Robbins Burling (April 18, 1926 – January 2, 2021) was an American professor of

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

and

sociolinguistics Sociolinguistics is the descriptive, scientific study of how language is shaped by, and used differently within, any given society. The field largely looks at how a language changes between distinct social groups, as well as how it varies unde ...

Early life and career

Burling was born in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

to Dr. F. Temple and Katherine White Burling, and was the eldest of three siblings. He received his undergraduate degree from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

in 1950 and his Ph.D. in Anthropology from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1958. His teaching career began as a teaching fellow in Anthropology at Harvard University in the fall of 1953, the spring of 1954 and the spring of 1957. Burling was an instructor at the Department of Anthropology at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

from 1957-1959. He became an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Pennsylvania from 1959-1963. From 1959-1963 he was the Assistant Curator of General Ethnology at the University Museum. From 1959-1960, Burling was a visiting lecturer, Fulbright Program, in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the

University of Rangoon The University of Yangon (also Yangon University; , ; formerly Rangoon College, University of Rangoon and Rangoon Arts and Sciences University), located in Kamayut, Yangon, is the oldest university in Myanmar's modern education system and the b ...

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

. He became an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Associate of the Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

from 1966-1995. Dr. Burling was professor emeritus of Anthropology and Linguistics at the University of Michigan. Burling specialized in language, human evolution and comprehension in communication. He has researched extensively in

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Books

His books include ''Hill Farms and Padi Fields: Life in Mainland Southeast Asia'', ''English in Black and White'', ''The Passage of Power: Studies in Political Succession,'' ''The Strong Women of Madhupur'' (1997) and ''The Talking Ape: How Language Evolved''.

Festschrift

On the occasion of Robbins Burling's 90th birthday,
Festschrift
was presented to him following his plenary lecture at the 8th International Conference of the North East Indian Linguistics Society (NEILS) at Tezpur University in Assam, India. The editors' introduction contains a longer overview of Burling's life and work, as well as a comprehensive bibliography of Burling's publications (as of 2015).

Personal life

Shortly after finishing college, Burling married Sibyl (née Straub). Together they had three children: Stephen, Helen (Nono), and Adele. On January 2, 2021, Burling died at the age of 94 in his home in

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

Early life and career

Books

Festschrift

Personal life

References

External links