IHP-EFEO CONFÉRENCE


Conférencier:
Prof. George Van Driem
Professeur émérite, Université de Berne

Chair:
Prof. Hwang Ming-chorng
Chercheur, Institut d'histoire et de philologie, Academia Sinica

Sujet:
East Asian Ethnolinguistic Prehistory: Languages, Genes, and Migratory Paths

Date:
Vendredi 27 octobre 2023 à 14h30

Lieu:
Salle 703, Institut d'histoire et de philologie, Academia Sinica, Taipei

Résumé:
The global distribution and chronology of spread of Y chromosomal haplogroups appears correlated with the spread of language families. This Father Tongue correlation is ubiquitous globally, but the pattern is neither perfect nor universal. Autosomal and mitochondrial DNA render our view of the past far more complex. Moreover, ancient DNA findings have enhanced our understanding of the prehistory and provenance of our biological ancestors. The phylogeny of language families, chronology of branching of linguistic family trees and the historical and modern geographical distribution of language communities inform us about the spread of languages and linguistic phyla. The two Andamanese language families, the Ainu and the Altaic language family underscore how many genetic events transpired before the linguistically reconstructible past. Starosta’s East Asian theory and Ostapirat’s Austro-Tai theory are presented. The origins of the idea of an Austronesian language family in scholarship is recapitulated. Whilst linguistic, molecular genetic and archaeological evidence supports an Austronesian dispersal from a Formosan homeland, an Austroasiatic substrate has been proposed in western Island Southeast Asia before the advent of Austronesian. At the same time, the geographical distribution of the Austroasiatic language family demands explanation. Theories of linguistic relationship and ancient contact situations are discussed in light of evidence from human and rice genetics. The talk comprises snippets of Asian ethnolinguistic prehistory, of which a far more detailed account is provided in the speaker’s recent book.

La conférence sera donnée en anglais. L'inscription n'est pas obligatoire.

 conférence