Robert Malcolm Ward "Bob" Dixon (born 25 January 1939, in Gloucester, England[1]) is a Professor of Linguistics in the College of Arts, Society, and Education and The Cairns Institute, James Cook University, Queensland. He is also Deputy Director of The Language and Culture Research Centre at JCU.[2] Doctor of Letters (DLitt, ANU, 1991), he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters Honoris Causa by JCU in 2018. Fellow of British Academy; Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, and Honorary member of the Linguistic Society of America, he is one of three living linguists to be specifically mentioned in The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics by Peter Matthews (2014).[3]
Dixon has written on many areas of linguistic theory and fieldwork, being particularly noted for his work on the languages of Australia and the Arawá languages of Brazil. He has published grammars of Dyirbal, Yidiɲ, Warrgamay, Nyawaygi, and Mbabaram. He published a comprehensive grammar of Boumaa Fijian, a Polynesian language (1988), and Jarawara, an Arawá language from southern Amazonia (2004), for which he received the Leonard Bloomfield Book Award from the Linguistic Society of America.
Dixon's work in historical linguistics has been highly influential. Based on a careful historical comparative analysis, Dixon questions the concept of Pama–Nyungan languages, for which he argues sufficient evidence has never been provided. He also proposes a new "punctuated equilibrium" model, based on the theory of the same name in evolutionary biology, which is more appropriate for numerous language regions, including the Australian languages. Dixon puts forth his theory in The Rise and Fall of Languages, refined in his monograph Australian Languages: their nature and development (2002). Dixon is the author of a number of other books, including Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development and Ergativity. His monumental three-volume work Basic Linguistic Theory (2010–2012) was published by the Oxford University Press.
His further work on Australian languages was published in Edible gender, mother-in-law style, and other grammatical wonders: Studies in Dyirbal, Yidiñ and Warrgamay, 2015.
His further influential monographs include work on English grammar, especially A new approach to English grammar (1991, revised edition 2005), and Making New Words: Morphological Derivation in English (2014). His recent monograph Are Some Languages Better than Others (2016, paperback 2018) poses a question of efficiency and value of different languages.
His editorial work includes four volumes of Handbook of Australian Languages (with Barry Blake), a special issue of Lingua on ergativity, and, jointly with Alexandra Aikhenvald, numerous volumes on linguistic typology in the series Explorations in Linguistic Typology, the fundamental The Amazonian languages (1999), and The Cambridge Handbook of Linguistic Typology (2017).
His most recent book is The Unmasking of English Dictionaries (2018), which offers a concise history of English dictionaries unmasking their drawbacks, and suggests a new innovative way of dictionary making.[n 1]
His "We used to eat people", Revelations of a Fiji islands traditional village (2018) offers a vivid portrayal of his fieldwork in Fiji in the late 1980s.[n 2]
Both Dixon (the director of the centre) and Aikhenvald (its associate director) resigned their positions in May 2008.[5] In early 2009, Aikhenvald and Dixon established the Language and Culture Research Group (LCRG) at the Cairns campus of James Cook University.[6] This has been transformed into a Language and Culture Research Centre within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at JCU, Cairns, in 2011. Currently, Aikhenvald is director and Dixon deputy director of the centre.[7][8]</ref>
Grammatical categories in Australian languages. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies; [Atlantic Highlands, NJ]: Humanities Press, 1976. ISBN0855750553, ISBN0391006940, ISBN0391006959.
Where Have All the Adjectives Gone? and Other Essays in Semantics and Syntax. Janua Linguarum, Series maior, 107. Berlin: Mouton, 1982. ISBN902793309X.
Studies in Ergativity. Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1987. ISBN044470275X.
Australian Aboriginal Words in English: Their Origin and Meaning.
With W. S. Ramson and Mandy Thomas. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. ISBN0195530993. 1992. ISBN0195533941.
2nd ed. With Bruce Moore, W. S. Ramson and Mandy Thomas. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. ISBN0195540735.
A New Approach to English Grammar, on Semantic Principles. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991. Hardback 0198242727, paperback ISBN0198240570.
A Semantic Approach to English Grammar. Oxford Textbooks in Linguistics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. Revised edition. Hardback ISBN0199283079, paperback ISBN0199247404.
