Professor Alan Rumsey
BA, MA, PhD (Chicago)
Emeritus Professor of Anthropology and Chief Investigator, Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, School of Culture, History & Language
College of Asia & the Pacific
Areas of expertise
- Linguistic Anthropology 160103
- Social And Cultural Anthropology 160104
Research interests
Melanesia; Aboriginal Australia; linguistic anthropology; intersubjectivity, child language socialization, sign languages, multimodal communication, comparative poetics
Biography
I am currently involved in a major collaborative research project on 'Children's Language Learning and the Development of Intersubjectivity'. Other recent projects include an interdisciplinary comparative one on verbal art which resulted in the volume Sung Tales from the Papua New Guinea Highlands. (For further details including a CV and most of my publications in downloadable form, search me on academia.edu)
Career highlights
Lecturer and Senior Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, University of Sydney, 1978-1995; Co-editor, review editor and editorial board member, Oceania 1985-; Advisory Editor, Current Anthropology 2000-2002; Editorial board member, Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 1999-2015, The Australian Journal of Anthropology (TAJA), 2008-, American Ethnologist, 2016-2019; Anthropological Consultant to Northern Land Council, 1980-1993, and to the Kimberley, Kamali and Yamatji Land Councils, 1998-2002, 2010; elected to Australian Academy of the Humanities, 2004; Vice President of Australian Anthropology Society, 2007-9, President 2010-11
Publications
- Reed, L & Rumsey, A 2020, 'Sign Languages in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands', in Adam Kendon (ed.), Sign Languages in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam, pp. 141-183.
- Rumsey, A, Reed, L & Merlan, F 2020, 'Ku Waru Clause Chaining and the Acquisition of Complex Syntax', Frontiers in Communication, vol. 5, no. 19, pp. 1-30.
- Rumsey, A 2019, 'Melanesia as a zone of linguistic diversity', in Eric Hirsch and Will Rollason (ed.), The Melanesian World, Routledge, New York, pp. 110-125.
- Rumsey, A 2019, 'Intersubjectivity and engagement in Ku Waru', Open Linguistics, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 49-68.
- Rumsey, A 2019, 'Response to Spronck and Nikitina "Reported speech forms a dedicated syntactic domain" ', Linguistic Typology, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 237-244.
- Rumsey, A 2018, 'The sociocultural dynamics of indigenous multilingualism in northwestern Australia', Language and Communication, vol. 62, pp. 91-101.
- Merlan, F & Rumsey, A 2017, 'Obituary: Thomas Mitchell Ernst (1943-2016)', The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 87-88pp.
- Rumsey, A 2017, 'Monologue and Dialogism in Highland New Guinea Verbal Art', in Tomlinson, Matthew and Millie, Julian (ed.), The Monologic Imagination, Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 59-79pp.
- Merlan, F, and Rumsey, A 2017, 'Flexibles and polyvalence in Ku Waru: A developmental perspective', in Valentina Vapnarsky, Edy Veneziano (eds.), Lexical Polycategoriality: Cross-linguistic, cross-theoretical and language acquisition approaches., John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam.
- Rumsey, A 2017, 'Dependency and relative determination in language acquisition: The case of Ku Waru', in N. J. Enfield (ed.), Dependencies in Language: On the Casual Ontology of Linguistic Systems, Language Science Press, Berlin, pp. 97-117
- Rumsey, A 2016, 'Mana, Power and "Pawa" in the Pacific and Beyond', in Matt Tomlinson (ed.), New Mana, ANU Press, Canberra, Australia, pp. 131-154.
- Rumsey, A 2015, 'Language, affect and the inculcation of social norms in the New Guinea Highlands and beyond', The Australian Journal of Anthropology, vol. 26, pp. 349-364.
- Merlan, F & Rumsey, A 2015, 'Language ecology, language policy and pedagogical practice in a Papua New Guinea Highland community', Language and Linguistics in Melanesia, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 82-96.
