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

[楊沅霖]

Dear Professor LaPolla,

Once again thank you very much for adding me into the list.

I think there are also a few things that I can add and let everyone here
know. So right now in the Institute of Linguistics at Academia Sinica
(ILAS), there are more than five scholars working on Formosan languages,
and there are also two scholars who actively work on Sinitic languages
(esp. southern ones, including Min, Hakka, Wu, Gan, Xiang, etc.),
despite currently few graduate students are working on them (but I have met
and know at least five people that are). Also, last time the ILAS has also
posted a job opening that looked for scholars working on Sinitic languages
(since Dr. Pei-chuan Wei was retiring). But this time, they did not
particularly look for people working on TB languages. Given that Sinitic
linguistics is also a long research tradition at ILAS, except political
factors, I do not see any other reason that the TB linguistics tradition
should be waning (in fact, one does not necessarily need to go to China in
order to investigate TB languages).

Despite that I also agree with Prof. LaPolla that there may be certain
degrees of difficulty to get in ILAC, I still stay optimistic and believe
that, as anyone of you have the willingness to apply for the position,
there is always hope.

Best,
Mickey.

randylapolla <randylapolla at protonmail.com> 於 2025年10月15日 週三 上午11:14寫道：

> Hi All,
> I can confirm that the tradition of TB studies at the Institute of
> Linguistics, Academia Sinica, in Taiwan is waning. Once Jackson Sun retires
> there will only be Jonathan Evans, and he might be close to retirement as
> well. This is because the head of the Advisory Committee (Jim Huang) and
> the Director of the Institute (Lin Jo-Wang) work on formal Chinese syntax
> and semantics, respectively, and so in the last few years the hirings have
> mainly been in these fields. This might make it difficult to get in, but I
> also want to encourage young scholars to apply. (I worked there for six
> years in the early 1990’s, with Gong Hwang-cherng, Jackson, Jonathan, and
> some very good historical linguists and dialect specialists. We were
> pretty-much left on our own to do our research—little or no admin work, and
> no teaching unless you wanted to commute to one of the universities—and
> there is a fantastic library. Taiwan is also very nice, with a very
> interesting culture, and the Taiwanese people are very friendly.)
>
> Randy
> PS: Mickey, I have added you to the list membership.
>
> On 14 Oct 2025, at 8:05 PM, 楊沅霖 <firstboy11th at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 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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>
>
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