Randy J. LaPolla

PUBLICATIONS AND OTHER WORKS

(organized by language and subject  -  For publications organized by type , click here)

Sino-Tibetan general Tibetan-Burman general Chinese Dulong and Rawang Qiang Tagalog

Pragmatics and Language Development Typology and Fieldwork Sociolinguistics Historical Linguistics Published Interviews with Randy LaPolla Video Interviews of senior linguists

SINO-TIBETAN general

• "汉藏语系修饰指称词子句的类型和历史发展——从日旺语（独龙语）说起《民族语文》 2023.1:3-17. (On the typology and historical development of clausal modifiers in Sino-Tibetan--using Rawang (Dulong) as a starting point, Minzu Yuwen 2023.1: 3-17 ).
• "The origin and spread of Sino-Tibetan languages." Nature, published online 2019.04.24. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-01214-6
• “再 论语言学的方法论与论据—对“汉藏语系”改为“跨喜马拉雅语系”的质疑”（罗仁地 著 黄成龙 宋 佳 译)。《汉藏语学报》第11 期，1-14页，2019。(Translation of “Once again on methodology and argumentation in linguistics: Problems with the arguments for recasting Sino-Tibetan as ‘Trans-Himalayan’” by Huang Chenglong and Song Jia, Journal of Sino-Tibetan Linguistics 11: 1-14, 2019.)
• Sino-Tibetan Linguistics: Critical Concepts in Linguistics (Randy J. LaPolla, ed.). London & New York: Routledge, October 2018.
• "Introduction to Volume I: Establishing the Relationships." In Randy J. LaPolla (ed.), Sino-Tibetan Linguistics: Critical Concepts in Linguistics, 1-8. London & New York: Routledge, October 2018.
• "Introduction to Volume II: Language Contact and Areal Features." In Randy J. LaPolla (ed.), Sino-Tibetan Linguistics: Critical Concepts in Linguistics, 1-17. London & New York: Routledge, October 2018.
• "Introduction to Volume III: Sinitic." In Randy J. LaPolla (ed.), Sino-Tibetan Linguistics: Critical Concepts in Linguistics, 1-17. London & New York: Routledge, October 2018.
• "Introduction to Volume IV: Tibeto-Burman." In Randy J. LaPolla (ed.), Sino-Tibetan Linguistics: Critical Concepts in Linguistics, 1-11. London & New York: Routledge, October 2018.
• “Noun-Modifying Clausal Constructions in Sino-Tibetan Languages”. In Yoshiko Matsumoto, Bernard Comrie, & Peter Sells (eds.), Noun-Modifying Clause Constructions in Languages of Eurasia: Reshaping theoretical and geographical boundaries, 91-103. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2017.
• “An Overview of Sino-Tibetan Morphosyntax.” (fully updated for 2nd edition) The Sino-Tibetan Languages, 2nd Edition, ed. by Graham Thurgood & Randy J. LaPolla. London & New York: Routledge, 2017.
• The Sino-Tibetan Languages, 2nd Edition , ed. by Graham Thurgood & Randy J. LaPolla. London & New York: Routledge, 2017.
• “On scholarship in Sino-Tibetan Linguistics: Review article on Studies in Chinese and Sino-Tibetan Linguistics, ed. by Richard VanNess Simmons and Newell Ann Van Auken”. Commissioned review article for Journal of the American Oriental Society 136.3,  2016.
• “Once again on methodology and argumentation in linguistics: Problems with the arguments for recasting Sino-Tibetan as ‘Trans-Himalayan’”. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 39:2 (Dec 2016), 282–297. doi 10.1075/ltba.39.2.03lap
• “Sino-Tibetan Syntax”. In William S-Y Wang and Chaofen Sun (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics, 45-57. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
  
• "Eastern Asia: Sino-Tibetan linguistic history". The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration, edited by Emmanuel Ness, Prehistory Volume, Chapter 25. Chicester: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2013.
• “Comments on methodology and evidence in Sino-Tibetan comparative linguistics”. Language and Linguistics (Special issue on Sino-Tibetan Comparative Studies) 13(2012).1:117-132.
• “Arguments for a construction-based approach to the analysis of Sino-Tibetan languages”. Keynote presentation to the Workshop on Typological Studies of Languages of China, held in conjunction with ALT9, University of Hong Kong, 21 July, 2011.
• “Minority Languages of China“ (Dory Poa & Randy J. LaPolla). The Vanishing Languages of the Pacific, ed. by Osahito Miyaoka and Michael E. Krauss, 337-354. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
• The Sino-Tibetan Languages (Routledge Language Family Series 3),edited by Graham Thurgood & Randy J. LaPolla. London & New York: Routledge, 727 + xxii pp., Jan. 2003 (ISBN 0-7007-1129-5). Paperback version released April 2007 (ISBN 978-0-415-77295-2).
• Language variation: Papers on variation and change in the Sinosphere and in the Indosphere in honour of James A. Matisof, edited by David Bradley, Randy LaPolla, Boyd Michailovsky & Graham Thurgood. Pacific Linguistics. Canberra: Australian National University, Dec. 2003 (PL548, ISBN (Paperback) ISBN 0 85883 541).
• “Sino-Tibetan Languages” . Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2nd Edition, ed. by Keith Brown, 393-397. London: Elsevier, 2005.
• “Li Fang-Kuei (1902-1987)” . Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2nd Edition, ed. by Keith Brown, 153-154. London: Elsevier, 2005.
• “An overview of Sino-Tibetan morphosyntax.” The Sino-Tibetan Languages, ed. by Graham Thurgood & Randy J. LaPolla 22-42. London & New York: Routledge, Jan. 2003.
• "The role of migration and language contact in the development of the Sino-Tibetan language family"Areal Diffusion and Genetic Inheritance: Case Studies in Language Change, ed. by R. M. W. Dixon & A. Y. Aikhenvald, 225-254. Oxford: Oxford University Press, November 2001.
• Book review of Language Atlas of China, (Pacific Linguistics, Series C, No. 102), ed. by S. A. Wurm et al. Hong Kong: Longman Group (Far East) Ltd., 1987.International Review of Chinese Linguistics1(1997).1:92-100.
• “Variable Finals in Proto-Sino-Tibetan.” Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology 65.1(1994):131-173.
• Book review of Contributions to Linguistic Research from China, ed. by Alfred F. Majewicz, Poznan, 1991. Languages of the World, Issue No. 7:49-51 (1993.2).
• Bibliography of the Papers from the International Conferences on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics, I-XXI, by Randy J. LaPolla & John B. Lowe. STEDT Monograph Series, No. 1, 1989. (Second edition, including conferences XXII-XXV, published October 1994.  Reviewed by Robert S. Bauer in Mon-Khmer Studies 24(1995):115-16.)
• Linguistics East and West: Sino-Tibetan, Tai, and American Indian, recorded and edited by Ning-ping Chan & Randy J. LaPolla. Transcript of our interviews with Prof. Fang-Kuei Li to record his oral history. Published by the Regional Oral History Office, a department of the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1989. (available on line; click on title)