- Rumsey, A 2014, 'Bilingual language learning and the translation of worlds in the New Guinea Highlands and beyond', HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 119-140.
- Rumsey, A 2014, 'Language and human sociality', in N. J. Enfield, Paul Kockelman, Jack Sidnell (ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Linguistic Anthropology, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 400-422.
- Eves, R, Haley, N, May, R et al 2014, 'Purging Parliament: A New Christian Politics in Papua New Guinea?', State Society and Governance in Melanesia Discussion Paper 2014/1.
- Rumsey, A 2013, 'Intersubjectivity, deception and the 'opacity of other minds': Perspectives from Highland New Guinea and beyond', Language and Communication, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 326-343.
- Danziger, E & Rumsey, A 2013, 'Introduction: From Opacity to intersubjectivity across languages and cultures', Language and Communication, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 247-250.
- Rumsey, A, San Roque, L & Schieffelin, B 2013, 'The acquisition of ergative marking in Kaluli, Ku Waru and Duna (Trans New Guinea)', in Edith L. Bavin and Sabine Stoll (ed.), The Acquisition of Ergativity, John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam, pp. 133-182.
- Rumsey, A 2013, 'Anthropology, Linguistics, and the Vicissitudes of Interdisciplinary Collaboration', Collaborative Anthropologies, vol. 6, pp. 268-289.
- Danziger, E and Rumsey, A. (eds.) 2013. Intersubjectivity across Languages and Cultures. Special issue of Language and Communication, vol. 33, no. 3.
- Rumsey, A 2012, 'Introduction: The linguistic anthropology of interlingual articulations in Asia and the Pacific', Australian Journal of Anthropology, The, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 269-273.
- Rumsey, A & Stasch, R, eds, 2012, Interlingual Articulations in Asia and the Pacific: Figuring Sociocultural Otherness through Otherness of Linguistic Codes. Special Issue of the Australian Journal of Anthropology, volume 23, no. 3.
- San Roque, L; Carroll, A; Evans, N; Gawne, L; Hoenigman, D; Rumsey, A; Spronck, S; Miller, J.C. 2012, 'Getting the Story Straight: Language Fieldwork Using a Narrative Problem-Solving Task', Language Documentation and Conservation, vol. 6, pp. 135-174.
- Rumsey, A 2011, 'Empathy and Anthropology: An Afterword', in Douglas W. Hollan and C. Jason Throop (ed.), The Anthropology of Empathy: Experiencing the Lives of Others in Pacific Societies, Berghahn Press, Oxford UK, pp. 215-224.
- Niles, D & Rumsey, A 2011, 'Introducing Highlands Sung Tales', in Alan Rumsey & Don Niles (ed.), Sung Tales from the Papua New Guinea Highlands: Studies in Form, Meaning, and Sociocultural Context, ANU E Press, Canberra, pp. 1-38.
- Rumsey, A & Niles, D, eds, 2011, Sung Tales from Papua New Guinea Highlands; Studies in Form, Meaning, and Sociocultural Context, ANU E Press, Canberra.
- Rumsey, A 2011, 'Style, Plot, and Character in Tom Yaya Tales from Ku Waru', in Alan Rumsey & Don Niles (ed.), Sung Tales from the Papua New Guinea Highlands: Studies in Form, Meaning, and Sociocultural Context, ANU E Press, Canberra, pp. 247-274.
- Rumsey, A 2010, 'A metrical system that defies description by ordinary means', in John Bowden, Nikolaus P Himmelmann and Malcolm Ross (ed.), A journey through Austronesian and Papuan linguistic and cultural space: Papers in honour of Andrew Pawley, Pacific Linguistics, Canberra, ACT, pp. 39-56.
- Rumsey, A 2010, 'Ethics, Language, and Human Sociality', in Lambek, Michael (ed.), Ordinary Ethics: Anthropology, Language, and Action, Fordham University Press, US, pp. 105-122.
