ANU crest Department of Linguistics
Division of Society and Environment
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies (RSPAS)
Institute of Advanced Studies, The Australian National University (ANU)

        Andrew K. Pawley
 
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Andy's pic MA, PhD (Auckland), FRSNZ, FAHA
Professor of Linguistics and Head of Department

e-mail: apawley@coombs.anu.edu.au

telephone: +61 2 6125 0028

Andrew Pawley's main research interests are in the Austronesian and Papuan languages and associated cultures and in the nature of linguistic competence. He has done fieldwork in Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa and Tasmania. Before coming to the ANU in 1990 he taught at the Universities of Auckland (1965-89), Papua New Guinea (1969), Hawaii (1973-78) and Georgetown (1985).

After moving from Tasmania to New Zealand in 1953 at the age of 12 Andrew Pawley learnt Maori and Samoan and did a BA and MA in Anthropology at the University of Auckland. A solitary course in linguistics persuaded him that he should become a linguist and he did a Master's thesis on Samoan grammar and got into Polynesian historical linguistics. In 1963 he joined a multi-disciplinary project in Papua New Guinea investigating knowledge and use of the natural environment by the Kalam people of the Schrader Ranges, Madang Province. He wrote a PhD thesis on the grammar of Kalam (1966) and has collaborated with Kalam speakers in studies of Kalam ethnobiology and lexicon. In 1967 he began a long-term project of descriptive and comparative research on the Fijian languages, in partnership with Timoci Sayaba.During the 1970s he and Frances Syder investigated structures and processes in conversational speech, with data from Tasmanian and NZ English, and this led to an interest in formulaic speech genres. In recent years he has tried to develop a model for analysing languages as codes for talking about particular subject matters.

Press here to see Andy's portrait in Jeff Marck's portrait gallery.

Current research projects

  • Proto Oceanic lexicon
  • Papuan comparative linguistics
  • Kalam language and ethnobiological studies
  • Wayan (Western Fijian) language studies
  • Tasmanian vernacular English and story-telling

Selected publications

1966
Samoan phrase structure: morphology- syntax in a Western Polynesian Language. Bloomington: Indiana University. (= Anthropological Linguistics. 8,5)
Polynesian languages: a subgrouping based on shared innovations in morphology. J. Polynesian Society 75: 39-64.
1970
Grammatical reconstruction and change in Polynesia and Fiji. In S.A. Wurm and D.C. Laycock (eds), Pacific Linguistic Studies in Honour of Arthur Capell. pp. 301-367. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics C-13.
1972
On the internal relationships of Eastern Oceanic languages. In: R. Green and M. Kelly (eds) Studies in Oceanic Culture History, vol. 3. pp. 1-142. Honolulu: Bishop Museum.
1973
Some problems in Proto Oceanic grammar. Oceanic Linguistics 12: 103-188.
1979
(with L.A. Reid) The evolution of transitive sentences in Austronesian. In: P.B. Naylor (ed.) Austronesian Studies: Papers from the second Eastern conference on Austronesian languages. pp. 103-130. Ann Arbor: Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of Michigan.
1983
(with Frances Syder) Two puzzles for linguistic theory: nativelike selection and nativelike fluency. In: J.C. Richards and R.W. Schmidt (eds), Language and Communication. pp. 191-227. London: Longman.
1983
(with Frances Syder) Natural selection in syntax: Notes on adaptive variation and change in vernacular and literary grammar. J. of Pragmatics 7: 551-579.
1985
On speech formulas and linguistic competence. Lenguas Modernas 12: 84-104.
1986
Lexicalization. In: D. Tannen and J. Alatis (eds). 1985 Georgetown Round Table in Languages and Linguistics, pp. 98-120. Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press.
1987
Encoding events in Kalam and English: different logics for reporting experience. In: R. Tomlin (ed) Coherence and Grounding in Discourse, pp. 329-360. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
199 0
Possessive-marking in Wayan, a Western Fijian language: Noun class or relational system? In: J. Davidson, (ed.) Languages of the Central Pacific: essays in honour of George Milner. pp. 147-171. London: School of Oriental and African Studies.
1991
How to talk cricket: On linguistic competence in a subject matter. In: R. Blust (ed.) Currents in Pacific Linguistics: Papers on Austronesian languages and ethnolinguistics in honour of George Grace. pp. 339-368. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics C-117.
1993
A language which defies description by ordinary means. In: W. Foley (ed), The role of theory in language description. pp. 87-129. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. (1)
1996
Grammarian's lexicon, lexicographer's lexicon: Worlds apart. In: Jan Svartvik (ed.) Words: Proceedings of an International Symposium. Lund. pp. 189-211. Stockholm: Kungl. Vitters Historie och Antikvitets Akademien. Konferenser 36.

[Linguistics RSPAS homepage]
Created: 30 Sep 1996
Last modified: 17 March 2000
Authorised by: Head, Linguistics, RSPAS
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