Return to Table of Contents on this page

TIBETAN-BURMAN general

• "A Note on the History of the Term 'Pronomenalisation'". Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 42.1:143-147.
• Rawang-English-Burmese Dictionary (Randy J. LaPolla & David Sangdong). http://rawang.webonary.org/ Also limited print run for distribution to the community, December 2015.
• “Subgrouping in Tibeto-Burman: Can an individual-identifying standard be developed? How do we factor in the history of migrations and language contact?” In Language Typology and Historical Contingency (Typological Studies in Language 104), edited by Balthasar Bickel, Lenore A. Grenoble, David A. Peterson, & Alan Timberlake, 463–474. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins Pub Co., 2013.
  
• “Causes and Effects of Substratum, Superstratum and Adstratum Influence, with Reference to Tibeto-Burman languages“. In Issues in Tibeto-Burman Historical Linguistics (Senri Ethnological Studies 75), ed. by Yasuhiko Nagano, 227–237. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology, September, 2009. (点 这里下载中文翻译） <
• “Questions on transitivity“. Presentation to open the Workshop on Transitivity, Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, La Trobe University, 21 August, 2008.
• "New perspectives on evidentials: a view from Tibeto-Burman" (with Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald). Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 30.2:1-16, 2007.
• “The Inclusive-Exclusive Distinction in Tibeto-Burman Languages”. Clusivity: Typology and Case Studies on Inclusive/exclusive Oppositions, ed. by Elena Filimonova, 289-310. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins Pub. Co., 2005.
• “On Nominal Relational Morphology in Tibeto-Burman.” Studies on Sino-Tibetan Languages: Papers in Honor of Professor Hwang-cherng Gong on his Seventieth Birthday, ed. by Ying-jin Lin, Fang-min Hsu, Chun-chih Lee, Jackson T.-S. Sun, Hsiu-fang Yang, and Dah-an Ho, 43-74. Taipei: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica, December 2004.
• The Tibeto-Burman Languages of Uttar Pradesh, edited by Randy J. LaPolla, Volume II of A Linguistic Approach to Zhangzhung and Related Languages in the Indian Himalayas (Senri Ethnological Reports 19). edited by Yasuhiko Nagano & Randy J. LaPolla. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology, March, 2001 (ISSN 1340-6787).
• Review of A Grammar of Meithei (Mouton Grammar Library 17), by Shobhana L. Chelliah, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Lingua 110(2000).4:299-304.
• “Middle Marking in Tibeto-Burman.” Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Languages and Linguistics: Pan-Asiatic Linguistics (January 8-10, 1996), Volume 5: 1940-1954.
• “On the Utility of the Concepts of Markedness and Prototypes in Understanding the Development of Morphological Systems.” Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology 66(1995).4:1149-1185.
• “Ergative Marking in Tibeto-Burman.” New Horizons in Tibeto-Burman Morpho-syntax (Senri Ethnological Studies 41), ed. by Yoshio Nishi, James A. Matisoff, & Yasuhiko Nagano, 189-228. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology, 1995.
• “Parallel Grammaticalizations in Tibeto-Burman: Evidence of Sapir’s ‘Drift’.“ Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 17.1(1994).
• Book notice (review) of The Classical Tibetan Language, by Stephan V. Beyer, SUNY Press, 1992. Language 70(1994).1:195-6.
• “藏缅语族动词的人称标志：其性质及起源时代 （ZangMian Yuzu Dongci de Rencheng Biaozhi: Qi Xingzhi ji Qiyuan Shidai” - Chinese version of “On the Dating and Nature of Verb Agreement in Tibeto Burman”). Minzu Yicong 1993.4:42-52.
• “Anti-ergative Marking in Tibeto-Burman.” Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 15.1(1992):1-9. 
• “On the Dating and Nature of Verb Agreement in Tibeto Burman.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 55.2(1992):298-315. (abstract, full published paper in pdf format)
• “The Phonetic Development of Tibetan: A Problem Set.” Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 11.2(1989):91-95.
• “Verb Agreement, Head-Marking vs. Dependent-Marking, and the ‘Deconstruction’ of Tibeto-Burman Morpho-Syntax.” Proceedings of the 15th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society (Feb. 18-20, 1989), ed. by Kira Hall, Michael Meacham & Richard Shapiro, 355-365. Berkeley Linguistics Society

