People_
Professor Emeritus William Foley
AB (Brown), MA (UC Berkeley), PhD (UC Berkeley), FAHA
Professor Emeritus
Discipline of Linguistics
Discipline of Linguistics
Address
A20 - John Woolley Building
The University of Sydney
I have quite a wide range of interests. I have worked in syntactic theory from a lexicalist approach and the role of semantics in syntax and have published extensively on this topic (Functional Syntax and Universal Grammar, Cambridge, 1984). I am particularly interested in the usefulness of modern syntactic theories in the insightful description of the Austronesian and Papuan languages of the Pacific, which is my main area of specialization. This focus is evident in publications like The Papuan Languages of New Guinea (Cambridge, 1986) and The Yimas Language of New Guinea (Stanford, 1991). Over the last 20 years I have conducted extensive periods of fieldwork in Pacific area languages, specifically in the Papuan languages of the Sepik region of Papua New Guinea, such as Yimas, Watam and Mambuwan, as well as some Austronesian languages like Palauan, Fijian and Tagalog. This fieldwork is the discipline which guides my continuing development of syntactic theories, so that for me theory and description constantly reinforce each other synergistically.
show more
- Syntactic theory from a lexicalist approach
- The role of semantics in syntax
- The usefulness of modern syntactic theories in the insightful description of the Austronesian and Papuan languages of the Pacific
- Fieldwork in Pacific area languages, specifically in the Papuan languages of the Sepik region of Papua New Guinea, such as Yimas, Watam and Mambuwan, as well as some Austronesian languages like Palauan, Fijian and Tagalog.
- Anthropological linguistics
- The Boasian/Humboldtian question of the relationship between language and thought and recent empirical approaches to investigate this
- Ethnopoetics, the specific linguist practices cultures use to create various verbal genres like narratives, proverbs, songs, poetry, etc and the aesthetic value and social role speakers ascribe to these
Publications
Expand all
Book Chapters
- Foley, W. (2018). The languages of Northwest New Guinea. In Bill Palmer (Eds.), The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A comprehensive Guide, (pp. 433-567). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. [More Information]
- Foley, W. (2018). The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs. In Bill Palmer (Eds.), The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A comprehensive Guide, (pp. 197-431). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. [More Information]
- Foley, W. (2018). The Morphosyntactic Typology of Papuan Languages. In Bill Palmer (Eds.), The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A comprehensive Guide, (pp. 875-917). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. [More Information]
show 15 more
Journals
- Foley, W. (2015). Learning about Language in Papua New Guinea Villages: Some Personal Vignettes. Language and Linguistics in Melanesia, 33(2), 45-59.
- Foley, W. (2011). Gender and Language in Ethnographic and Evolutionary Perspectives. Reviews in Anthropology, 40(2), 82-106. [More Information]
- Foley, W. (2006). Universal constraints and local conditions in Pidginization. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages, 21(1), 1-44. [More Information]
show 1 more
Conferences
- Foley, W. (2007). Reason, understanding and the limits of translation. Meaning and Translation in Language Documentation, London UK: Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project.
- Foley, W. (2005). Personhood and language identity, purism and variation. Language contact and Variation in Language documentation, London: Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project.
- Foley, W. (2004). Language Endangerment, Language Documentation And Capacity Building: Challenges From New Guinea. Archiving Language Materials / Training and Capacity Building for Endangered Languages Communities, London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
show 1 more
Other
- Foley, W. (2018), Language Loss and Language Ideology in the Sepik Region of Papua New Guinea. [More Information]
Expand all
2018
- Foley, W. (2018), Language Loss and Language Ideology in the Sepik Region of Papua New Guinea. [More Information]
- Foley, W. (2018). The languages of Northwest New Guinea. In Bill Palmer (Eds.), The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A comprehensive Guide, (pp. 433-567). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. [More Information]
- Foley, W. (2018). The Languages of the Sepik-Ramu Basin and Environs. In Bill Palmer (Eds.), The Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area: A comprehensive Guide, (pp. 197-431). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. [More Information]
show 1 more
2017
- Foley, W. (2017). Polysynthesis in new Guinea. In Michael Fortescue, Marianne Mithun, Nicholas Evans (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Polysynthesis, (pp. 336-359). Oxford: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
- Foley, W. (2017). Structural and Semantic Dependencies in Word Class. In N. J. Enfield (Eds.), Dependencies in Language: On the Causal Ontology of Linguistic Systems, (pp. 179-194). Berlin: Language Science Press.
