Tasaku Tsunoda


Tsunoda Tasaku is a Japanese linguist, specializing in Australian Aboriginal languages. His interests embrace linguistic typology and endangered languages.

Career

Tsunoda was born in Akagi, Gumma Prefecture in 1946. On graduating from Tokyo University, Tsunoda moved to Monash University in Melbourne where he completed a master's and then a doctoral degree in linguistics. His choice of Melbourne for postgraduate work was partially influenced by the fact that the Monash campus was close to an athletic training camp run by the former world middle distance champion Herb Elliott, His supervisor for both his M.A. and PhD was Barry Blake.
Beginning in 1972, he undertook fieldwork on Palm Island in Queensland for his master's thesis, where he undertook extensive interviews with a native informant, Alf Palmer, who happened to be the last fluent speaker of Warrungu, an Aboriginal language originally spoken in the upper reaches of the Herbert River, west of Tully He later wrote up his research to produce the standard grammar of the language, published in 2012. The language is important also for being one of less than 10 languages in the world, uniquely found in Northern Queensland, that embody the phenomenon of syntactic ergativity. On Palmer's death, Tsunoda, a Japanese, became the last speaker of the all but extinct Australian language, Warrungu.
Subsequently, Tsunoda pursued field work in the southern Kimberley region of Western Australia, where he mastered and wrote a grammar of Djaru.
On retirement from Tokyo University, he joined the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics. He has returned on occasion to Palm Island as a guest of the Australian Literacy & Numeracy Foundation in order to help children learn some Warrungu and assist in attempts to revive the language. He has provided the community with translations of classic children's books such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Worrongo tales.

Publications