Return to Table of Contents on this page

Chinese

• "On the use of rhymes in determining the structure and interpretation of Old Chinese texts: The case of the DàoDé Jīng《道德經》. Bulletin of Chinese Linguistics nbsp;15: 1-9, 2023 (Special issue in honor of Prof. Li Fang-Kuei’s 120th birthday).
• " 以人为中心_交叉研究的必然走向". （On the necessity of human-based integrated interdisciplinary research in linguistics and other sciences).《语言战略研究》(Chinese Journal of Language Policy and Planning). 2023.3:93-96.
• “焦 点结构的类型及其对汉语词序的影响“（2022更新版）.罗仁地、潘露莉。《焦点结构和意义的研究》增订版（徐烈炯、潘海华 主编，38-52页, 上海教育出版社）(Revised version of "The Typology of Focus Structures and Their Effect on Word Order in Chinese", in A Study on the Structure and Semantics of Focus (2nd Edition), edited by Xu Liejiong and Haihua Pan. Shanghai Educational Publishing Company, in press.
• "The Chinese Expansion and Language Coexistence in Modern China." In Salikoko S. Mufwene & Anna María Escobar (eds.), Cambridge Handbook of Language Contact. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. August 2022..
• "历 史语言学、语言类型学和语言接触学".(Historical linguistics, linguistic typology, and language contact).《汉藏语学报》第12期 1-12 (Journal of Sino-Tibetan Linguistics 12:1-12), 2021,
• “Noun-Modifying Clausal Constructions in Sino-Tibetan Languages”. In Yoshiko Matsumoto, Bernard Comrie, & Peter Sells (eds.), Noun-Modifying Clause Constructions in Languages of Eurasia: Reshaping theoretical and geographical boundaries, 91-103. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2017.
• “Chao Yuen Ren [Zhào Yuánrèn 趙元任] (1892–1982)”. In Rint Sybesma (ed.), Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics. Leiden: Brill, 2017.
• “Notions of ‘Subject’”. In Rint Sybesma (ed.), Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics. Leiden: Brill, 2017.
• “Topic and Comment”. In Rint Sybesma (ed.), Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics. Leiden: Brill, 2017.
• "Arguments for a construction-based approach to the analysis of Chinese". In Human Language Resources and Linguistic Typology, Papers from the Fourth International Conference on Sinology, edited by Tseng Chiu-yu, 33-57. Taiwan: Academia Sinica, 2013. (点 这里下载中文翻译）
• “Chinese as a Topic-Comment (Not Topic-Prominent and Not SVO) Language”. In Studies of Chinese Linguistics: Functional Approaches, ed. by Janet Xing, 9-22. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2009.
• “On Describing Word Order” (Randy J. LaPolla & Dory Poa). Catching Language: The Standing Challenge of Grammar Writing, ed. by Felix Ameka, Alan Dench, & Nicholas Evans, 269-295. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2006.
• “Li Fang-Kuei (1902-1987) ” . Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2nd Edition, ed. by Keith Brown, 153-154. London: Elsevier, 2005.
• “Wang Li (1900-1986)” . Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2nd Edition, ed. by Keith Brown, 514-515. London: Elsevier, 2005.
• “Chao, Yuen Ren (1892-1982) ” . Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2nd Edition, ed. by Keith Brown, 295-296. London: Elsevier, 2005.
• “焦 点结构的类型及其对汉语词序的影响 （Jiaodian jiegou de leixing ji qi dui Hanyu cixu de yingxiang -- The typology of focus structures and their effect on word order in Chinese).” A Study on the Structure and Semantics of Focus, edited by Xu Liejiong and Haihua Pan, 57-78. Beijing: Beijing Foreign Studies University Press, 2005. Revised version in press 2020.
• “An Experimental Investigation into Sound Symbolism as it Relates to Mandarin Chinese.” Studies in Sound Symbolism, ed. by Leanne Hinton, Johanna Nichols, and John Ohala, 130-147. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.  汉语翻译：《现 代汉语的语音象征性》
• “Pragmatic Relations and Word Order in Chinese.” Word Order in Discourse, ed. by Pamela Downing & Michael Noonan, 297-329. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: Benjamins Pub. Co., 1995. (（汉 语翻译）)
• “Arguments Against ‘Subject’ and ‘Direct Object’ as Viable Concepts in Chinese.”Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology 63.4(1993):759-813.
• “On the Change to Verb-Medial Word Order in Proto-Chinese: Evidence from Tibeto-Burman.” Current Issues in Sino-Tibetan Linguistics, ed. by H. Kitamura, T. Nishida, and Y. Nagano, 98-104. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology, 1993.
• Grammatical Relations in Chinese: Synchronic and Diachronic Considerations. PhD dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 1990. (abstract, pdf)
• “A Computer Application of Matthew Chen’s ‘From Middle Chinese to Modern Mandarin’.” Journal of Chinese Linguistics 16.2(1988):339-344.
• “‘Subject’ and Referent Tracking: Arguments for a Discourse-Based Grammar of Chinese.” Proceedings of the West Coast Conference on Linguistics (Fresno, October 14-16, 1988), Volume I, ed. by Joseph Emonds, P.J. Mistry, Vida Samiian & Linda Thornburg, 160-173. Dept. of Linguistics, California State University, Fresno.
• “Topicalization and the Question of Lexical Passives in Chinese.” Proceedings of the Third Annual Ohio State University Conference on Chinese Linguistics (May 13-14, 1988), ed. by Marjorie K.M. Chan & Thomas Ernst, 170-188. Indiana University Linguistics Club.

