Curriculum Vitae

James A. Matisoff
Professor Emeritus of Linguistics
University of California
Berkeley

Personal

Date of birth: July 14, 1937.

Place of birth: Boston, Massachusetts.

Family: Married, two children.

Education

1954-58 Harvard College. A.B. 1958 [Romance Languages and Literatures (magna cum laude)]
1958-59 Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. A.M. 1959 [French Literature]
1960-61 International Christian University (Tokyo). [Japanese language]
1961-62 Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. [Linguistics]
1962-67 University of California, Berkeley. Ph.D. 1967. [Linguistics]

Employment

1961-62 Harvard University. Teaching Fellow, Romance Linguistics.
1966-67 Columbia University. Instructor, Linguistics.
1967-70 Columbia University. Assistant Professor, Linguistics.
1970-74 University of California, Berkeley. Associate Professor, Linguistics.
1974-02 University of California, Berkeley. Professor, Linguistics.
2002- University of California, Berkeley. Professor Emeritus, Linguistics.

Languages Known or Studied

I. Primary languages

  1. English [native]
  2. French, Japanese, Lahu [fluent; have lectured in all three]
  3. Hebrew, Yiddish [fluent]
  4. German, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Thai [sufficient for ordinary conversation; good reading knowledge; have lectured in Mandarin (Beijing, 1984; Xichang 1991; Kunming 1996; Beijing 1997)]

II. Fieldwork with native speakers

Jingpho (Kachin) 1962 Burmese 1962-63
Lahu 1965-6; 1970; 1977 Cambodian 1969; 1986-7
Quechua 1970-1 Vietnamese 1971-2; 1980-1
Angami Naga 1972-3; 1981-2 Thai Lue 1973
Nepali 1973-4 Sherpa 1975-6
Tagalog 1977-8 Mien (Yao) 1979-80
Lotha Naga 1981-2 Persian (Farsi) 1984
Hmong (Miao) 1984-5 Kokborok (Tripuri) 1987-8
Kannada (Kanarese) 1989-90 Lithuanian 1990-1
Irish 1991-2 Uighur 1992-3
Armenian 1993-4 Pumi [Yunnan] 1996
Lai Chin 1996-7 Chokri Naga 1998-99
Cebuano 2000 Sgaw Karen 2000-01

III. Other languages studied

  1. Latin 1950-2
  2. Sanskrit 1962-3
  3. Cantonese 1962
  4. Gothic 1963
  5. Tibetan 1964
  6. Indonesian/Malay 1967-8
  7. Xixia (Tangut) 1976-7
  8. Italian 2007-

IV. Languages taught

  1. Russian 1958-59 Cohasset (Mass.) Adult School
  2. Yiddish 1968; 1969 Columbia University, Uriel Weinreich Summer Program in Yiddish
  3. Burmese 1972-4 U.C. Berkeley, Special Group Study
  4. Thai 1973-4; 1990-1 U.C. Berkeley, Special Individual Study

Memberships in Professional Societies

  • American Oriental Society
  • Association for Asian Studies
  • International Association for Yao Studies (Hong Kong)
  • Japan Linguistic Society
  • Linguistic Society of America
  • Linguistic Society of Nepal
  • Société de Linguistique de Paris