- Rumsey, A 2010, 'Lingual and Cultural Wholes and Fields', in Ton Otto and Nils Bubandt (ed.), Experiments in Holism: Theory and Practice in Contemporary Anthropology, Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, UK, pp. 127-149.
- Rumsey, A 2010, 'Optional ergativity and the framing of reported speech', Lingua, vol. 120, pp. 1652-1676.
- McGregor, W & Rumsey, A 2009, Worrorran Revisited: The case for genetic relations among languages of the Northern Kimberley region of Western Australia, Pacific Linguistics, Canberra Australia.
- Rumsey, A 2009, War and Peace in Highland PNG: Some recent developments in the Nebilyer Valley, Western Highlands Province.
- Rumsey, A 2009, 'L'anthropologie a-t-elle besoin de sa propre pragmatique? [Does Anthropology need its own pragmatics?]', in Bonhomme, Julien and Severi, Carlo (ed.), Paroles en actes [Words into action], Editions de L'Herne, Paris, pp. 43-62.
- Rumsey, A 2009, 'Rhetoric, Truth, and the Work of Trope', in Strecker, Ivo and Tyler, Stephen (ed.), Culture & Rhetoric; Studies in Rhetoric and Culture, Berghahn Books, New York and Oxford, pp. 117-149.
- Robbins, J & Rumsey, A 2008, 'Introduction: Cultural and Linguistic Anthropology and the Opacity of other minds', AQ Anthropological Quarterly, vol. 81, no. 2, pp. 407-420.
- Rumsey, A 2008, 'Confession, anger and cross-cultural articulation in Papua New Guinea', AQ Anthropological Quarterly, vol. 81, no. 2, pp. 455-472.
- Rumsey, A 2007, 'Musical, Poetic and Linguistic Form in Tom Yaya Sung Narratives from Papua New Guinea', Anthropological Linguistics, vol. 49, no. 3-4, pp. 235-282.
- Rumsey, A 2006, 'The articulation of indigenous and exogenous orders in Highland New Guinea and beyond', Australian Journal of Anthropology, The, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 47-69.
- Rumsey, A 2006, 'Verbal art, politics, and personal style in Highland New Guinea and beyond', in Catherine O'Neil, Mary Scoggin & Kevin Tuite (ed.), Language, Culture and the Individual: A Tribute to Paul Friedrich, Lincom Europa, Munich, pp. 319-346.
- Rumsey, A 2005, 'Chanted Tales in the New Guinea Highlands of Today: A comparative study', in Pamela J. Stewart and Andrew Strathern (ed.), Expressive Genres and Historical Change: Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Taiwan, Ashgate Publishing Ltd, England, USA, pp. 41-81.
- Rumsey, A 2005, 'Comment on W. F. Hanks: "Explorations in the Deictic Field"', Current Anthropology, vol. 46, pp. 215-16.
- Rumsey, A 2004, 'Ethnographic macro-tropes and anthropological theory', Anthropological Theory, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 267-298.
- Rumsey, A 2004, 'Book Review: Christianity, Culture change, and the Anthropology of ethics', AQ Anthropological Quarterly, vol. tba, pp. 581-593.
- Rumsey, A & Weiner, J, eds, 2004, Mining and Indigenous Life Worlds in Australia and Papua New Guinea, Sean Kingston Publishing, Oxon.
- Rumsey, A 2003, 'Comment on A. Duranti- Language as Culture in U.S. Anthropology: Three Paradigms', Current Anthropology, vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 338-339.
- Rumsey, A 2003, 'Tribal warfare and transformative justice in the New Guinea Highlands', in Sinclair Dinnen, with Anita Jowitt and Tess Newton Cain (ed.), A Kind of Mending: Restorative Justice in the Pacific Islands, Pandanus Books, Canberra, pp. 73-93.
- Rumsey, A 2003, 'Language, desire, and the ontogenesis of intersubjectivity', Language and Communication, vol. 23, pp. 169-187.