Return to Table of Contents on this page

Dulong and Rawang

• "汉藏语系修饰指称词子句的类型和历史发展——从日旺语（独龙语）说起《民族语文》 2023.1:3-17. (On the typology and historical development of clausal modifiers in Sino-Tibetan--using Rawang (Dulong) as a starting point, Minzu Yuwen 2023.1: 3-17 ).
• “Dulong.” (fully updated for 2nd edition) The Sino-Tibetan Languages, 2nd Edition, ed. by Graham Thurgood & Randy J. LaPolla. London & New York: Routledge, 2017.
• “Dulong 獨龍 Language”. In Rint Sybesma (ed.), Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics. Leiden: Brill, 2017.
• “On transitivity in two Tibeto-Burman languages”. Studies in Language 35(2011).3:637-650.
• “’Transitivity harmony’ in the Rawang language of northern Myanmar”. Proceedings of the 2008 Conference of the Australian Linguistic Society (University of Sydney, 2-4 July, 2008), ed. by L. de Beuzeville & P. Peters. Published 2010 on line: http://hdl.handle.net/2123/7107.
• “Hierarchical person marking in the Rawang language”. In Forty Years of Sino-Tibetan Language Studies: Proceedings of ICSTLL-40, ed. By Dai Zhaoming, 107-113. Heilongjiang University Press, Dec. 2010.
• “Relative Clause Structures in the Rawang Language”. Language and Linguistics 9.4:797-812 (special issue on relative clause structures edited by Henry Y. Chang), 2008.
• “Nominalization in Rawang”. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 31.2:45-66 (special issue on nominalization in Tibeto-Burman edited by Alec Coupe), 2008.
• “Cong yuyan, fangyan de bijiao liaojie yuyan de lishi fazhan (Understanding the historical development of a language by comparing it with related languages and dialects)” (with Yang Jiangling). Journal of Sino-Tibetan Linguistics 1.1:120-126, 2007. (Also published in Dongfang Yuyanxue 2 (2007): 11-18.) English translation by Nathan Straub.
• “Clause linking in Dulong-Rawang“. Invited paper presented to the Workshop on the Semantics of Clause Linking, Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, Institute for Advanced Study, La Trobe University, 24 May, 2006.
• “Copula Constructions in Rawang.” Linguistic Studies in Chinese and Neighboring Languages: Festschrift in Honor of Professor Pang-hsin Ting on His 70th Birthday, ed. by Dah-an Ho, H. Samuel Cheung, Wuyun Pan, and Fuxiang Wu, 1059-1076. Taipei: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica, 2006.
• Rawang Texts, with Grammatical Analysis and English Translation, by Randy J. LaPolla & Dory Poa. Berlin: LINCOM EUROPA, December 2001 (ISBN 3 89586 783 7).
• “Reflexive and Middle Marking in Dulong/Rawang.” Himalayan Linguistics 2: 1-13, 2005.
• “Comparative constructions in Rawang.” Invited paper presented at the Workshop on Comparative Constructions, Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, Institute for Advanced Study, LaTrobe University, Nov. 3, 2004.
• “Dulong.” The Sino-Tibetan Languages, ed. by Graham Thurgood & Randy J. LaPolla, 674-682. London & New York: Routledge, Jan. 2003.
• “Dulong Texts: Seven Fully Analyzed Narrative and Procedural Texts.“ Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 24(Fall 2001).2:1-39.
• “Valency-changing Derivations in Dulong/Rawang.” Changing Valency: Case Studies in Transitivity, ed. by R. M. W. Dixon & Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, 282-311. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
• “〈独龙语／日旺语动词的返身态和中间态标志〉（罗仁地与杨将领合写）。《中国民族语言论丛 (1)》，戴庆厦等编, 13-34. 北京：中央民族大学出版社(Dulongyu/Riwangyu de fanshen he zhongjian tai biaozhi--Reflexive and Middle voice marking in the Dulong language. Zhongguo Minzu Yuyan Luncong (1) (Collected Essays on Chinese Minority Languages, 1), ed. by Dai Qingxia , Zeng Siqi, Cheng Yanyan, Ding Shiqing, and Fu Ailan, 13-34. Central University of Nationalities Press, 1996)..”
• “Dulongyu he Yuanshi Zang-Mianyu Bijiao Yanjiu” (Chinese translation, by Le Saiyue, of “Dulong and Proto-Tibeto-Burman”). Minzu Yuwen Yanjiu Qingbao Ziliaoji 11(1989):49-78 (Part I); 12(1989):19-42.
• “Dulong and Proto-Tibeto-Burman.” Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 10.1(1987): 1-42.

