George van Driem
Nepal, Bhutan, Himalayas
Curriculum vitae
1999-2009 | professor of descriptive linguistics, Leiden University |
2010-present | professor of historical linguistics, Bern University |
Publications 1985-2009
1985 & Irene Maria Hendrina Davids, “Limbu kinship terminology: a description.” Kailash: Journal of Himalayan Studies 12,1/2: 115-156.
1986 “Nominaal Hinduïsme.” Himalaya 5,3: 4-6.
1987 A Grammar of Limbu, s.l. – PhD thesis Leiden University; also published West Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, xxviii + 575 p.
1988 “The verbal morphology of Dumi Rai simplicia.” Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 11,1: 134-207.
1989 “Reflexes of the Tibeto-Burman *-t directive suffix in Dumi Rai.” In: David Bradley, Eugénie Henderson and Martine Mazaudon (eds), Prosodic analysis and Asian linguistics: to honour R.K. Sprigg, Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, pp. 157-167.
1990 “À propos de la langue Hayu par Boyd Michailovsky.” Cahiers de Linguistique: Asie Orientale 19,2: 267-285.
– “The fall and rise of the phoneme /r/ in Eastern Kiranti.” BSOAS 53,1: 83-86.
– “An exploration of Proto-Kiranti verbal morphology.” Acta Linguistica Hafniensia 22: 27-48.
– Review of: Boyd Michailovsky, La Langue Hayu, Paris 1988. BSOAS 53,3: 565-571.
1991 & Ksenia Borisovna von Kepping, “The Tibetan transcriptions of Tangut (Hsi-hsia) ideograms.” Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 14,1: 117-128.
– “Hmong-Miën talen.” Grote Winkler Prins Encyclopedie (9e druk), dl 11, Amsterdam, pp. 356-357.
– གཞུང་འབྲེལ་རྫོང་ཁ་རོ་མཱན་ (འཛམ་གླིང་ནུབ་ཕོགས་པའི་ཡིག་ཐོག་) འབྲི་ལུགས་ལམ་སྟོན། Guide to Official Dzongkha Romanization, Thimphu: Royal Government of Bhutan, x + 104 p.
– སྐད་རིགས་མ་འདྲ་བའི་འབྱེ་ཞིབ་ཐེནས་པའི་སྙན་ཞུ། Report on the First Linguistic Survey of Bhutan, Thimphu: Royal Government of Bhutan, 27 p. – Internal publication of the Bhutanese government.
– “Tangut verbal agreement and the patient category in Tibeto-Burman.” BSOAS 54,3: 520-534.
– “Bahing and the Proto-Kiranti verb.” BSOAS 54,2: 336-356.
– “Taal en identiteit: Indo-Arisch expansionisme in oostelijk Nepal.” BTLV 147,1: 61-73.
1992 “In quest of Mahākirāntī.” Contributions to Nepalese Studies 19,2: 241-247.
– “Nicobarese talen.” Grote Winkler Prins Encyclopedie (9e druk), dl 17, Amsterdam, p. 128.
– “Mon-Khmer talen.” Grote Winkler Prins Encyclopedie (9e druk), dl 16, Amsterdam, pp. 270-271.
– “Moenda talen.” Grote Winkler Prins Encyclopedie (9e druk), dl 16, Amsterdam, pp. 216-217.
– “Kadai talen.” Grote Winkler Prins Encyclopedie (9e druk), dl 13, Amsterdam, pp. 48-49.
– རྫོང་ཁའི་བརྡ་སྤྲོད་པའི་གཞུང། The grammar of Dzongkha, Thimphu: Royal Government of Bhutan, xviii + 388 pp.
– “Le proto-kiranti revisité, morphologie verbale du lohorung.” Acta Linguistica Hafniensia 24: 33-75.
1993 A grammar of Dumi, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, xx + 452 pp.
– “Language change, conjugational morphology and the Sino-Tibetan Urheimat.” Acta Linguistica Hafniensia 26: 45-56.
– “The Newar verb in Tibeto-Burman perspective.” Acta Linguistica Hafniensia 26: 23-43.
– “Ancient Tangut manuscripts rediscovered.” Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 16,1: 137-156.
– “Einige Bemerkungen zum Aspekt im Limbu.” Linguistische Berichte 148 (Dezember): 483-489.
– “The Proto-Tibeto-Burman verbal agreement system.” BSOAS 56,2: 292-334.
