• 1978. The Proto-Oceanic palatals.  Memoir 43, The Polynesian Society.  Wellington, 183pp.

• 1988. Austronesian root theory: an essay on the limits of morphology. Amsterdam, John Benjamins. 190pp.

• 2003. Thao dictionary.  Language and Linguistics Monograph Series A5.  Institute of Linguistics (Preparatory Office), Academia Sinica.  Taipei: Academia Sinica.  1,106pp.

 

[NOTE: Based on work with two of the last 15 speakers of a language which is the only surviving member of a primary branch of the entire Austronesian language family --- comparable to the last Germanic, Slavic or Romance language].

​

• 2003. A short morphology, phonology and vocabulary of Kiput, Sarawak.  Canberra: Pacific Linguistics (PL 546).  102pp.

• 2009/2013.  The Austronesian languages.  Canberra: Pacific Linguistics (PL 602).  824pp. 2nd rev. ed. 2013.  Berlin: de Gruyter-Mouton.  851pp.

 

[NOTE: Reviewed in LANGUAGE (the journal of the Linguistic Society of America) in March, 2017 (Lg. 93.1:220-239), where it is stated: “AL is superficially daunting --- 845 large pages!  But it is written and organized clearly, reads easily, and will be the standard reference for work on Austronesian (AN) languages for generations to come.  Indeed, AL is unlikely to ever be superseded.”]

 

• 2014. (With Alexander D. Smith).  A bibliography of the languages of Borneo (and Madagascar).   Borneo Research Council Reference Series No. 2.  Philipps, Maine: Borneo Research Council, Inc. 218 pp.

• 2018. 101 problems and solutions in historical linguistics: a workbook.  (With the editorial assistance of Hsiu-chuan Liao). 512pp.  Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press

• Waiting. The dragon and the rainbow: a chapter in the history of ideas.  Ms., 295pp.  Submitted to the University of Chicago Press.