Return to Table of Contents on this page

Qiang

• “Qiang.” (fully updated for 2nd edition) The Sino-Tibetan Languages, 2nd Edition, ed. by Graham Thurgood & Randy J. LaPolla. London & New York: Routledge, 2017.
• “On transitivity in two Tibeto-Burman languages”. Studies in Language 35(2011).3:637-650.
• A Grammar of Qiang, with Annotated Texts and Glossary (Mouton Grammar Library 31), by Randy J. LaPolla, with Chenglong Huang. Berlin:  Mouton de Gruyter, 445 + xvii pp., Dec. 2003 (ISBN 3-11-017829-X). (prepublication draft) (review) (Reviewed by Edward Vajda on the Linguistlist
  (http://linguistlist.org/issues/16/16-671.html) 2005.03.07, and by Graham Thurgood in
  Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 28(2005).1: 107-10.)
• “The Copula and Existential Verbs in Qiang” (Randy J. LaPolla & Chenglong Huang). Bulletin of Chinese Linguistics 1.2:233-248, Dec. 2007.
• “Adjectives in Qiang” (with Chenglong HUANG). Adjective classes: a cross-linguistic typology (Explorations in Linguistic Typology  1), ed. by R. M. W. Dixon and Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
• “Texts in the Qugu Variety of Northern Qiang” (with Dory Poa). Descriptive and Theoretical Studies in Minority Languages of East and Southeast Asia, ed. by Kitano Hiroaki, 77-94. Endangered Languages of the Pacific Rim Project  series. Suita: Faculty of Informatics, Osaka Gakuin University, 2003.
• “Evidentiality in Qiang.” Studies in Evidentiality (Typological Studies in Language), ed. by A. Y Aikhenvald & R.M.W. Dixon, 63-78. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Co., 2003.
• “English-Qiang Glossary by Semantic Field.” Basic Materials on Minority Languages in East and Southeast Asia (Endangered Languages of the Pacific Rim series, A03-004), ed. by Ikeda Takumi, 153-181. Suita: Faculty of Informatics, Osaka Gakuin University, March 2003.
• “Qiang.” The Sino-Tibetan Languages, ed. by Graham Thurgood & Randy J. LaPolla, 573-587. London & New York: Routledge, Jan. 2003.
• “The Copula and Existential verbs in Qiang” (with Chenglong HUANG). Invited paper presented at the Workshop on Copula Clauses and Verbless Clauses, Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, Institute for Advanced Study, LaTrobe University, Sept. 4, 2002.
• “The Marking of Information Source in Ronghong Qiang”. Invited paper presented at the Workshop on Tibeto-Burman Linguistics, Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, April 10-12, 2002.

Return to Table of Contents on this page

Tagalog

• "Arguments for Seeing Theme-Rheme and Topic-Comment as Separate Functional Structures". In J.R. Martin, Y.J. Doran, and G. Figuedero (eds.), Systemic Functional Language Description: Making Meaning Matter,162-186. New York and London: Routledge, October, 2019.
• “Constituent structure in a Tagalog text”. Language and Linguistics 15.6: 761-774, October 2014.
• “Feilübin Tagaluo yu (Tagalog) de cilei fanchou (The lexical categories of the Tagalog language of the Philippines)”. Yuyanxue Luncong 41. Beijing: Peking University, 2010.
• “Direct and indirect speech in Tagalog” (Randy J. LaPolla & Dory Poa). Workshop on Direct and Indirect Speech, Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, La Trobe University, June 8, 2005.

Return to Table of Contents on this page

Pragmatics and language development

• “焦 点结构的类型及其对汉语词序的影响“（2022更新版）.罗仁地、潘露莉。《焦点结构和意义的研 究》增订版（徐烈炯、潘海华 主编，38-52页）(Revised version of "The Typology of Focus Structures and Their Effect on Word Order in Chinese", in A Study on the Structure and Semantics of Focus (2nd Edition), edited by Xu Liejiong and Haihua Pan. Beijing: Commercial Press, in press.
• "Arguments for Seeing Theme-Rheme and Topic-Comment as Separate Functional Structures". In J.R. Martin, Y.J. Doran, and G. Figuedero (eds.), Systemic Functional Language Description: Making Meaning Matter,162-186. New York and London: Routledge, October, 2019.
• “Review of The Language Myth, by Vyvyan Evans”. Commissioned review for Studies in Language 40 (April 2016).1: 235–252. doi 10.1075/sl.40.1.09lap
• "On the logical necessity of a cultural and cognitive connection for the origin of all aspects of linguistic structure". In Language Structure and Environment: Social, cultural and natural factors, edited by Rik De Busser and Randy J. LaPolla, 31-44. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2015.
• Language Structure and Environment: Social, cultural and natural factors, edited by Rik De Busser and Randy J. LaPolla. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2015.
• “The nature of cognition, communication and language, and their influence on language development”. The 8th China International Forum on Cognitive Linguistics, Beijing (several universities), 4-11 November, 2010.
• “On Grammatical Relations as Constraints on Referent Identification”. Voice and Grammatical Relations: Festschrift for Masayoshi Shibatani (Typological Studies in Language), ed. by Tasaku Tsunoda and Taro Kageyama, 139-151. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins Pub. Co., 2006.
• “Di’er yuyan xide dui diyi yuyan de yingxiang (The influence of second language learning on one’s first language)”. Papers from the 4th International Conference on Bilingual Studies, ed. by Dai Qingxia and Jia Yimin, 50-57. Guangzhou: Jinan University Press, December, 2005.
• “Why languages differ: Variation in the conventionalization of constraints on inference“. Language Variation: Papers on variation and change in the Sinosphere and in the Indosphere in honour of James A. Matisoff, ed by David Bradley, Randy LaPolla, Boyd Michailovsky & Graham Thurgood, 113-144. Pacific Linguistics. Canberra: Australian National University, 2003.
• “Chuanda Xinxi de Xingzhi, Yuyan de Benzhi he Yuyan de Fazhan (The Nature of Communication and Language and the Development of Language)” (with Dory Poa). Hanyu Yufa Yanjiu de Xin Tuozhan — 21 Shiji Shoujie Xiandai Hanuyu Yufa Guoji Yantaohui Lunwenji, ed. by Xu Liejiong and Shao Jinmin (editors in chief), with K.K. Luke & Shan Zhourao, 432-442. Hangzhou: Zhejiang Jiaoyu Chubanshe, Dec. 2002.
• “Xinxi Chuanda de Xingzhi yu Yuyan de Benzhi he Yuyan de Fazhan (The Nature of Communication and Language, and their Influence on Language Development)” (with Dory Poa). Zhongguo Yuwen 2002.3 (May):203-209.
• “Grammaticalization as the Fossilization of Constraints on Interpretation: Towards a Single Theory of Cognition, Communication, and the Development of Language”. City University of Hong Kong Seminar in Linguistics, November 6, 1997.(unpublished manuscript)
• “Pragmatic Relations and Word Order in Chinese.” Word Order in Discourse, ed. by Pamela Downing & Michael Noonan, 297-329. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: Benjamins Pub. Co., 1995. (downloadable Chinese translation of this paper by Zhang Weidong)
• Book review of Understanding Utterances: An Introduction to Pragmatics, by Diane Blakemore, Oxford, UK & Cambridge, USA: Blackwell, 1992. Language71(1995).1.

