Roger Marsh Blench (born August 1, 1953) is a British

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

, ethnomusicologist and development anthropologist. He has an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

and is based in

Cambridge, England Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge became ...

. He researches, publishes, and works as a consultant.

Career

Blench is known for his wide-ranging interests and has made important contributions to

African linguistics The languages of Africa are divided into several major language families: * Niger–Congo or perhaps Atlantic–Congo languages (includes Bantu and non-Bantu, and possibly Mande and others) are spoken in West, Central, Southeast and Southern A ...

, Southeast Asian linguistics, anthropology, ethnomusicology, ethnobotany, and various other related fields. He has done significant research on the Niger–Congo, Nilo-Saharan, and

Afroasiatic The Afroasiatic languages (or Afro-Asiatic), also known as Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic, and sometimes also as Afrasian, Erythraean or Lisramic, are a language family of about 300 languages that are spoken predominantly in the geographic su ...

families, as well as the Arunachal languages. Additionally, Blench has published extensively on the relationship between linguistics and archaeology. Blench is currently engaged in a long-term project to document the languages of central

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. He has also carried out extensive research on the herder–farmer conflicts in Nigeria. Blench collaborated with the late Professor Kay Williamson, who died in January 2005, and is now a trustee of the Kay Williamson Educational Foundation, which exists both to publish the unpublished material left by Kay Williamson and to promote the study of

Nigerian languages There are over 525 native languages spoken in Nigeria. The Nigerian official language is English, the language of former colonial British Nigeria. As reported in 2003, Nigerian Pidgin was spoken as a second language by 60 million people in Nige ...

. A series of publications supported by the trust is under way with Rüdiger Köppe Verlag in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

. Blench has also conducted research and evaluations of international development activities worldwide, as a consultant and research fellow of the

Overseas Development Institute ODI (formerly the 'Overseas Development Institute') is a global affairs think tank, founded in 1960. Its mission is "to inspire people to act on injustice and inequality through collaborative research and ideas that matter for people and the ...

in London.Academic Curriculum Vitae
Roger Blench, January 2021.

Selected books

* * * * * * 2000. Blench, R. M. & MacDonald, K. C., eds. ''The Origin and Development of African Livestock.'' London: University College Press. * * * Sanchez-Mazas, Alicia; Blench, R. M. et al., eds. 2008. ''Human Migrations in Continental East Asia and Taiwan: matching archaeology, linguistics and genetics.'' London: Routledge.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blench, Roger Linguists from the United Kingdom Living people 1953 births Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge Paleolinguists British Africanists Linguists of Southeast Asian languages Linguists of Nilo-Saharan languages Linguists of Nilotic languages Linguists of Niger–Congo languages Linguists of Afroasiatic languages Linguists of Sino-Tibetan languages Linguists of Shompen Linguists of Hrusish languages Linguists of Vazimba 20th-century linguists 21st-century linguists