[Tibeto-burman-linguistics] Tenure(d/-track) position in Academia Sinica

[楊沅霖]

Dear everyone on this mailing list,

My name is Yuan-Lin Yang, or you can just refer to me by my English name,
Mickey. I am currently an MA student of the linguistics track at the
Department of English, National Taiwan Normal University. Although my main
specialization is in Formosan languages, I have long had a profound
interest in Tibeto-Burman languages, and have just recently become a
newcomer to this field by collaborating with some native consultants from
Myanmar during my leisure time (but I am also doing this for proper
research purposes).

It is my first time writing an email to this mailing list, and I am writing
this email out of my personal wish. As the title indicates, just since
yesterday (October 13th), the Institute of Linguistics at Academia Sinica
(AS; Taipei, Taiwan) has just posted a job offer for a tenure(d-track)
position (the post can be found here
<https://www.ling.sinica.edu.tw/main/en?code=list&flag=detail&ids=46&article_id=491>
or
here <https://linguistlist.org/issues/36/3081/>), with no restrictions on
the area of specialization and the only major requirement being
communicative fluency in Chinese. However, here I would like to make a
humble but sincere petition for scholars specializing in Tibeto-Burman
linguistics to apply for this job opening (regardless of whether you just
entered the job market or have been a veteran researcher).

The main reason I argue for this petition is that, the research on TB
languages has long been a tradition at AS, which, to the best of my
knowledge, can be dated to Dr. Hwang-Cherng Gong, but right now it is
facing the danger of fading out (unfortunately, I am afraid that I am not
able to to exactly why publicly, for it may involve some sensitive,
personal reasons). This is also due to the fact that here in Taiwan very
few scholars have been working on TB languages for a long time.
Nevertheless, I know that recently at least some people around me (also
including myself) are TB enthusiasts, or even linguists-wanna-be, and I
believe quite a few of us all think that these languages are fascinating,
and such a research enterprise in Taiwan should continue to thrive for next
few years, or even decades.

I know I am definitely not eligible to be representative of the IOL at AS
at all, and what I am doing right now is perhaps very imprudent. But while
there have been many people in Taiwan that are attempting to keep the
island's indigenous linguistic diversity, it may actually be equally
important to maintain the diversity of research disciplines on other
different languages spoken on the island, which are introduced through vast
immigration in recent years.

And yes, actually Taiwan is very adjacent to TB languages (and also MSEA
ones). For example, in AS, many engineers from India are in fact speakers
of some minor TB languages spoken in Northeast India, and quite a few of
which may even be understudied. Also, since two to three years ago, many
youngsters from Myanmar have continuously been coming to Taiwan in order to
look for a new life, and this is also how I get in touch with TB languages.
On the roads and streets of major cities in Taiwan, you can also spot quite
a number of lamas who may speak some very distinct varieties of Bodish or
rGyalrongic languages. And all of these is because of the geographical
facilities of Taiwan.

So, if you are reading this email and is a TB specialist, Taiwan is one of
the nice places for you to conduct research on TB languages.

Last, but not least, thank you for the patience and effort you make for
reading this lengthy email, it is almost coming to the end. Once again, I
would like to humbly invite you for the consideration of a job position at
AS; or, if possible, you may also consider share this email or the news of
job opening to other people in this field that are also looking for a job.

With sincere regards,
Yuan-Lin Mickey Yang.
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