Agenda

Thi Huyen Trang Phan, La Sapienza Università di Roma

Tracing the Roots: Exploring the Origins of the Vietnamese Language from a Southeast Asian Perspective

Abstract
This talk offers an insightful journey into the rich linguistic heritage of Vietnamese, tracing its historical development from Austroasiatic origins to its evolution into a tonal language written with the Latin alphabet. We will examine dominant theories, including the Austroasiatic hypothesis, and explore alternative views that highlight influences from Sino-Tibetan and Tai- Kadai languages. By exploring these diverse perspectives, students will gain a comprehensive understanding of the complex factors shaping Vietnamese and its place within the broader context of Southeast Asian languages.

Nota biografica
Trang Phan is an Assistant Professor of Vietnamese language and linguistics at Ca' Foscari University of Venice. She earned her doctorate at the University of Sheffield in 2013 and conducted postdoctoral research on Vietnamese syntactic structure at Ghent University from 2014 to 2016. In 2020-2021, she was a visiting scholar at Harvard Yenching Institute. Phan co- edited Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Vietnamese Linguistics (John Benjamins, 2019) and special issues Vietnamese Linguistics: State of the Field (Journal of Southeast Asian Linguistics Society, University of Hawai'i Press, 2022) and Progress in Vietnamese Linguistics (Taiwan Journal of Linguistics, 2024). Her monograph, The Syntax of Vietnamese Tense, Aspect, and Negation, was published by Routledge in 2023. Phan is the co-editor of the book Studies in Vietnamese Historical Linguistics: East and Southeast Asian contexts (Springer Nature, 2024). She is also the primary author of three trilingual (Vietnamese-English-Italian) textbooks of Vietnamese published by Cafoscarina Press in 2024.

Partecipazione libera - Seminario valido per il tirocinio DEA/ACEL.
Coordinatrice: Franca Tamisari: tamisari@unive.it