– “Tibetaanse taal.” Grote Winkler Prins Encyclopedie (9e druk), dl 22, Amsterdam, p. 464.
– “Sino-Tibetaanse talen.” Grote Winkler Prins Encyclopedie (9e druk), dl 21, Amsterdam, pp. 176-177.
1994 “Language policy in Bhutan.” In: Michael Aris and Michael Hutt (eds), Bhutan: aspects of culture and development, Gartmore: Kiscadale Publications, pp. 87-105
– “The Yakkha verb: interpretation and analysis of the Omruwa material (a Kiranti language of eastern Nepal).” BSOAS 57,2: 347-355.
– “East Bodish and Proto-Tibeto-Burman morphosyntax.” In: Hajime Kitamura, Tatsuo Nishida and Yasuhiko Nagano (eds), Current issues in Sino-Tibetan linguistics, Osaka: The Organizing Committee of the 26th International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics, pp. 608-617.
– “The phonologies of Dzongkha and the Bhutanese liturgical language.” Zentralasiatische Studien 24: 36-44.
1995 Een eerste grammaticale verkenning van het Bumthang, een taal van Midden-Bhutan — met een overzicht van de talen en volkeren van Bhutan . Leiden: Centrum voor Niet-Westerse Studiën.
– “Black Mountain conjugational morphology, Proto-Tibeto-Burman morphosyntax, and the linguistic position of Chinese.” In: Yoshio Nishi, James Alan Matisoff and Yasuhiko Nagano (eds), New horizons in Tibeto-Burman Morphosyntax, Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology (Senri Ethnological Studies 41), pp. 229-259.
1996 & Suhnū Rām Sharmā, “In search of Kentum Indo-Europeans in the Himalayas.” IF 101: 107-146.
– “Lexical categories of homosexual behaviour in modern Burmese.” Maledicta 12: 91-110.
– “Bhutanees of Bhutaans.” Stichting Friends of Bhutan (mei 1996), pp. 2-3.
1997 “महाकिराँतीको खोजीमा”, Nepali translation of G. van Driem, “In quest of Mahākirāntī” 1992, by Devī Prasād Gautam, Sayapatrī 3,1/2: 1-9.
– & Suhnū Rām Sharmā, “Some grammatical observations on Baṅgāṇī.” IF 102: 179-198.
– “Sino-Bodic.” BSOAS 60,3: 455-488.
– “A new analysis of the Limbu verb.” In: David Bradley (ed.), Tibeto-Burman languages of the Himalayas (Papers in Southeast Asian Linguistics 14), Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, pp. 157-173.
– “Sprachen und Bevölkerungsschichten in Nepal.” Nepal-Information 31(79): 30-33.
1998 “Neolithic correlates of ancient Tibeto-Burman migrations.” In: Roger Blench and Matthew Spriggs (eds), Archaeology and Language II, London: Routledge, pp. 67-102.
– ༄༅རྫོང་ཁ། Dzongkha, Leiden: Research School of Asian, African and Amerindian Studies, xvi + 489 pp. – language textbook, with three audio compact disks.
1999 “Four Austric theories.” Mother Tongue 5: 23-27.
– “On the Austroasiatic Indus theory.” Mother Tongue, Special Issue (October): 75-83.
– “The Limbu verb revisited.” In: Yogendra Prasād Yādava and Warren William Glover (eds), Topics in Nepalese linguistics, Kathmandu: Royal Nepal Academy, pp. 209-230.
– “A new theory on the origin of Chinese.” In: Peter Bellwood and Ian Lilley (eds), Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association Bulletin 18 (Indo-Pacific Prehistory: The Melaka Papers, Vol. 2), Canberra: Australian National University, pp. 43-58.
– “The ethnic and cultural diversity of Bhutan.” In: Sabine Krings (ed.), Bhutan: a fortress at the edge of time, Vienna: Wiener Institut für Entwicklungsfragen und Zusammenarbeit, pp. 27-36.
2000 ཞང་ཞུང་གི་རིགས་གནས་སྐད་རིགས་དང་དེ་དང་འབྲེལ་བའི་ཧི་མ་ལ་ཡའི་རྒྱུད་ཀྱི་མི་རིགས་ཁག་གི་རིག་གནས་དང་སྐད་ལ་དཔྱད་པ། [Tibetan translation of “Zhang-zhung and its next of kin in the Himalayas” (2001a) by bSod-nams Chos-rgyal], བོད་ལྗོངས་ཞིབ་འཇུག། Bod-ljongs Źib-ḥjug, 2000 (4): 45-61.
