Austronesian Formal Linguistics Association

The Austronesian Formal Linguistics Association (AFLA) is a learned society that hosts forums for collaborative research on Austronesian languages. Founded in 1994 at the University of Toronto,^[1] AFLA is now administered from the University of Western Ontario. Conferences are held annually at a multitude of institutes across the globe, including Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (AFLA 2016), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (AFLA 2000), and Academia Sinica (AFLA 2018) located in Taipei, Taiwan.^[2] The most recent 2019 conference was held in its home administration at the University of Western Ontario. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the AFLA 2020 conference was postponed and tentatively rescheduled for August 20 at the National University of Singapore.^[3]

Distribution of Austronesian languages and primary subdivisions

Founders

• Anna Maclachlan

author of "Optimality and three western Austronesian case systems"^[4] and 13 other research papers on Austronesian language

• Diane Massam

professor in the department of Linguistics at the University of Toronto where she is involved in many research efforts^[5]

• Richard McGinn

accomplished linguist who taught a numerous universities including Ohio University. McGinn died at the age of 78^[6]

• Barry Miller

attended York University in Toronto an co-founded AFLA with Massam^[7]

• Lisa Travis

currently a professor of Linguistics at McGill University^[8]

See also

• List of Austronesian languages