Return to Table of Contents on this page

Typology and Fieldwork

• "Grammatical Relations". In Robert D. Van Valin Jr., Delia Bentley, Ricardo Mairal, and Wataru Nakamura (eds.), Cambridge Handbook of Role and Reference Grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, due out mid-2023.
• " 以人为中心_交叉研究的必然走向". （On the necessity of human-based integrated interdisciplinary research in linguistics and other sciences).《语言战略研究》(Chinese Journal of Language Policy and Planning). 2023.3:93-96.
• " 非结构主义语言学" (Non-Structuralist Linguistics).《实验语言学》（Experimental Linguistics) in press. Made available preprint at Experimental Linguistics WeChat Blog.
• "历 史语言学、语言类型学和语言接触学" (Historical Linguistics, Linguistic Typology, and Language Contact Studies).《汉藏语学报》第12期（待刊）
• "Forward to the past: Modernizing linguistic typology by returning to its roots". Asian Languages and Linguistics 1.1: 146-166. April 2020.
• "Arguments for Seeing Theme-Rheme and Topic-Comment as Separate Functional Structures". In J.R. Martin, Y.J. Doran, and G. Figuedero (eds.), Systemic Functional Language Description: Making Meaning Matter,162-186. New York and London: Routledge, October, 2019.
• “尊 重语言事实 提倡科学方法——21世纪语言学刍议 (Respecting language facts and promoting scientific methodology--21st century linguistics)”. 《光明日报》2017.12.03, p. 12 (in Chinese). (Click on title to download)
• "Causation as a Factor and Goal in Typological Comparisons". Linguistic Typology 21.3: 547–554.
• “On categorization: Stick to the facts of the languages”. Invited position paper for special issue of Linguistic Typology 20.2 on descriptive vs. comparative categories, 2016.
• “Noun-Modifying Clausal Constructions in Sino-Tibetan Languages”. In Yoshiko Matsumoto, Bernard Comrie, & Peter Sells (eds.), Noun-Modifying Clause Constructions in Languages of Eurasia: Reshaping theoretical and geographical boundaries, 91-103. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2017.
• “Notions of ‘Subject’”. In Rint Sybesma (ed.), Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics. Leiden: Brill, 2017.
• “Topic and Comment”. In Rint Sybesma (ed.), Encyclopedia of Chinese Language and Linguistics. Leiden: Brill, 2017.
• “Review of The Language Myth, by Vyvyan Evans”. Commissioned review for Studies in Language 40 (April 2016).1: 235–252. doi 10.1075/sl.40.1.09lap
• "On the logical necessity of a cultural and cognitive connection for the origin of all aspects of linguistic structure". In Language Structure and Environment: Social, cultural and natural factors, edited by Rik De Busser and Randy J. LaPolla, 31-44. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2015.
• Language Structure and Environment: Social, cultural and natural factors, edited by Rik De Busser and Randy J. LaPolla. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2015.
• “The how and why of syntactic relations”. Invited plenary address and keynote of the Centre for Research on Language Change Workshop on Grammatical Change at the Annual Conference of the Australian Linguistics Society, University of Queensland, 7-9 July, 2006. To appear in Christian Lehmann, Stavros Skopeteas, Christian Marschke (ed), Evolution of syntactic relations (Trends in Linguistics Series). Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter, to appear. (conference draft)
• “Towards a new approach to evidentiality: Issues and directions for research”. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 37.2: 240-263, October 2014.
• “Constituent structure in a Tagalog text”. Paper presented to the 10th Philippine Linguistics Congress, University of the Philippines – Diliman, Quezon City, December 10-12, 2008. Published in Language and Linguistics 15.6: 761-774, October 2014.
• "Arguments
• Studies in Transitivity: Insights from Language Documentation. Special issue of the journal Studies in Language (35.3) (F. Kratochvı́l, A. Coupe & R. LaPolla, eds.). Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2011.
Arguments for a construction-based approach to the analysis of Chinese". In Human Language Resources and Linguistic Typology, Papers from the Fourth International Conference on Sinology, edited by Tseng Chiu-yu, 33-57. Taiwan: Academia Sinica, 2013.
• “On transitivity”. (Randy J. LaPolla, František Kratochvíl & Alexander R. Coupe). Studies in Language 35(2011).3:469-492.
• “On transitivity in two Tibeto-Burman languages”. Studies in Language 35(2011).3:637-650.
• “Arguments for a construction-based approach to the analysis of Sino-Tibetan languages”. Keynote presentation to the Workshop on Typological Studies of Languages of China, held in conjunction with ALT9, University of Hong Kong, 21 July, 2011.
