Window onto a Vanished World: Lahu texts from Thailand in the 1960’s

Book cover

James A. Matisoff. Edited by John B. Lowe and Charles Zhang

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.12794/sps.lahu-061-8


This extremely valuable collection of texts in the Lahu language represents the language and culture in the 1960’s, a time when the heritage language and culture were still vibrant and not yet globalized, hence the title Window onto a Vanished World. It is also one of the largest collections of texts in any Tibeto-Burman language. The texts are available as a book and online with the audio (originally from 1960’s magnetic tape). This is a massive achievement for all involved in the recording, conversion, and editing.

JAMES MATISOFF, professor emeritus at UC Berkeley, is globally the most respected scholar in Tibeto-Burman studies, and particularly known for his extensive life-long work on the Lahu language. JOHN LOWE earned his doctorate under Prof. Matisoff and is a computational linguist, librarian, and Tibeto-Burmanist. CHARLES ZHANG is a recent graduate from UC Berkeley in mathematics and linguistics and currently works in quantum computing.

978-1-68040-061-8
8.5×11. 1254 pp. Notes. Bib.
Typology (Linguistics).
May 2022

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