Gérard Diffloth Explained

Gérard Diffloth (13 February 1939 – 14 August 2023) was a French linguist known as a leading specialist in the Austroasiatic languages. As a linguistics professor, he was employed at the University of Chicago and Cornell University. He received his Ph.D. from UCLA, after a dissertation on the Irula language. He was an advocate of immersion fieldwork for linguistic research.^[2]

Diffloth was known for his widely cited 1974 and 2005 classifications of the Austroasiatic languages.

Diffloth was a consulting editor of the journal Mon-Khmer Studies.^[3]

Gérard Diffloth died on 14 August 2023, at the age of 84, in Surin, Thailand.^[4]

Selected bibliography

• Diffloth, Gérard. A History of the Khmer Language. [in preparation].
• Diffloth, Gérard. The Dvaravati Old Mon Language and Nyah Kur. Monic language studies, vol. 1. Bangkok, Thailand: Chulalongkorn University Print. House, 1984.
• Diffloth, Gérard. The Wa languages. Berkeley: Dept. of Linguistics, University of California, 1980.
• Diffloth, Gérard. An Appraisal of Benedict's Views on Austroasiatic and Austro-Thai Relations. Kyoto: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, 1976.
• Diffloth, Gérard, and Zide, Norman H. Austroasiatic Number Systems. 1976.
• Diffloth, Gérard. Proto-Mon–Khmer Final Spirants. Kyoto: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, 1976.
• Diffloth, Gérard. The Irula Language, a Close Relative of Tamil. Doctoral thesis, University of California, Los Angeles, 1968.

Notes and References

1. Book: Austroasiatic Linguistics, in honour of Gérard Diffloth (1939-2023). Paul. Sidwell. Chiang Mai. Myanmar Center, Faculty of Humanities, Chiang Mai University. 2024.
2. Diffloth, Gérard. 2001. Les expressifs de Surin, et où cela conduit. Bulletin de l’Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient 88(1). 261–269. Page 262
3. http://www.mksjournal.org/editors.html Mon–Khmer Studies Journal editors
4. Web site: Death of Gérard Diffloth (1939 – 2023) . EFEO . 27 August 2023.