- Rumsey, A & Weiner, J 2002, 'Comment on Fredrik Barth: An Anthropology of Knowledge', Current Anthropology, vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 13-14.
- Rumsey, A 2002, 'Book review: Language, identity and marginality in Indonesia: The changing nature of ritual speech on the Island of Sumba', Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, vol. tba, pp. 293-295.
- Rumsey, A 2002, 'Men stand, women sit: On the grammaticalization of posture verbs in Papuan languages, its bodily basis and cultural correlates', in John Newman (ed.), The Linguistics of Sitting, Standing, and Lying, John Benjamins Publishing Company, The Netherlands, Philadelphia, pp. 179-211.
- Rumsey, A 2002, 'Aspects of Ku Waru Ethnosyntax and Social Life', in N. J. Enfield (ed.), Ethnosyntax: Explorations in grammar and culture, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 259-286.
- Rumsey, A 2001, 'Tom yaya kange: a metrical narrative genre from the New Guinea Highlands', Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 193-239.
- Rumsey, A 2001, 'Introduction', in Rumsey, A & Weiner, J. (ed.), Emplaced Myth: Space, Narrative, and Knowledge in Aboriginal Australia and Papua New Guinea, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, USA, pp. 1-18.
- Rumsey, A 2001, 'Tracks, traces, and links to land in Aboriginal Australia, New Guinea, and beyond', in Rumsey, A & Weiner, J. (ed.), Emplaced Myth: Space, Narrative, and Knowledge in Aboriginal Australia and Papua New Guinea, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, USA, pp. 19-42.
- Rumsey, A & Weiner, J, eds, 2001, Emplaced Myth: Space, Narrative, and Knowledge in Aboriginal Australia and Papua New Guinea, University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, USA.
- Rumsey, A 2001, 'CA Comment on S. Shanker, What children know when they know what a name is: the non-Cartesian view of language acquisition', Current Anthropology, vol. 42, no. 4, pp. 501-502.
- Rumsey, A 2001, 'On the syntax and semantics of trying', in Simpson J, Nash D, Laughren M, Alpher B, Austin P (ed.), Forty Years On: Ken Hale and Australian Languages, Pacific Linguistics, Canberra, Australia, pp. 353-363.
- Merlan, F & Rumsey, A 2001, 'Aspects of ergativity and reported speech in Ku Waru', in A. Pawley, M. Ross and D. Tryon (ed.), The Boy from Bundaberg: Studies in Melanesian Linguistics in Honour of Tom Dutton, Pacific Linguistics, Canberra, pp. 215-231.
- Rumsey, A 2000, 'Agency, personhood and the I of discourse in the Pacific and beyond', Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 101-115.
- Rumsey, A 2000, 'Orality', Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 170-172.
- Rumsey, A 2000, 'Bunuba', in Dixon, R M W; Blake, Barry J (ed.), The Handbook of Australian Languages vol 5: Grammatical sketches of Bunuba, Ndjebbana and Kugu Nganhcara, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, pp. 35-152.
- Rumsey, A 2000, 'Women as Peacemakers in the New Guinea Highlands: a case from the Nebilyer Valley, Western Highlands, Papua New Guinea', in Dinnen, S.; Ley, A. (ed.), Reflections on Violence in Melanesia, Hawkins Press and Asia Pacific Press, Leichhardt, NSW and Canberra, pp. 139-155.
- Rumsey, A 2000, 'Book Review: Jandamara and the Bunuba Resistance by H Pederson and B Woorunmurra', Aboriginal History, vol. 22, pp. 240-243.
- Rumsey, A 1999, 'Social segmentation, voting, and violence in Papua New Guinea', The Contemporary Pacific, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 305-333.
Projects and Grants
Grants information is drawn from ARIES. To add or update Projects or Grants information please contact your College Research Office.
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language (Secondary Investigator)
- Children's language learning and the development of intersubjectivity (Primary Investigator)
- Consolidation and expansion of PARADISEC, Pacific and Regional Archive of Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (Secondary Investigator)
