22-27 August, 1994
Leiden, The Netherlands
SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON AUSTRONESIAN LINGUISTICS

By J.C. Besemer

The Department of Languages and Cultures of South-East Asia and Oceania at
Leiden University is the organizer of the Seventh International Conference on
Austronesian Linguistics (7-ICAL), which will be held from Monday 22 August
to Saturday 27 August 1994. The general emphasis of the conference will be on
the presentation of primary language data. In this way Herman Neubronner van
der Tuuk, the first linguistic fieldworker and Austronesian comparative
linguist in the Netherlands who died in 1894, will be commemorated.
Descriptive, historical, sociolinguistic and creolistic papers dealing with
Austronesian languages, especially when they are based on primary language
data, are welcomed. 

Since 1974, international conferences on Austronesian linguistics have been
held at regular 3 - 4 year intervals, most recently in May 1991 in Honolulu.
Their purpose is to give Austronesianists from all over the world the
opportunity to meet each other and to present and discuss the most recent
developments in their field. These conferences have always been scientific
events of the highest standard. It is the first time that this conference will
be held outside the Pacific area. For Leiden to be chosen as the place of
venue is a sign of the international recognition of the Leiden University as
an important centre of Austronesian studies.
Austronesian linguistics is the branch of linguistics that specifically
studies the languages of the Austronesian language family. Geographically this
language family is the world's largest: it stretches from Madagascar in the
west to the Polynesian outliers in the east, from Hawaii in the north to New
Zealand in the south. The descriptive and comparative study of its languages
is intimately tied up with historical issues of how such an immense area came
to be inhibited by people speaking related languages.
During the conference papers will be presented in the following fields of
Austronesian linguistics: historical and typological studies; oral tradition;
relationships between Austronesian and Papuan languages; phonetics, phonology,
morphology and syntax of individual Austronesian languages. A special section
of the conference will be devoted to the topic of endangered languages,
because this constitutes a relevant theme in the field of Austronesian
linguistics. 
The conference will draw approximately 200 participants. So far 180 have
registered of whom 154 will present a paper. Those who are interested in
attending the conference can apply for a registration form at the Organizing
Committee. Participants are invited to present a paper. The language of the
conference will be English and there will be no translation facilities at the
conference. Therefore, papers should be written and presented in English. The
deadline for submission of abstracts was 15 February 1994. 
However, it is still possible to register. The first and second circular
including the registration forms will be sent on request by: The 7-ICAL
Organizing Committee, Project Division, Department of Languages and Cultures
of South-East Asia and Oceania. Rapenburg 35, 2311 GG Leiden. The Netherlands.
Telephone 071-272416/272419. Telefax: 071-272632.