Zorc graduated cum laude with an A.B. in Philosophy from Georgetown University in 1965. From 1965 to 1969, he was a Peace Corps member in the Philippines. In 1971, he obtained an M.A. in Linguistics & Anthropology from Cornell University, and graduated with a Ph.D. in Linguistics in 1975.[5] His doctoral dissertation was a comprehensive survey of the Bisayan languages.[6]
Career
From 1976 to 1986, Zorc was a Senior Lecturer at the School of Australian Linguistics (SAL).[7]
Zorc has contributed to major works on Austronesian historical linguistics such as the Comparative Austronesian Dictionary (1995), to which he contributed an index of Proto-Austronesian reconstructions.[8] He has also published various dictionaries such as the Tagalog slang dictionary (1991).[9][10]
Austin, P., McConvell, P., Day, R., Black, P., Zorc, R., Schebeck, B., McKay, G., Hale, K., Laughren, M., Nash, D., Wierzbicka, A., Laughren, M. and Koch, H. editors. Papers in Australian Linguistics No. 15: Australian Aboriginal lexicography. A-66, xii + 185 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1983. doi:10.15144/PL-A66
Zorc, R. David. "A Yolngu-Matha Dictionary - Plans and Proposals". In Austin, P., McConvell, P., Day, R., Black, P., Zorc, R., Schebeck, B., McKay, G., Hale, K., Laughren, M., Nash, D., Wierzbicka, A., Laughren, M. and Koch, H. editors, Papers in Australian Linguistics No. 15: Australian Aboriginal lexicography. A-66:31-40. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1983. doi:10.15144/PL-A66.31
Zorc, R. David. The Bisayan dialects of the Philippines: Subgrouping and reconstruction. C-44, xxiv + 351 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1977. doi:10.15144/PL-C44
Zorc, R. David. "On the Development of Contrastive Word Accent: Pangasinan, a Case in Point". In Nguyễn Đ.L. editor, Southeast Asian linguistic studies, Vol. 3. C-45:241-258. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1979. doi:10.15144/PL-C45.241
Zorc, R. David. "Proto-Philippine Word Accent: Innovation or Proto-Hesperonesian Retention?". In Wurm, S.A. and Carrington, L. editors, Second International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics: Proceedings. C-61:67-119. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1978. doi:10.15144/PL-C61.67
Zorc, R. David. "Where, O where, have the laryngeals gone? Austronesian laryngeals re-examined". In Halim, A., Carrington, L. and Wurm, S.A. editors, Papers from the Third International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics, Vol. 2: Tracking the travellers. C-75:111-144. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1982. doi:10.15144/PL-C75.111
Zorc, R. David. "Some historical linguistic contributions to sociolinguistics". In Geraghty, P., Carrington, L. and Wurm, S.A. editors, FOCAL I: Papers from the Fourth International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics. C-93:341-355. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1986. doi:10.15144/PL-C93.341
Zorc, R. David. "The genetic relationships of Philippine languages". In Geraghty, P., Carrington, L. and Wurm, S.A. editors, FOCAL II: Papers from the Fourth International Conference on Austronesian Linguistics. C-94:147-173. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1986. doi:10.15144/PL-C94.147
Zorc, R. David. "Austronesian apicals (*dDzZ) and the Philippine non-evidence". In Laycock, D.C. and Winter, W. editors, A World of language: Papers presented to Professor S.A. Wurm on his 65th birthday. C-100:751-761. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1987.
Zorc, R. David. "Austronesian culture history through reconstructed vocabulary (an overview)". In Pawley, A.K. and Ross, M.D. editors, Austronesian Terminologies: Continuity and change. C-127:541-594. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1994. doi:10.15144/PL-C127.541
^Zorc, R. David. The Bisayan dialects of the Philippines: Subgrouping and reconstruction. C-44, xxiv + 351 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1977. doi:10.15144/PL-C44
^Black, P. and Breen, G. "The School of Australian Linguistics". In Simpson, J., Nash, D., Laughren, M., Austin, P. and Alpher, B. editors, Forty years on: Ken Hale and Australian languages. PL-512:161-178. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 2001. doi:10.15144/PL-512.161
^Zorc, R. David. "7. A glossary of Austronesian reconstructions". Comparative Austronesian Dictionary. Berlin, New York: De Gruyter Mouton. doi:10.1515/9783110884012.2.1105.
