Dr. Mark Turin
Mark Turin moved from the United Kingdom to Holland to join the Himalayan Languages Project in 1996. For many years he conducted field research amongst the Thangmi in eastern Nepal, compiled a Thangmi dictionary in 2004 and completed a large Thangmi grammar as his Leiden doctoral dissertation in 2006. Mark joined the Himalayan Languages Project as a trained anthropogist with linguistic aptitudes, and after a decade at the Himalayan Language Project, he emerged as an anthropological linguist.
In addition to his two major books on Thangmi, Mark has authored numerous studies on Thangmi and related and less related themes, much of which can be either consulted or downloaded directly from his website. The publications bearing directly on his work for the Himalayan Languages Project are listed in the abridged bibliography below.
After a decade of adventure and investigation under the auspices of the Himalayan Languages Project, Mark continues to expand his research activities in the Himalayas.
Selected publications
Turin, Mark. [in press]. A Grammar of Thangmi with an Ethnolinguistic Introduction to the Speakers and their Culture. Leiden: Brill.
Turin, Mark. 2006 c. ‘Rethinking Tibeto-Burman: Linguistic identities and classifications in the Himalayan periphery’, pp. 35-48, in P. Christiaan Klieger, ed., Tibetan Borderlands. Leiden: Brill.
Turin, Mark. 2006 b. ‘Minority language policies and politics in Nepal’, pp. 61-72 in Anju Saxena and Lars Borin, eds., Lesser-Known Languages of South Asia: Status and Policies, Case Studies and Applications of Information Technology. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Turin, Mark. 2006 a. ‘Seeking the tribe: Ethnopolitics in Darjeeling and Sikkim’, Himal, 18 (5): 54-58.
Turin, Mark. 2005 b. ‘Language endangerment and linguistic rights in the Himalayas: A case study from Nepal’, Mountain Research and Development, 25 (1): 4-9.
Turin, Mark. 2005 a. ‘The morphophonology of Thangmi: A Tibeto-Burman Language of Nepal’, pp. 267-284 in Yogendra Yadava, Govinda Bhattarai, Ram Raj Lohani, Balaram Prasain and Krishna Parajuli, eds., Contemporary Issues in Nepalese Linguistics. Kathmandu: Linguistic Society of Nepal.
Turin, Mark, and Bir Bahadur Thami. 2004 d. Nepali - Thami - English Dictionary. Kathmandu: Martin Chautari.
Turin, Mark 2004 c. ‘Newar-Thangmi lexical correspondences and the linguistic classification of Thangmi’, Journal of Asian and African Studies, 68: 97-120.
Turin, Mark 2004 b. ‘The phonology of Thangmi: a Tibeto-Burman language of Nepal’, Journal of Asian and African Studies, 67: 63-103.
Turin, Mark 2004 a. ‘Thangmi kinship terminology in comparative perspective’, pp. 101-139 in Anju Saxena, ed., Himalayan Languages: Past and Present. Berlin: Mouton.
Turin, Mark. 2003. ‘Ethnobotanical notes on Thangmi plant names and their medicinal and ritual uses’, Contributions to Nepalese Studies, 30 (1): 19-52.
Turin, Mark. 2002. ‘Ethnonyms and other-nyms: linguistic anthropology among the Thangmi of Nepal’, pp. 253-270 in Katia Buffetrille and Hildegard Diemberger, eds., Territory and Identity in Tibet and the Himalayas. Leiden: Brill.
Turin, Mark, and Sara Shneiderman. 2001. ‘Preliminary etymological notes on Thangmi clan names and indigenous explanations of their provenance’, Journal of Nepalese Literature, Art and Culture, 3 (2): 69-83.
Turin, Mark. 2000. ‘Shared words, shared history? The case of Thangmi and late classical Newar’, Journal of Newar Studies, 3: 9-17.
Turin, Mark. 1998. ‘The Thangmi verbal agreement system and the Kiranti connection’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 61 (3): 476-491.