The Austronesian Formal Linguistics Association (AFLA) is a learned society

Learned society

A learned society is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline/profession, as well a group of disciplines. Membership may be open to all, may require possession of some qualification, or may be an honor conferred by election, as is the case with the oldest learned societies,...

 that provides forums for collaborative research of Austronesian languages

Austronesian languages

The Austronesian languages are a language family widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with a few members spoken on continental Asia that are spoken by about 386 million people. It is on par with Indo-European, Niger-Congo, Afroasiatic and Uralic as one of the...

. It was founded in 1994 at the University of Toronto

University of Toronto

The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

 by Anna Maclachlan, Diane Massam

Diane Massam

Diane Massam is a professor of linguistics in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Toronto. She specializes in the syntax of Niuean, an Austronesian language spoken in Niue. Massam developed an analysis of a type of compounding called noun incorporation which has opened a window to...

, Richard McGinn, Barry Miller

Barry Miller

Barry Miller may refer to:* Barry Miller , American actor* Barry Miller , Texas state legislator and lieutenant governor, 1925–1931* Barry Miller , retired English football defender...

 and Lisa Travis;
and is now administered from the University of Western Ontario

University of Western Ontario

The University of Western Ontario is a public research university located in London, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus covers of land, with the Thames River cutting through the eastern portion of the main campus. Western administers its programs through 12 different faculties and...

. The association runs an annual conference, the most recent being AFLA XVII (May 2010), hosted by Stony Brook University. AFLA XVI (May 2009) was hosted by the University of California, Santa Cruz

University of California, Santa Cruz

The University of California, Santa Cruz, also known as UC Santa Cruz or UCSC, is a public, collegiate university; one of ten campuses in the University of California...

. AFLA XV (June–July 2008) was hosted by the University of Sydney

University of Sydney

The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...

 as part of Lingfest, celebrating the International Year of Languages

International Year of Languages

The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2008 as the International Year of Languages, pursuant to a resolution of UNESCO. The resolution also reaffirmed the need to achieve full parity among the six official languages on United Nations websites....

.

See also

• List of Austronesian regions
• List of major and official Austronesian languages

External links

• Austronesian Formal Linguistics Association — official website
• Austronesian Conferences — Alexa
  Alexa Internet
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  listing of most popular websites related to conferences for linguistic study of Austronesian languages