked for his advice, including students, whom he treated in an egalitarian spirit. He was also a great friend who liked company. He was a prolific letter writer. During his Leiden years I had the privilege to have him as my main PhD supervisor, although this was not his official capacity because at Dutch universities only full professors were entitled to take on supervision at the time.

He was an amazing teacher, as I discovered when I sat in to his classes during my PhD years in the late 70s. He was able to combine transparency with thoroughness in a way I was not used to in other classes. Some of these classes were conducted in Indonesian, as the other students were from various Indonesian universities and had come to Leiden University to participate in an upgrading programme in historical linguistics. Bob spoke Indonesian very well, which surprised me at the time because I had not had other opportunities to hear him use the language. Bob also taught extensively during his years at Hawai’i[2] <applewebdata://509EF5CB-57DE-4F5E-92AE-11EFE6D8ACB1#_ftn2>, and he did so until 2020,  almost the very end of his life. He also supervised ten students (between 2008 and 2021).

Bob was not always easy to get along with. He was often uncompromising in his opinions and could even be insensitive in defending them, which occasionally led to cross moments with other scholars. It perhaps helps to know that while he was one of the most brilliant linguists of our age, he also lived in a world he was not always able to understand. This often prevented him from being happy. For those who were acquainted with this side of him, it was much easier to accept him as he was, and to see the uniquely good aspects of his nature. The last thirteen years were particularly difficult for him as he suffered from Hodgkin’s Disease. Nevertheless, he managed to work till the last days of his life, and to publish at the same pace and with the same level of excellence as he had maintained throughout his career. We will miss him, and hope that he will find the peace he deserves.

Bob leaves behind two daughters, Lani and Karen, by his first wife, Elaine Holder, and a third, Jasmine, by his second wife, Laura Chang.

References

Adelaar, Alexander; Andrew Pawley. 2009. Austronesian historical linguistics and culture history. A festschrift for Robert Blust. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics (PL 601).

Lobel, Jason; Zorc, David. In press. Obituary: Robert A. Blust (to appear in Oceanic   Linguistics).

[1] <applewebdata://509EF5CB-57DE-4F5E-92AE-11EFE6D8ACB1#_ftnref1> More comprehensive information about Bob’s life and work until 2008 can be found in Chapter 1 in Adelaar and Pawley (2009:23-35), and for more recent years, in Lobel and Zorc (in press).

[2] <applewebdata://509EF5CB-57DE-4F5E-92AE-11EFE6D8ACB1#_ftnref2> For a full account, see the obituary in Oceanic Linguistics by Lobel and Zorc (2022).
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