• Studies in Transitivity: Insights from Language Documentation. Special issue of the journal Studies in Language (35.3) (F. Kratochvı́l, A. Coupe & R. LaPolla, eds.). Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2011.
• “On the logical necessity of a cultural connection for all aspects of linguistic structure”. 10th RCLT International Workshop, “The Shaping of Language”, La Trobe University, 14, July 2010. Downloadable podcast and handout available on iTunes U:  http://itunes.apple.com/au/itunes-u/the-shaping-of-language/id391930814
• Dao Tianye qu—Yuyanxue Tianye Diaocha de Fangfa yu Shijian (To the Field—The Method and Experience of Linguistic Fieldwork), edited by Dai Qingxia, Luo Rendi (Randy J. LaPolla), and Wang Feng. Beijing: Minzu Chubanshe, 2009.
• “Questions on transitivity“. Presentation to open the Workshop on Transitivity, Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, La Trobe University, 21 August, 2008.
• “Yuyan leixingxue / gongneng yuyanxuepai shiyexia de yuyanxue tianye diaocha (A linguistic typology / functional linguistics view of linguistic fieldwork)” Yuyanxue Luncong 36:42-56, 2007.
• “On Describing Word Order” (Randy J. LaPolla & Dory Poa). Catching Language: The Standing Challenge of Grammar Writing, ed. by Felix Ameka, Alan Dench, & Nicholas Evans, 269-295. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2006.
• “On Grammatical Relations as Constraints on Referent Identification”. Voice and Grammatical Relations: Festschrift for Masayoshi Shibatani (Typological Studies in Language), ed. by Tasaku Tsunoda and Taro Kageyama, 139-151. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins Pub. Co., 2006.
• “Lishi yuyanxue he yuyan leixingxue (Historical linguistics and typology) ” .Journal of Peking University (Philosophy and Social Sciences) 43.2 (March 2006):27-30.
• “Typology and Complexity.” Language Acquisition, Change and Emergence: Essays in evolutionary linguistics, ed. by James W. Minett and William S-Y. Wang. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong Press, 2005.
• “Why languages differ: Variation in the conventionalization of constraints on inference“. Language Variation: Papers on variation and change in the Sinosphere and in the Indosphere in honour of James A. Matisoff, ed by David Bradley, Randy LaPolla, Boyd Michailovsky & Graham Thurgood, 113-144. Pacific Linguistics. Canberra: Australian National University, 2003.
• Language Variation: Papers on variation and change in the Sinosphere and in the Indosphere in honour of James A. Matisoff, edited by David Bradley, Randy LaPolla, Boyd Michailovsky & Graham Thurgood. Pacific Linguistics. Canberra: Australian National University, Dec. 2003 (PL 548, ISBN (Paperback) ISBN 0 85883 541).
• “Chuanda Xinxi de Xingzhi, Yuyan de Benzhi he Yuyan de Fazhan (The Nature of Communication and Language and the Development of Language)” (with Dory Poa). Hanyu Yufa Yanjiu de Xin Tuozhan — 21 Shiji Shoujie Xiandai Hanuyu Yufa Guoji Yantaohui Lunwenji, ed. by Xu Liejiong and Shao Jinmin (editors in chief), with K.K. Luke & Shan Zhourao, 432-442. Hangzhou: Zhejiang Jiaoyu Chubanshe, Dec. 2002.
• “Xinxi Chuanda de Xingzhi yu Yuyan de Benzhi he Yuyan de Fazhan (The Nature of Communication and Language, and their Influence on Language Development)” (with Dory Poa).Zhongguo Yuwen 2002.3 (May):203-209.
• “Problems of Methodology and Explanation in Word Order Universals Research“, Dongfang Yuyan yu Wenhua (Languages and Cultures of the East), ed. by Pan Wuyun, 204-237. Shanghai: Dongfang Chuban Zhongxin, Feb. 2002.
• Syntax: Structure, Meaning, and Function (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics Series), by Robert D. Van Valin, Jr. & Randy J. LaPolla. Cambridge University Press, 1997. (ISBN 0-521-49565-2 (cloth); 0-521-49915-1 (paper)). (Nominated for the Linguistic Society of America Bloomfield Book Award; Reviewed by John Newman in Linguistic Typology 2.3:399-410 (1998), by S. Robinson in Language 75.3:621 (1999), by Laura and Radu Daniliuc on the LINGUIST List 11.485, Tue Mar. 7, 2000, and by Cynthia Allen in Australian Journal of Linguistics 22.2:272-277).
• Book review of Advances in Role and Reference Grammar, ed. by Robert D. Van Valin, Jr., John Benjamins Publishing Co., 1993. Sprachtypologie & Universalienforschung 49(1996).2:177-221.
• “On the Utility of the Concepts of Markedness and Prototypes in Understanding the Development of Morphological Systems.” Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology66(1995).4:1149-1185.
• “Ergative Marking in Tibeto-Burman.” New Horizons in Tibeto-Burman Morpho-syntax (Senri Ethnological Studies 41), ed. by Yoshio Nishi, James A. Matisoff, & Yasuhiko Nagano, 189-228. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology, 1995.
• “Anti-ergative Marking in Tibeto-Burman.” Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 15.1(1992):1-9.

