Austronesian Formal Linguistics Association

In 1994, a small group of Austronesianists met at the University of Toronto. Their purpose was to create an organisation that promotes the study of Austronesian languages from a formal perspective. While conferences dedicated solely to Austronesian languages existed at the time, none were focused primarily on formal approaches to the study of this language family. That pioneering group of linguists consisted of Anna Maclachlan, Diane Massam, Richard McGinn, Barry Miller and Lisa Travis. The audience at what was to be the first annual meeting of AFLA was made up of students and faculty at the University of Toronto.

It was during that meeting that the name for the conference was chosen. It had initially been proposed that the conference be called GALA, the Generative Austronesian Linguistics Association. However, another conference already bears that name. AGLA was too ugly, so it was decided that the conference be called AFLA. This has proven to be very fitting choice given that AFLA serves as a forum for research couched in a variety of formal approaches. From that initial meeting in 1994 onwards, each meeting has furthered the unwritten mandate of AFLA to encourage the formal study of Austronesian languages, especially work by speaker-linguists and by junior scholars.

Annual Meetings

2024 ♦ AFLA XXXI ♦ University of Massachusetts Amherst (Conference website)

2023 ♦ AFLA XXX ♦ Lund University, Sweden (Abstracts / Conference website)

2022 ♦ AFLA XXIX ♦ University of Manchester (Proceedings / Conference website)

2021 ♦ AFLA XXVIII ♦ McGill University & the National University of Singapore (Proceedings / Conference website)

2020 ♦ AFLA XXVII ♦ National University of Singapore (Proceedings / Conference website)

2019 ♦ AFLA XXVI ♦ Inter-faculty Program in Linguistics, University of Western Ontario (Proceedings / Conference website)

2018 ♦ AFLA XXV ♦ Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan (Proceedings / Program)

2017 ♦ AFLA XXIV ♦ University of Washington (Proceedings / Program)

2016 ♦ AFLA XXIII ♦ Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (Proceedings / Program)

2015 ♦ AFLA XXII ♦ McGill University (Proceedings / Program)

2014 ♦ AFLA XXI ♦ University of Hawai'i at Mānoa (Proceedings / Program)

2013 ♦ AFLA XX ♦ University of Texas at Arlington (Program)

2012 ♦ AFLA XIX ♦ Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica & Linguistic Society of Taiwan

2011 ♦ AFLA XVIII ♦ Harvard University (Proceedings / Program)

2010 ♦ AFLA XVII ♦ Stony Brook University, New York

2009 ♦ AFLA XVI ♦ University of California, Santa Cruz (Proceedings / Program)

2008 ♦ AFLA XV ♦ University of Sydney

2007 ♦ AFLA XIV ♦ McGill University (Proceedings) (Program)

2006 ♦ AFLA XIII ♦ National Tsing Hua University and Academia Sinica (Program)

2005 ♦ AFLA XII ♦ University of California at Los Angeles (Proceedings / Program)

2004 ♦ AFLA XI ♦ Zentrum fur Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Typologie und Universalienforschung (Proceedings)

2003 ♦ AFLA X ♦ University of Hawai'i at Mānoa (Program)

2002 ♦ AFLA IX ♦ Cornell University (Proceedings / Program)

2001 ♦ AFLA VIII ♦ Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Proceedings / Program)

2000 ♦ AFLA VII ♦ Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Proceedings / Program)

1999 ♦ AFLA VI ♦ University of Toronto (Proceedings / Program)

1998 ♦ AFLA V ♦ University of Hawai'i at Manoa (Proceedings / Program)

1997 ♦ AFLA IV ♦ University of California at Los Angeles (Proceedings / Program)

1996 ♦ AFLA III ♦ University of California at Los Angeles (Proceedings / Program)

1995 ♦ AFLA II ♦ McGill University (Proceedings / Program)

1994 ♦ AFLA I ♦ University of Toronto