Dr Bethwyn Evans
Simon Research Fellow
School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures
University of Manchester
Manchester M13 9PL
U.K.
e-mail: bethwyn.evans@manchester.ac.uk
Telephone: +44-(0)161 275 3195
Fax: +44-(0)161 275 3031
Room number: NG.7
Research specialisation
My area of research is historical and comparative linguistics with a particular focus on the Oceanic languages of the Pacific. My current project examines the prehistory of languages in the north-western region of the Solomon Islands.
Publications:
2004 with Francesca Merlan. Stop contrasts in the languages of Arnhem Land: From the perspective of Jawoyn, southern Arnhem Land. Australian Journal of Linguistics 24(2):185-224.
2003 A study of valency-changing devices in Proto Oceanic. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics
2001 with Malcolm Ross. The history of Proto Oceanic *ma-. Oceanic Linguistics 40(2):269-290. ISSN 0029-8115.
Professional biography:
I received my PhD in Linguistics from the Australian National University in 2001. My thesis, entitled 'A study of valency-changing devices in Proto Oceanic' examined a number of different valency-changing morphemes in Oceanic languages with a view to reconstructing features of their morphosyntax for Proto Oceanic. During and after my time as a postgraduate student I worked for Diwurruwurru-jaru Aboriginal Corporation (Katherine Regional Aboriginal Language Centre) on a community-based language project developing language-learning materials in an Australian Aboriginal language, Wardaman. In 2003-2004 I was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, working on the Oceanic Lexicon Project. Currently I am doing fieldwork in the Solomon Islands, working with speakers of Marovo, an indigenous language of the western Solomons.