2001 Languages of the Himalayas: an ethnolinguistic handbook of the Greater Himalayan Region, containing an Introduction to the symbiotic theory of language, 2 vols, Leiden: Brill, xxvi + 1375 pp.
– Taal en taalwetenschap, Leiden: Onderzoeksschool voor Aziatische, Afrikaanse en Amerindische Studies.
– “Zhangzhung and its next of kin in the Himalayas.” In: Yasuhiko Nagano and Randy LaPolla (eds), New research on Zhangzhung and related Himalayan languages, Osaka: National Museum of Ethnology (Bon Studies 3, Senri Ethnological Reports 19), pp. 31-44.
2002 “What defines Tibetan-ness?” The Tibet Journal 27,3/4: 191-193.
– “Tibeto-Burman phylogeny and prehistory: languages, material culture and genes.” In: Peter Bellwood and Colin Renfrew (eds.), Examining the farming/language dispersal hypothesis, Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, pp. 233-249.
– Review Article: Christian Schicklgruber and Françoise Pommaret (eds), Bhutan, mountain fortress of the gods, London-Vienna 1997. The Tibet Journal 27,1: 237-240.
– “Tibeto-Burman replaces Indo-Chinese in the 1990s: review of a decade of a scholarship.” Lingua 112,2: 79-102.
2003 “The language organism: the Leiden theory of language evolution.” In: Jiří Mírovský, Anna Kotěšovcová and Eva Hajičová (eds), Proceedings of the XVIIth International Congress of Linguists, Prague, July 24-29, 2003, Prague: Matfyzpress vydavatelství Matematicko-fyzikální fakulty Univerzity Karlovy.
– Review article of: Graham Thurgood and Randy J. LaPolla (ed.), The Sino-Tibetan languages (Routledge Language Family Series), London and New York: Routledge 2003. BSOAS 66,2: 282-284.
– Review article of: Hugh van Skyhawk, Burushaski-Texte aus Hispar: Materialien zum Verständnis einer archaischen Bergkultur in Nordpakistan (Beiträge zur Indologie 38), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2003. AS/ÉA 57,2: 447-448.
– Review article of: C. Beckwith, Mediaeval Tibeto-Burman languages (Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the Ninth Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Leiden 2000), Leiden-Boston-Köln: Brill 2002. Cahiers de Linguistique, Asie Orientale 32,2: 307-314.
– “Bhutan has more than three gems.” Kuensel, Bhutan’s National Newspaper 18 (35, 6 September): 2.
– “Tibeto-Burman vs. Sino-Tibetan.” In: Brigitte Bauer and Georges-Jean Pinault (eds), Language in time and space: a Festschrift for Werner Winter on the occasion of his 80th birthday, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 101-119.
– “Mahakiranti revisited: Mahakiranti or Newaric?” In: Tej Ratna Kansakar and Mark Turin (eds), Themes in Himalayan languages and linguistics, Heidelberg and Kathmandu: South Asia Institute and Tribhuvan University, pp. 21-26.
– Review of: Philip Denwood, Tibetan, 1999, Amsterdam. Lingua 113: 161-165.
2004 “Editorial foreword.” In: Jean Robert Opgenort, A grammar of Wambule: grammar, lexicon, texts and cultural survey of a Kiranti tribe of Eastern Nepal, Leiden: Brill, p. xvii.
– Review article of: Graham Thurgood and Randy J. LaPolla (eds), The Sino-Tibetan languages, London 2003 (Routledge Language Family Series 3). Journal of Asian Studies 63,4: 1127-1128.
– “Language as organism: a brief introduction to the Leiden theory of language evolution.” In: Ying-chin Lin et al. (eds), Studies on Sino-Tibetan languages: papers in honor of professor Hwang-cherng Gong on his seventieth birthday (Language and Linguistics Monograph Series W-4), Taipei: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica, pp. 1-9.
– “Hodgson’s Tibeto-Burman and Tibeto-Burman today.” In: David M. Waterhouse (ed.), The origins of Himalayan studies: Brian Houghton Hodgson in Nepal and Darjeeling 1820-1858, London: Routledge Curzon, pp. 227-248.
– “The holistic approach to endangered language documentation: research philosophy of the Himalayan Languages Project.” In: Osama Sakiyama et al. (eds), Lectures on endangered languages 4 — From Kyoto Conference 2001, Osaka: Endangered Languages of the Pacific Rim, pp. 103-110.