英语语义语法 = A Semantic Approach to English Grammar. Beijing, 2016. ISBN9787519205652. The English text, with a short additional text in Chinese.
Searching for Aboriginal Languages: Memoirs of a Field Worker. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1984. Hardback ISBN0702219339, paperback ISBN0702217131}. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989. ISBN0226154300. Cambridge Library Collection. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511791994. Paperback ISBN9781108025041, online ISBN9780511791994. A memoir of Dixon's early fieldwork in Australia. The book provides a glimpse at linguistic fieldwork as it was done in that era, as well as a look at the appalling treatment of Aboriginal peoples of Australia that continued right into the 1960s.
Dyirbal Song Poetry: The Oral Literature of an Australian Rainforest People. With Grace Koch. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1996. ISBN0702225932. Accompanied by a CD, OCLC222004131.
Language at Large: Essays on Syntax and Semantics. With A. Y. Aikhenvald. Empirical Approaches to Linguistic Theory 2. Leiden: Brill, 2011. ISBN9789004206076. 2018. ISBN9789004392816.
Making New Words: Morphological Derivation in English. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. Hardback ISBN9780198712367, paperback ISBN9780198712374.
Edible Gender, Mother-in-Law Style, and Other Grammatical Wonders: Studies in Dyirbal, Yidiñ and Warrgamay. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015. ISBN9780198702900.
R. M. W. Dixon and Barry J. Blake, eds. Handbook of Australian Languages.
Vol 1. (Guugu Yimidhirr. Pitta-Pitta. Gumbaynggir. Yaygir.) Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1979. ISBN0708112013. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1979. ISBN90-272-0512-4.
Vol 2. (Wargamay, The Mpakwithi dialect of Anguthimri; Watjarri. Margany and Gunya, Tasmanian.) Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1981. ISBN0708112129. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1981. ISBN9027220042.
Vol 3. (Djapu, a Yolngu dialect. Yukulta. Uradhi. Nyawaygi.) Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1983. ISBN0708112153. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1983 ISBN9027220026.
Vol 4, The aboriginal language of Melbourne and other grammatical sketches. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1991. ISBN0195530977.
Vol 5, Grammatical sketches of Bunuba, Ndjébbana and Kugu Nganhcara. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN0195549988.
The Honey-Ant Men's Love Song and Other Aboriginal Song Poems (UQP Poetry), 1990
Words of our country: Stories, place names, and vocabulary in Yidiny, the Aboriginal Language of the Cairns-Yarrabah Region (Editor), 1991.
Adjective Classes: A Cross-Linguistic Typology (Editor with A. Y. Aikhenvald), 2006
Complementation: A Cross-Linguistic Typology (Editor with A. Y. Aikhenvald), 2006
Serial Verb Constructions: A Cross-Linguistic Typology (Editor with A. Y. Aikhenvald), 2007. Here at Google Books.
Grammars in Contact: A Cross-Linguistic Typology (Editor with A. Y. Aikhenvald), 2007
The Semantics of Clause Linking: A Cross-Linguistic Typology (Editor with A. Y. Aikhenvald), 2009. Here at Google Books.
Possession and Ownership (Editor with A. Y. Aikhenvald), 2013
The Grammar of Knowledge: A Cross-Linguistic Typology (Editor with A. Y. Aikhenvald), 2014
The Cambridge Handbook of Linguistic Typology. Editor with A. Y. Aikhenvald. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017. doi:10.1017/9781316135716. Online ISBN9781316135716.
Commands: A Cross-Linguistic Typology (Editor with A. Y. Aikhenvald), 2017
Non-Canonical Marking of Subjects and Objects. Editor with A. Y. Aikhenvald and Masayuki Onishi.
During the 1960s, Dixon published two science-fiction short stories under the name of Simon Tully, and in the 1980s two detective novels under the name of Hosanna Brown.[12]
^At least two compact lists of addenda were issued: Corrections and additions to Blues and gospel records, 1902–1943, 3rd edition. With John Godrich. Montreal: Canadian Collectors' Congress, 1984. OCLC35978680. Further corrections/additions, Blues and gospel records (1902–1943), 3rd edition. With Roger Misiewicz. Montreal: Canadian Collectors' Congress, 1985. OCLC35978688.