Grants, Travel and Awards

1959 Official Guide, American National Exposition, Moscow.
1959-60 Sheldon Travelling Fellowship, Harvard University.
1965-66 Fulbright-Hays Fellowship, for dissertation research on Lahu in Thailand [15 months].
1970 Fellowship, American Council of Learned Societies, for research on Lahu in Thailand [6 months].
1973 Forum Lecturer, Linguistic Society of America Summer Institute, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
1976-77 Senior Fellowship, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, for research on Xixia with Professor Tatsuo NISHIDA, Kyoto University
1976 Travel Grant, American Council of Learned Societies, to attend Ninth International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics, Copenhagen.
1977 Fieldwork in Thailand, to complete data collection for Lahu Dictionary [5 months].
1978-79 Guggenheim Fellowship, for preliminary work on the book Languages of Mainland Southeast Asia.
1979 Travel Grant, American Council of Learned Societies, to attend Twelfth International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics, Paris.
1980-82 Research Tools Preparation Grant [RT-0109-79-902], National Endowment for the Humanities, for preparation of semifinal manuscript of Lahu Dictionary.
1981 Distinguished Teaching Award for 1980-1, University of California, Berkeley [May].
1982-84 Research Tools Preparation Grant [RT-20248-82], National Endowment for the Humanities, for preparation of final typescript of Lahu Dictionary.
1982-83 Humanities Research Fellowship, U.C.Berkeley, to supplement sabbatical leave.
1983 Fellow, U.S.-China Distinguished Scholar Exchange Program, Committee on Scholarly Communication with the People's Republic of China (CSCPRC), for lecture and research tour (Beijing, Chengdu, Kunming, Shanghai) [April-May].
1984 U.C. Berkeley-Peking University Faculty Exchange Scholar, for lecture series at Peking University on Sino-Tibetan comparative-historical linguistics [May].
1985 Directeur d'études associé, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris. Lecture series on Southeast Asian linguistics [June].
1985-88 Research Tools Publication Grant [RT-20630-85], National Endowment for the Humanities, for preparation of camera-ready copy of Dictionary of Lahu. Renewed until April l987, and again until June l988.
1987 Travel grant from the National Museum of Ethnography, Osaka, to attend a Symposium on the linguistic affiliations of Japanese.
1987-90 Principal Investigator for a project entitled Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus (STEDT). The first three-year period of this project was funded by grants from (a) the National Science Foundation [NSF Grant #BNS-8617726] and (b) the National Endowment for the Humanities [NEH Grant #RT-20789-87].
1988 Senior Research Fellow, National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan. July-August.
1989 Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, January-May, 1989.
1989 Directeur d'études associé, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris. June.
1990-92 Renewal of grants from the National Science Foundation [BNS-90-11918] and the National Endowment for the Humanities [RT-21203-90], for 2 more years of work on the Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus (STEDT) project.
1992-95 Renewal of grants from the National Science Foundation [DBS-92-09481] and the National Endowment for the Humanities [RT-21420-92], respectively for 3 more and 2 more years of work on the Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus (STEDT) project.
1993-present Honorary Professorship, Central Institute of Nationalities (Zhongyang Minzu Xueyuan), Beijing. [Now called Central University of Nationalities (Zhongyang Minzu Daxue.]
1994 Honorable Visiting Fellow, National Science Council, Republic of China. For lectures at Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, Taipei.
1995-96 Visiting Professor, Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, Taipei. Grants from the National Science Council (R.O.C.) and the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation (the latter for research on the Qiangic languages, including a month of fieldwork on Pumi in Kunming, March, 1996).
1995-96 Humanities Research Fellowship, U.C. Berkeley, to supplement sabbatical leave in Taipei.
1995-98 Renewal of grant from the National Science Foundation [FD-95-11034], for three more years of work on STEDT.
1995-98 Renewal of STEDT grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities [PA-22843-96].
1997 Designated as Honorary Senior Research Fellow (Mingyu Gaoji Yanjiuyuan) of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (Zhongguo Shehui Kexueyuan), Beijing. Attended award ceremony held in Beijing, June 3, 1997. An account of this ceremonial visit to Beijing (June 3-7) appeared in the journal Minzu Yuwen 1997(4), p. 80.
1998-99 Renewal of grant from the National Science Foundation [SBR-9808952], for another year of work on STEDT.
1999 Visiting Professor, City University of Hong Kong. June 1-30.
1999-2001 Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities [PA-23353-99], for two more years of work on STEDT (May 1, 1999 to April 30, 2001).
1999-2002 Renewal of grant from the National Science Foundation [BCS-9904950], for three more years of work on STEDT.
2002 Dedicated volume: (Patrick Chew, ed.) Proceedings of the 28th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, Special Session on Tibeto-Burman and Southeast Asian Linguistics, in honor of Prof. James A. Matisoff. 164 pp.
2002 Berkeley Citation for Distinguished Achievement and Notable Service, upon retirement. May.
2003 Festschrift (D. Bradley, R. LaPolla, B. Michailovsky, and G. Thurgood, eds.): Language Variation: Papers on Variation and Change in the Sinosphere and in the Indosphere in Honour of James A. Matisoff. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, Australian National University.
2004-2007 Renewal of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities [PA-50709-04] and the National Science Foundation [BCS-0345929], for three more years of work on STEDT.
2005 Visiting Professor, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. January.
2007-2008 Renewal of grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. STEDT.
2007-2010 Renewal of grant from the National Science Foundation for three more years of work at STEDT.
2007-2010 Appointment as Visiting Professor (客座教授) at the Central Minorities University, Beijing.
2008-2009 Berkeley Nominee for the Constantine Panunzio Distinguished Emeriti Award.
2008-2009 Sustainability grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, for STEDT.
2010-2013 Renewal of grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for three more years of work at STEDT, through June 2013.
2010-2014 Renewal of grant from the National Science Foundation for three more years of work at STEDT, through March 2014.
2014-2016 Grant from the National Science Foundation for preparation of Lahu texts for publication.