– “Bhutan’s endangered languages programme under the Dzongkha development authority: three rare gems.” In: Karma Ura and Sonam Kinga (eds), The spider and the piglet: proceedings of the First International Seminar on Bhutan Studies, Thimphu: Centre for Bhutan Studies, pp. 294-326.
– “Newaric and Mahakiranti.” In: Anju Saxena (ed.), Himalayan languages: past and present, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 413-418.
– Review of: Cliff Goddard and Anna Wierzbicka (eds), Meaning and universal grammar: theory and empirical findings, 2 vols, Amsterdam 2002 (Studies in Language Companion Series.). Language 80,1: 163-165.
2005 “Editorial Foreword.” In: Jean Robert Opgenort, A grammar of Jero, with an historical comparative study of the Kiranti languages, Leiden: Brill, p. xix.
– “Sino-Austronesian vs. Sino-Caucasian, Sino-Bodic vs. Sino-Tibetan, and Tibeto-Burman as default theory.” In: Yogendra Prasada Yadava et al. (eds), Contemporary issues in Nepalese linguistics, Kathmandu: Linguistic Society of Nepal, pp. 285-338.
– “The language organism: the Leiden theory of language evolution.” In: James W. Minett and William S-Y. Wang (eds), Language acquisition, change and emergence: essays in evolutionary linguistics, Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong Press, pp. 331-340.
– “Tibeto-Burman vs. Indo-Chinese: implications for population geneticists, archaeologists and prehistorians.” In: Laurent Sagart, Roger Blench and Alicia Sanchez-Mazas (eds), The peopling of East Asia: putting together the archaeology, linguistics and genetics, London: Routledge Curzon, pp. 81-106.
– Review of: Keith W. Slater, A grammar of Mangghuer: a Mongolic language of China’s Qinghai-Gansu Sprachbund, London and New York (Routledge Curzon Asian Linguistics Series) 2003. Studies in Language 29,2: 547-549.
2006 “The many tongues of the dragon: Bhutan’s languages and dialects provide an insight into a rich culture that has overcome the difficulties of a scattered population.” Bhutan Magazine 2006, pp. 20-25.
– & Cátia P. Caetano et al., “Nepalese populations show no association between the distribution of malaria and protective alleles.” Journal of Molecular and Genetic Medicine 2,1: 101-106.
– “The prehistory of Tibeto-Burman and Austroasiatic in light of emergent population genetic studies.” Mother Tongue 11: 160-211.
– & Emma J. Parkin et al., “26-locus Y-STR typing in a Bhutanese population sample.” Forensic Science International 161,1: 1-7.
– “Nepalese geschiedenis volgens Whelpton.” Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis 119,2: 265-266.
– “Editorial Foreword.” In: Gerard Jacobus Tolsma, A grammar of Kulung, Leiden: Brill, p. xv.
– “Mijn oom.” In: Raden Noerito Pringgoadisuryo, Pikirans van een Javaanse avonturier, Doorwerth: Holland Graphic Consultants, p. 8.
– Review of: Anvita Abbi, A manual of linguistic field work and structure of Indian languages, Munich 2001 (LINCOM handbooks in linguistics 17). Language 82,2: 450.
2007 “A holistic approach to the fine art of grammar writing: the Dallas Manifesto.” In: Novel Kishore Rai et al. (eds), Recent studies in Nepalese linguistics, Kathmandu: Linguistic Society of Nepal, pp. 93-184.
– “Saving Himalayan languages.” Indian Mountaineer 43: 66-71.
– “Dzala and Dakpa form a coherent subgroup within East Bodish, and some related thoughts.” In: Roland Bielmeier and Felix Haller (eds), Linguistics of the Himalayas and beyond, Berlin: Mouton, pp. 71-84.
– “Austroasiatic phylogeny and the Austroasiatic homeland in light of recent population genetic studies.” Mon-Khmer Studies 37: 1-14.
– “Ob virulentas nonnularum herbarum exhalationes.” In: John A. Ardussi and Françoise Pommaret (eds), Bhutan: traditions and changes, Leiden: Brill, pp. 65-72.
– “South Asia and the Middle East.” In: Christopher Moseley (ed.), Encyclopaedia of the World’s endangered languages, London: Routledge, pp. 283-347.
– “Endangered languages of South Asia.” In: Matthias Brenzinger (ed.), Handbook of endangered languages, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 303-341.