Return to Table of Contents on this page

Sociolinguistics

• "On the logical necessity of a cultural and cognitive connection for the origin of all aspects of linguistic structure". In Language Structure and Environment: Social, cultural and natural factors, edited by Rik De Busser and Randy J. LaPolla. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2015.
• Language Structure and Environment: Social, cultural and natural factors, edited by Rik De Busser and Randy J. LaPolla. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2015.
• “Causes and Effects of Substratum, Superstratum and Adstratum Influence, with Reference to Tibeto-Burman languages“. In Issues in Tibeto-Burman Historical Linguistics (Senri Ethnological Studies 75), ed. by Yasuhiko Nagano, 227–237. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology, September, 2009.
• “Language Contact and Language Change in the History of the Sino-Tibetan Languages”.  The Harmony of civilizations and prosperity for all: diversity in the development of human civilizations (Selected papers from the Beijing Forum, Peking University and Great Hall of the People, Beijing, 2-4 November, 2007), ed. by the Academic Steering Committee of the Beijing Forum, Peking University, 144-162. Beijing: Peking University Press, October 2008.
• “Minority Languages of China“(Dory Poa & Randy J. LaPolla). The Vanishing Languages of the Pacific, ed. by Osahito Miyaoka and Michael E. Krauss, 337-354. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
• “Di’er yuyan xide dui diyi yuyan de yingxiang (The influence of second language learning on one’s first language)”. Papers from the 4th International Conference on Bilingual Studies, ed. by Dai Qingxia and Jia Yimin, 50-57. Guangzhou: Jinan University Press, December, 2005.

Return to Table of Contents on this page

Historical Linguistics

• "历 史语言学、语言类型学和语言接触学".《汉藏语学报》第12期（待刊）
• “Causes and Effects of Substratum, Superstratum and Adstratum Influence, with Reference to Tibeto-Burman languages“. In Issues in Tibeto-Burman Historical Linguistics (Senri Ethnological Studies 75), ed. by Yasuhiko Nagano, 227–237. Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology, September, 2009.
• “Language Contact and Language Change in the History of the Sino-Tibetan Languages”.  The Harmony of civilizations and prosperity for all: diversity in the development of human civilizations (Selected papers from the Beijing Forum, Peking University and Great Hall of the People, Beijing, 2-4 November, 2007), ed. by the Academic Steering Committee of the Beijing Forum, Peking University, 144-162. Beijing: Peking University Press, October 2008.
• “Cong yuyan, fangyan de bijiao liaojie yuyan de lishi fazhan (Understanding the historical development of a language by comparing it with related languages and dialects)” (with Yang Jiangling). Journal of Sino-Tibetan Linguistics 1.1:120-126, 2007. (Also published in Dongfang Yuyanxue 2 (2007): 11-18.) English translation by Nathan Straub.
• “Lishi yuyanxue he yuyan leixingxue (Historical linguistics and typology) ” . Journal of Peking University (Philosophy and Social Sciences) 43.2 (March 2006):27-30.
• Language Variation: Papers on variation and change in the Sinosphere and in the Indosphere in honour of James A. Matisof, edited by David Bradley, Randy LaPolla, Boyd Michailovsky & Graham Thurgood. Pacific Linguistics. Canberra: Australian National University, Dec. 2003 (PL548, ISBN (Paperback) ISBN 0 85883 541).

Return to Table of Contents on this page

Published interviews of Randy Lapolla

• 汉 藏语研究的领航人——西南边疆语言文化专家访谈之“罗仁地专访”《百色学院学报》（The Pilot of the Sino-Tibetan Language Studies: An Interview with Luo Rendi——One of the Interviews with Southwest Border Language and Culture Experts, Journal of Baise University 31.3(May 2018): 39-47）.
• “罗仁地 (Randy LaPolla) 访谈录 (Interview with Randy J. LaPolla” (in Chinese). 《汉藏语学报》 Hanzangyu Xuebao (Journal of Sino-Tibetan Linguistics) 3:79-90, 2009. (Click on title to download)
• “罗仁地 教授访谈录 (Interview with Professor Randy J. LaPolla)” (in Chinese). 《外语教学》Waiyu Jiaoxue (Foreign Language Education) 29:23-25, 2008. (Click on title to download)
• “Linguistic Typology”. Published (with audio) on La Trobe University podcast web site and iTunes:
  http://www.latrobe.edu.au/news/articles/2010/podcasts/linguistic-typology/transcript
  http://itunes.apple.com/au/itunes-u/research-centre-for-linguistic/id396580861

Return to Table of Contents on this page

VIDEO INTERVIEWS with senior linguists

• An Interview with Professor Geoffrey Benjamin
  A three part interview with Prof. Geoffrey Benjamin, a well-known senior specialist in the Aslian languages of Malaysia and other languages in the Malaysia/Indonesia/Singapore area. Click on the links below to view.
• Part I         Part II         Part III

• An Interview with Professor Jeffrey Heath
  A four part interview with Prof. Jeffrey G. Heath,  a senior scholar known for his extensive fieldwork on and documentation of North American, Australian, and African languages, as well as functional explanations for the development of particular forms of marking in languages. In these videos he talks about his life and fieldwork on these very different languages.. Click on the links below to view.
• Fieldwork biography   Fieldwork methods   Functionalism and typology  Historical Linguistics

• An Interview with Professor James A. Matisoff
  A three part interview with Prof. James A. Matisoff, a well-known senior specialist on the Sino-Tibetan languages and author of the Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus. Click on the links below to view.
• Part I         Part II         Part III

Return to Table of Contents on this page