[Lingtyp] Lingtyp Digest, Vol 143, Issue 4

Mon Aug 10 21:04:19 UTC 2026

Just to clarify: my message refers specifically to *Papua province* (e.g.
Jayapura, and the coast along to Sarmi), and not to other areas of western
Papua.

Yes other areas of western Papua are very unsafe; but Papua province, or at
least the areas I have been in contact with, are quite safe.

On Mon, 10 Aug 2026 at 21:00, <lingtyp-request at listserv.linguistlist.org>
wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. NW New Guinea: the least documented region in the world?
>       (John Mansfield)
>    2. Re: NW New Guinea: the least documented region in the world?
>       (Jocelyn Aznar)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 10 Aug 2026 05:50:25 +0900
> From: John Mansfield <jbmansfield at gmail.com>
> To: lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org
> Subject: [Lingtyp] NW New Guinea: the least documented region in the
>         world?
> Message-ID:
>         <CAJC=rUBY8g3gOgwFJM-RLAzL-XvS8=
> c1hS+HhKrBAzRAUqcXeA at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Dear all,
>
> I would like to advertise the exceptional current potential for fieldwork
> PhDs in Papua province, Indonesia. William Foley (2018: 435) notes that
> this may be the least documented region in the world. There are dozens of
> undocumented languages, including whole families that are almost totally
> undocumented. Furthermore, the region is now quite easily accessible, safe,
> and I would say there are almost ideal conditions for fieldwork PhDs.
>
> >From the little we know about languages in this area (see Foley 2018, The
> languages of Northwest New Guinea), it is clear that they are typologically
> unusual and morphologically complex. For example in the Tor family, verbs
> inflect for time-of-day, proximity, elevation, and gender/number of
> multiple participants.
>
> There are still plenty of fluent speakers for most languages, and
> communities that are very keen to welcome anyone who can help them write
> their languages. However there is also rapid language shift in the younger
> generations, so now is really the time to act.
>
> To typologists who have potential PhD students looking for a fieldwork
> location: please consider the exceptional potential and need of this
> region. I would be happy to share more information, and local contacts,
> with anyone who might seriously consider fieldwork here. I myself do not
> have funding for any PhD positions at the moment.
>
> John Mansfield
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> Message: 2
> Date: Mon, 10 Aug 2026 10:18:23 +0200
> From: Jocelyn Aznar <contact at jocelynaznar.eu>
> To: lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org
> Subject: Re: [Lingtyp] NW New Guinea: the least documented region in
>         the world?
> Message-ID: <5615d678-83c5-4bf9-a135-9b064de7bd7c at jocelynaznar.eu>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
>
> Dear John, dear everyone,
>
> While I totally agree with the importance of doing fieldwork in Papua,
> I'd be a bit more nuanced than John regarding the current situation.
>
> The region has been administered by Indonesia since 1963(? if I remember
> well), after Dutch colonial rule ended. Note that since 2022, there are
> actually six different provinces (Papua, Papua Barat, Papua Tengah,
> Papua Pegunungan, Papua Selatan, Papua Barat Daya), and the
> conflict/development situation between Papuan populations and the
> Indonesian government varies quite a lot from one region to another. As
> far as I'm aware, in particular in the central highlands, there is an
> active conflict. Coastal areas might be comparatively safe.
>
> So fieldwork is possible and very important to the documentation of
> languages around the world, still I'd recommend anyone interested to get
> in touch with researchers already working in the area, for safety
> reasons, and also to know the current access situation.
>
> Best regards,
> Jocelyn
>
> PS: I'm banned from Indonesia for having contributed to the organization
> of a colloquium that was discussing what's happening to the Papua
> population in the area (people are being displaced, concentrated into
> camps, disowned of their lands, killed when protested, if some people
> talk about a slow genocide, most people (except the Indonesian
> government) agree that there are crimes against humanity happening). And
> also, note that if you happen to take a public stance for the Papua
> population, not only you will have deal with the retaliations, but your
> institution as well, for instance if other researchers in your
> institution are working with/in Indonesia, they might get into trouble
> to get a VISA or something like that.
>
> Le 09/08/2026 ? 22:50, John Mansfield via Lingtyp a ?crit?:
> > Dear all,
> >
> > I would like to advertise the exceptional current potential for
> > fieldwork PhDs in Papua province, Indonesia. William Foley (2018: 435)
> > notes that this may be the least documented region in the world. There
> > are dozens of undocumented languages, including whole families that are
> > almost totally undocumented. Furthermore, the region?is now quite easily
> > accessible, safe, and I would say there are almost ideal conditions for
> > fieldwork PhDs.
> >
> >  From the little we know about languages?in this area (see Foley 2018,
> > The languages of Northwest New Guinea), it is clear that they are
> > typologically unusual and morphologically complex. For example in the
> > Tor family, verbs inflect for time-of-day, proximity, elevation, and
> > gender/number of multiple participants.
> >
> > There are still plenty of fluent speakers for most languages, and
> > communities that are very?keen to welcome anyone who can help them write
> > their languages. However there is also rapid language shift in the
> > younger generations, so now is really the time to act.
> >
> > To typologists who have potential PhD students looking for a fieldwork
> > location: please consider the exceptional potential and need of this
> > region. I would be happy to share more information, and local contacts,
> > with anyone who might seriously consider fieldwork?here. I myself do not
> > have funding for any PhD positions at the moment.
> >
> > John Mansfield
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org
> > https://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp
>
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> End of Lingtyp Digest, Vol 143, Issue 4
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