– “The diversity of the Tibeto-Burman language family and the linguistic ancestry of Chinese.” Bulletin of Chinese Linguistics 1,2: 211-270.
– & Thirsa Kraaijenbrink et al., “Allele frequency distribution for 21 autosomal STR loci in Nepal.” Forensic Science International 168,2/3: 227-231.
– & Thirsa Kraaijenbrink et al., “Allele frequency distribution for 21 autosomal STR loci in Bhutan.” Forensic Science International 170: 68-72.
– & Emma J. Parkin et al., “Diversity of 26 Y-STR haplotypes in a Nepalese population sample: isolation and drift in the Himalayas.” Forensic Science International 166,2/3: 176-181.
– “Editorial Foreword.” In: Heleen Plaisier, A grammar of Lepcha, Leiden: Brill, p. vii.
– “Editorial Foreword.” In: Thatil Umbavu Varghese Joseph, Rabha, Leiden: Brill, p. xxxi.
2008 “Linguistic population prehistory of the greater Himalayan region: interpretations of emergent genetic data.” In: V.G. Tomachev and Aiym M. Zholdasbekova (eds), Proceedings of the international conference “First Greet Migrations of Peoples’ under the auspices of UNESCO (UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, 19 June 2008), Paris: The Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Kazakhstan to UNESCO, pp. 98-112.
– “The Shompen of Great Nicobar Island: new linguistic and genetic data, and the Austroasiatic homeland revisited.” Mother Tongue 13: 227-247.
– “The origin of language: symbiosism and symbiomism.” In: John D. Bengtson (ed.), In hot pursuit of language in prehistory: essays in the four fields of anthropology in honor of Harold Crane Fleming on the occasion of his eightieth birthday, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 381-400.
– “To which language family does Chinese belong, or what’s in a name.” In: Alicia Sanchez-Mazas et al. (eds), Past human migrations in East Asia: matching archaeology, linguistics and genetics, London-New York: Routledge, pp. 219-253.
– “Editorial Foreword.” In: Dörte Borchers, A grammar of Sunwar: descriptive grammar, paradigms, texts and glossary, Leiden: Brill, p. xxv.
– “Saving the Himalayan languages.” The South Asian, July-September, pp. 78-83.
– “Die Naga-Sprachengruppe innerhalb der tibetobirmanischen Sprachfamilie.” In: Michael Oppitz et al. (eds), Naga Identitäten: Zeitenwende einer Lokalkultur im Nordosten Indiens, Gent: Uitgeverij Snoeck, pp. 311-321. – trsl. see next title.
– “The Naga language groups within the Tibeto-Burman language family.” In: Michael Oppitz et al. (eds), Naga identities: changing local cultures in the Northeast of India, Gent: Uitgeverij Snoeck, pp. 311-321.
– “The language organism: parasite or mutualist?” In: Rick Derksen, Jeroen Wiedenhof and Sjoerd Siebinga (eds), Evidence and counter-evidence: essays in honour of Frederik Kortlandt (Studies in Slavic and General Linguistics, vol. 33), Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, vol. 2, pp. 101-112.
– & Michael Stubley W. Black, “D’amchi.” South East and East Anglian Tibetan Spaniel Society Newsletter, Spring 2008, pp. 7-12 (reprinted in Tibbie Topics, Journal of the Tibetan Spaniel Association of Victoria, January, February, March 2008, pp. 9-12, and reprinted in Danish translation in Tibbe Magasinet 7,4: 14-21).
– “Reflections on the ethnolinguistic prehistory of the greater Himalayan region.” In: Brigitte Huber, Marianne Volkart and Paul Widmer (eds), Chomolangma, Demawend und Kasbek: Festschrift für Roland Bielmeier zu seinem 65. Geburtstag, 2 vols, Halle: International Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies, vol. 1, pp. 39-59.
2009 “Editorial Foreword.” In: John Timothy King, A grammar of Dhimal, Leiden: Brill, p. ix.
– & Thirsa Kraaijenbrink et al., “Genetic and linguistic borders in the Himalayan region.” In: Francesco d’Errico and Jean-Marie Hombert (eds), Becoming eloquent: advances in the emergence of language, human cognition and modern cultures, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 181-201.
– “Genetische evolutie en de evolutie van taal.” Evolutie zit in je genen: over Darwin en genomics. Bio-Wetenschappen en Maatschappij 28,1: 44-45.