We are grateful to our sponsors, whose generous support has made this workshop possible.

• The Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation
• Confucius Institute of the State of Washington, University of Washington and City of Seattle
• Department of Asian Languages and Literature, University of Washington
• East Asia Center, University of Washington
• China Program, University of Washington
• Department of Linguistics, University of Washington

English 英文 | Chinese 中文

Description of the Goals of STLS-2016

Many of the Sino-Tibetan languages of Sichuan and adjacent areas of Southwest China are under-explored. In recent decades scholars have been increasingly turning their attention to these fascinating languages and dialects, including many Tibetan varieties, Ngwi (=Yi) varieties, and at least a dozen languages tentatively classified as “Qiangic”. The Qiangic languages in particular are of typological interest, featuring such properties as large segmental inventories, uncommon tone and tone-like systems, topography-based spatial deixis, prohibitive marking with dental-stop-onset prefixes, nominal classification via existential verbs, and grammatical structures governed by animacy hierarchies. These properties are not only of inherent interest, motivating scholars to investigate, analyze, and report on them, but also raise important questions about the history and subgrouping of the Sino-Tibetan language family, questions which can only be answered through comparative and collaborative work.

This was the impetus underlying the decision of researchers at the Institute of Linguistics at Academia Sinica to organize a workshop on “Tibeto-Burman Languages of Sichuan”. Its goals were to foster international cooperation and stimulate cross-fertilization of research efforts. Scholars actively engaged in field research on these languages shared research ideas, results, and methodological approaches in the synchronic, diachronic, and comparative analysis of these languages. The workshop constituted a significant step towards a better understanding of the linguistic history and typological diversity of the vast Sino-Tibetan family, while at the same time opening up new avenues for future investigation. Its success prompted the organization of second edition of the workshop, hosted by the Center for Chinese Linguistics of Peking University in 2010, with an emphasis on historical issues as reflected in the theme “Principles and Practices of Reconstruction”.

The third workshop was held three years later in Paris in 2013 under the auspices of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). In light of the fact that the traditional division of Sino-Tibetan into the two branches Sinitic and Tibeto-Burman has now become one of several competing hypotheses concerning the internal subgrouping of the family, the name of the workshop was changed by substituting “Sino-Tibetan” for “Tibeto-Burman”. In order to encourage researchers to explore the languages of Sichuan in a broader linguistic context, its theme was designated as “Sino-Tibetan Languages of Sichuan in their Areal Context”. The workshop included presentations on languages spoken in areas bordering Sichuan as well as on more distantly-spoken languages that provide a useful comparative perspective.

[The program and abstracts of the third workshop are available for viewing at the workshop website.]

Building on the achievements of the first three workshops, the fourth workshop will be held at the University of Washington in Seattle in 2016. In recognition of the enduring importance of studying the languages of Sichuan in an areal and historical-comparative context, the workshop has been renamed a second time, to “Sino-Tibetan Languages of Southwest China”, with an understanding that the non-Sinitic languages of Sichuan will remain the central focus.

English 英文 | Chinese 中文

STLS-2016之宗旨

四川及中国西南邻近地区，至今仍有多种汉藏语系语言有待详细调查研究，包括藏语群、彝语群、及十余种暂时划归“羌语支”的语言，近年来日渐受到学者重视。“羌语支”语言在类型特征上尤其引人入胜，包括庞大的音位系统、罕见的“类声调”现象、根据地势而定的空间指示体系、以齿塞音作为前缀的禁制式标记、以存在动词区别名词类别的机制、以及制约语法结构的“认同等第”，诸多有趣的语言现象非但激励学者进一步深入描写分析羌语支语言，也导引出汉藏语系历史语言学与谱系次分类的一些疑问，而这些学术问题的妥善解决，端赖学者的广泛合作与比较研究。

基于以上的认识，台湾中研院语言所于2008年首度筹办「四川境内藏缅语国际研讨会」，借以鼓励学者积极针对本地区语言进行田野调查、分享研究成果、在共时、历时、对比分析等方面取得方法论的共识，研讨会的成功举办，使本地区语言语言历史与类型学的研究导入新的阶段，为后人研究开辟出新的交流管道，并且促成第二届研讨会在2010年由北京大学中国语言学研究中心主办。该届研讨会首度明确界定研讨会主旨为「历史构拟的原则与实践」。第三届研讨会转到欧洲，于2013年由法国巴黎社科院东亚语言所主办。虽然传统上将汉藏语系分成“汉”与“藏缅”两大语族，然而现今对于汉藏语系的谱系分类已有不同的看法彼此竞争，有鉴于此，第三届研讨会的名称也从“藏缅语”改为较无争议的“汉藏语”，并以「地域脉络之下的四川境内汉藏语」为主旨，鼓励研究者从更宏观的视角来观察四川境内的语言。本届研讨会的论文内容因而首次由四川跨越至相邻甚至较远地区的语言，提供了有益的比较面向。

植基于前三届研讨会的成就，第四届研讨会将于2016年在美国西雅图华盛顿大学举行。有鉴于四川境内语言的研究必须站立在区域与历史比较高度的共识，本研讨会进行第二次改名，订为「中国西南地区汉藏语国际研讨会」，并依然以四川境内之非汉语族语言作为研讨焦点。

[Photo credit: Henriette Daudey. Landscape in southwestern Muli Tibetan Autonomous County (木里藏族自治县; སྨི་ལི་རང་སྐྱོང་རྫོང་; ꃆꆹꀒꋤꊨꏦꏱꅉꑤ)]