- Foley, W. (2017). The Polysynthetic Profile of Yimas, a Language of New Guinea. In Michael Fortescue, Marianne Mithun, Nicholas Evans (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Polysynthesis, (pp. 808-829). Oxford: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
2016
- Foley, W. (2016). Anthropological Linguistics and Field Linguistics. In Keith Allan (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Linguistics, (pp. 250-263). Abingdon: Routledge. [More Information]
- Foley, W. (2016). Direct versus Inverse in Murik-Kopar. In Jens Fleischhauer, Anja Latrouite and Rainer Osswald (Eds.), Explorations of the Syntax-Semantics Interface, (pp. 265-288). Dusseldorf: Dusseldorf University Press. [More Information]
2015
- Foley, W. (2015). Learning about Language in Papua New Guinea Villages: Some Personal Vignettes. Language and Linguistics in Melanesia, 33(2), 45-59.
2014
- Foley, W. (2014). A comparative look at nominalizations in Austronesian. In I Wayan Arka, N.L.K. Mas Indrawati (Eds.), Argument realisations and related constructions in Austronesian languages: Papers from 12-ICAL, (pp. 1-51). Canberra: Asia-Pacific Linguistics.
2013
- Foley, W. (2013). Yimas-Arafundi Pidgin. In S. M. Michaelis, P. Maurer, M. Haspelmath, M. Huber (Eds.), The Survey of Pidgin and Creole Languages: Volume 3: Contact Languages Based on Languages from Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Americas, (pp. 105-113). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2011
- Foley, W. (2011). Gender and Language in Ethnographic and Evolutionary Perspectives. Reviews in Anthropology, 40(2), 82-106. [More Information]
2010
- Foley, W. (2010). Clause linkage and Nexus in Papuan languages. In Isabelle Bril (Eds.), Clause Linking and Clause Hierarchy: Syntax and Pragmatics, (pp. 27-50). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. [More Information]
- Foley, W. (2010). Events and serial verb constructions. In Amberber, Mengistu; Baker, Brett; Harvey, Mark (Eds.), Complex Predicates: Cross-Linguistic Perspectives on Event Structure, (pp. 79-109). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [More Information]
- Foley, W. (2010). Language contact in the New Guinea region. In Hickey, Raymond (Eds.), The Handbook of Language Contact, (pp. 795-813). West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing. [More Information]
2008
- Foley, W. (2008). The notion of 'event' and serial verb constructions: arguments from New Guinea. In Wilaiwan Khanittanan and Paul Sidwell (Eds.), SEALS XIV: Papers from the 14th Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society 2004, (pp. 129-155). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
- Foley, W. (2008). The place of Philippine languages in a typology of voice systems. In Peter K. Austin and Simon Musgrave (Eds.), Voice and Grammatical Relations in Austronesian Languages, (pp. 22-44). Stanford: CSLI Publications.
2007
- Foley, W. (2007). A Typology of Information Packaging in the Clause. In Timothy Shopen (Eds.), Language Typology and Syntactic Description, (pp. 362-446). Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press.
- Foley, W. (2007). Reason, understanding and the limits of translation. Meaning and Translation in Language Documentation, London UK: Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project.
2006
- Foley, W. (2006). Universal constraints and local conditions in Pidginization. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages, 21(1), 1-44. [More Information]
2005
- Foley, W. (2005). Do Humans Have Innate Mental Structures? Some Arguments from Linguistics. In Susan McKinnon & Sydel Silverman (Eds.), Complexities: Beyond Nature & Nurture, (pp. 43-63). Chicago (USA) & London (UK): University of Chicago Press.
- Foley, W. (2005). Linguistic prehistory in the Sepik-Ramu basin. In Andrew Pawley; Robert Attenborough; Jack Golson; Robin Hide (Eds.), Papuan pasts: Cultural, lingustic and biological histories of Papuan-speaking peoples, (pp. 109-144). Canberra (ACT): Pacific Linguistics.
- Foley, W. (2005). Personhood and language identity, purism and variation. Language contact and Variation in Language documentation, London: Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project.
show 1 more
2004
- Foley, W. (2004). Language Endangerment, Language Documentation And Capacity Building: Challenges From New Guinea. Archiving Language Materials / Training and Capacity Building for Endangered Languages Communities, London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
2003
- Foley, W. (2003). Genre, register and language documentation in literate and preliterate communities. Endangered Languages: Charting the Way Forward, london: Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project.
Selected Grants
2008
- Promoting Writing Across the Curriculum and the First-Year Experience Through the WRIT Program, Thomas S, Foley W, University of Sydney/Teaching Improvement and Equipment Scheme (TIES)
2004
- Sharing access and analytical tools for ethnographic digital media using high speed networks, Thieberger N, Simpson J, Barwick L, Wigglesworth G, Rumsay A, Bowden F, Buchhorn M, Hungerford N, Foley W, Marett A, Corn A, Nordlinger R, Evans N, Hajek J, Johnston H, Schembri G, Pfeiffer S, Hunter J, McConvell P, Gumbula J, Austin P, Holton G, Australian Research Council (ARC)/Special Research Initiatives
show more