{{Short description|French linguist (1939–2023)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}} {{Infobox academic | name = Gérard Diffloth | image = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1939|02|13}} | birth_place = Châteauroux, France | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2023|08|14|1939|02|13}} | death_place = Surin, Thailand | occupation = Linguist | partner = Wongjaroen "Som" Somruan<ref>{{cite book|title=Austroasiatic Linguistics, in honour of Gérard Diffloth (1939-2023)|editor-first=Paul|editor-last=Sidwell|location=Chiang Mai|publisher=Myanmar Center, Faculty of Humanities, Chiang Mai University|date=2024|url=https://icaal.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/AA-Linguistics-in-Honour-of-Gerard-DIffloth-2024.pdf}}</ref> | alma_mater = University of California, Los Angeles | influences = | workplaces = EFEO | main_interests = Austroasiatic languages | notable_works = | notable_ideas = | influenced = | signature = | signature_size = | footnotes = }}
'''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.<ref>Diffloth, Gérard. 2001. Les expressifs de Surin, et où cela conduit. ''Bulletin de l’Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient'' 88(1). 261–269. {{doi|10.3406/befeo.2001.3516}} Page 262</ref>
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''.<ref>[http://www.mksjournal.org/editors.html ''Mon–Khmer Studies Journal'' editors] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107023314/http://www.mksjournal.org/editors.html |date=7 January 2009 }}.</ref>
Gérard Diffloth died on 14 August 2023, at the age of 84, in Surin, Thailand.<ref>{{cite web |title=Death of Gérard Diffloth (1939 – 2023) |url=https://www.efeo.fr/articles.php?l=EN&event=2424 |website=EFEO |access-date=27 August 2023}}</ref>
==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. {{ISBN|974-563-783-1}} * 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.
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Diffloth, Gerard}} Category:1939 births Category:2023 deaths Category:University of Chicago faculty Category:Cornell University faculty Category:UCLA College of Letters and Science alumni Category:Linguists of Austroasiatic languages Category:Historical linguists Category:People from Châteauroux Category:Linguists of Munda languages Category:Linguists from France Category:People from Indre