Alexander D. Smith
Hi! My name is Alexander D. Smith (just Alex is fine). I am a linguist, and a Principle Investigator at Fudan University. I received my Ph.D. from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa in 2017 and wrote my dissertation on the languages of Borneo, an island the size of the US state of Texas, and an area of considerable linguistic diversity.
My Linguistic interests are in historical linguistics, and I focus heavily on the comparative study of Austronesian languages. I am currently in charge of managing the content of the Austronesian Comparative Dictionary, a position that was given to me by the late Robert Blust. Please feel free to contact me with any questions regarding the ACD.
I have recently been intrigued by the prospect of working on the Austro-Tai hypothesis, and have some work in this area as well.
Apart from my academic interests, I am involved in various projects dealing with the documentation, description, preservation, and promotion of the indigenous languages of Borneo. I am in the process of uploading my large linguistic datasets to borneodictionary.com, a non-academic site designed for use by local community members in Borneo. I am also currently working on several dictionary projects with different communities in Borneo.
Archived Materials:
Materials from my fieldwork are stored at the Kaipuleohone language archive, hosted at the University of Hawaiʻi.
Kayanic comparative vocabularies
Upcoming:
Articles:
Too many to get into, but keep an eye out in the latest Oceanic Linguistics and Diachronica volumes for some contributions.
Books:
I am in the process of rewriting my dissertation as a book (and the process is very in-depth. Expect a near total re-write). I am hoping to have it completed in 2025.
Conferences:
I don't have any conference presentations planned in the near future, but check again for updates!
Recently, I presented the following paper on Austronesian Watercraft Innovations, with Kye Shibata, Yu Jian, and Peter Schuelke. In this presentation we show some of our evidence for reinterpreting the history of Austronesian watercraft innovations. Importantly, we argue that the outrigger canoe was not present in the PMP-speaking society that migrated from Taiwan to the Philippines but was rather innovated later as PMP-speaking people expanded beyond the Philippines.
Edited Volumes:
I am currently working on an edited volume focusing on voice and subject in Borneo! I'll also be contributing two chapters to the volume, on Lebo' Vo' Kenyah and on Punan Bah. Feel free to contact me for more info.
