Michel Ferlus
{{Short description|French linguist (1935–2024)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Michel Ferlus
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| image = A picture of Michel Ferlus with Vi Khăm Mun, a scholar of Tương Dương, Nghệ An, Vietnam, at Mr. Mun's home.JPG
| alt = A picture of Michel Ferlus with Vi Khăm Mun, a scholar of Tương Dương, Nghệ An, Vietnam, at Mr. Mun's home
| caption = Michel Ferlus with Vi Khăm Mun, a scholar of Tương Dương, Nghệ An, Vietnam, at Mr. Mun's home. Date: 01/2014.
| birth_date = {{birth year|1935}}
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| death_date = {{death date and given age|2024|3|10|88|df=y}}
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| fields = historical phonology
| workplaces = CNRS
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| known_for = Re-discovering the Lai Pao (Lai Paw) writing system, unique to Tai Pao of Tương Dương, Việt Nam; making seminal contributions to the historical phonology of Southeast Asian languages
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Michel Ferlus ({{IPA|fr|miʃɛl fɛʁlys|lang}}; 1935 – 10 March 2024) was a French linguist who specialized in the historical phonology of languages of Southeast Asia. In addition to phonological systems, he also studied writing systems, in particular the evolution of Indic scripts in Southeast Asia.
Biography
Michel Ferlus was born in 1935. He followed classes in ethnology and prehistory taught by André Leroi-Gourhan; in 'primitive religions' by Roger Bastide; in linguistics by André Martinet; and in Southeast Asian languages and history by George Cœdès. He worked in Laos as a teacher from 1961 to 1968. This allowed him to do fieldwork on languages of Laos, including Hmong and Yao (Hmong-Mien family), Khmu/Khamou and Lamet (Austroasiatic/Mon-Khmer), as well as Phu Noi/Phou-Noy (Sino-Tibetan). He became a researcher at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in 1968.
He mainly did fieldwork in Thailand and Burma (Myanmar) in the 1980s, studying Wa, Lawa, Palaung, Mon and Nyah Kur; in Vietnam and Laos in the 1990s, studying Viet-Muong (also known as Vietic) languages, and the Tai languages and writing systems of northern and central areas of Vietnam, including the Lai Pao writing system of Vietnam, which was close to falling into oblivion.[http://vietsciences.free.fr/vietnam/tiengviet/hanhtrinhtimchulaipao.htm A Vietnamese TV programme about fieldwork on the Lai Pao script by Michel Ferlus and Trần Trí Dõi]
He has published extensively about his findings on numerous languages of Laos, Thailand, Burma/Myanmar, and Vietnam, in journals such as Mon-Khmer Studies, Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale, and Diachronica.
Main findings
Michel Ferlus's main discoveries relate to the effects of monosyllabicization on the phonological structure of Southeast Asian languages.{{Cite journal |last=Michaud |first=Alexis |date=2024 |title=In Memoriam Michel Ferlus (1935-2024) |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/clao/53/2/article-p249_4.xml|journal=Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale |volume=53 |issue=2 |pages=249-252}} Tonogenesis (the development of lexical tones), registrogenesis (the development of lexically contrastive phonation-type registers), the evolution of vowel systems all partake in a general (panchronic) model of evolution.Ferlus, Michel. 1979. “Formation des registres et mutations consonantiques dans les langues mon-khmer.” Mon-Khmer Studies 8: 1–76. Phenomena such as the spirantization of medial obstruents, which resulted in a major historical change in the sound inventory of Vietnamese,Ferlus, Michel. “Spirantisation des obstruantes médiales et formation du système consonantique du vietnamien,” Cah. Linguist. - Asie Orient., vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 83–106, 1982. are also part of the broad set of changes—originating in monosyllabicization—that swept through East/Southeast Asia.
Selected publications
- {{cite journal |author1=Ferlus, Michel |title=La langue souei : mutations consonantiques et bipartition du système vocalique |journal=Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de Paris |date=1971 |volume=66 |issue=1 |pages=378–388}}
- {{Cite journal |last=Ferlus |first=Michel |year=1982 |title=Spirantisation des obstruantes médiales et formation du système consonantique du vietnamien |url=http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/clao_0153-3320_1982_num_11_1_1105 |journal=Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale |volume=11 |issue=1 |page=83–106 |doi=10.3406/clao.1982.1105}}
- {{cite journal |author1=Ferlus, Michel |title=Essai de phonétique historique du khmer (du milieu du premier millénaire de notre ère à l’époque actuelle) |journal=Mon-Khmer Studies |date=1992 |volume=21 |pages=57–89 |url=https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00927221/ |accessdate=2024-03-27}}
- {{Cite journal |last=Ferlus |first=Michel |year=1996 |title=Remarques sur le consonantisme du proto kam-sui |url=http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/clao_0153-3320_1996_num_25_2_1451 |journal=Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale |volume=25 |issue=2 |page=235–278 |doi=10.3406/clao.1996.1451}}
- {{Cite journal |last=Ferlus |first=Michel |year=1997 |title=Problèmes de la formation du système vocalique du vietnamien |url=http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/clao_0153-3320_1997_num_26_1_1504 |journal=Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale |volume=21 |issue=1 |page=37–51 |doi=10.3406/clao.1997.1504}}
- {{cite journal |author1=Ferlus, Michel |title=Les systèmes de tons dans les langues viet-muong |journal=Diachronica |date=1998 |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=1–27 |url=https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00922841}}
- {{cite conference |author=Ferlus, Michel |title=The origin of tones in Viet-Muong |conference=Eleventh Annual Conference of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society 2001 |book-title=Papers from the Eleventh Annual Conference of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society 2001, ed. by Somsonge Burusphat |year=2004 |publisher=Arizona State University Programme for Southeast Asian Studies Monograph Series Press |location=Tempe, Arizona |pages=297–313 |url=https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00927222}}
- {{cite journal |author1=Ferlus, Michel |title=What were the four Divisions of Middle Chinese? |journal=Diachronica |date=2009 |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=184–213 |url=https://shs.hal.science/halshs-01581138/}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://aefek.free.fr/travaux/news0001072c.html Bibliography on the website of AEFEK]
- [http://sealang.net/archives/mks/FERLUSMichel.htm Open-access publications by Michel Ferlus, from the SEALANG archive]
- [http://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/Public/afficheRequetePubli.php?auteur_exp=Michel,Ferlus&CB_ref_biblio=oui&CB_Resume_court=oui&langue=Francais&tri_exp=annee_publi&tri_exp2=titre&ordre_aff=TA&Fen=Aff&css=../css/VisuRubriqueEncadre.css Open-access publications by Michel Ferlus, from the HAL archive]
- [https://scholar.google.fr/citations?user=AU6zNMwAAAAJ&hl=fr Google Scholar profile]
- [http://aefek.free.fr/iso_album/michel_ferlus.pdf "Michel Ferlus en quelques mots": biographical note (in French) on the website of AEFEK]
- [https://pangloss.cnrs.fr/search?s=Michel+Ferlus&mode=pro&lang=en Audio recordings made by Michel Ferlus on several languages of Southeast Asia]: 531 audio recordings, including 86 with annotations (Pangloss Collection, open access).
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferlus, Michel}}
Category:Linguists of Southeast Asian languages
Category:Linguists from France
Category:Linguists of Austroasiatic languages
Category:Linguists of Sino-Tibetan languages
Category:French National Centre for Scientific Research scientists