Publications
The following is a selected list of my publications:Peer-reviewed articles
- Sims, Nathaniel A. (2025b) Tonoexodus in Rma. Diachronica 42(2), 298-249. https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.22017.sim
- Sims, Nathaniel A. (2025a) Labialized onsets in Rma. 語言暨語言學 Language & Linguistics. 26(2), 294-322. https://doi.org/10.1075/lali.00185.sim.sim
- Sims, Nathaniel A. (2024b) Methodological issues in Rma etymology. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 87(2), 357-374. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X24000211
- Nathaniel A. Sims, Bai Jianqiong*, Ludwig Adisiswoyo. (2024a) Voice onset time in Rma. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 47(1), 17-31. https://doi.org/10.1075/ltba.23008.sim
- Sims, Nathaniel A. (2023c) Le mouvement associé en rma, une langue sino-tibétaine. Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de Paris. 118(1), 18 pp. https://doi.org/10.2143/BSL.118.1.3292786
- Sims, Nathaniel A. (2023b) Vowel harmony in Rma: a diachronic account. Folia Linguistica Historica 44(1), 38pp. https://doi.org/10.1515/flin-2023-2023
- 2020 Le préfixe de l’aspect continu en Rma. Panchronica, https://panchr.hypotheses.org/3309
- Sims, Nathaniel A. (2023a) A linguistic analysis of Hodgson’s ‘Thochu’. Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale 52(1), 50pp. https://doi.org/10.1163/19606028-bja10030
- Sims, Nathaniel A. (2022c). Tone and vowel uvularity in Rma. Cahiers de Linguistique Asie Orientale. 51(2), 209–222. https://doi.org/10.1163/19606028-bja10026
- Sims, Nathaniel A. (2022b). ‘You and me against the world’: Direct-inverse morphology in Northwestern Rma. Bulletin of School of Oriental and African Studies. 85(1): 99-110. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X22000295
- Genetti, Carol, Kristine Hildebrandt, Nathaniel A. Sims, & Alexia Z. Fawcett (2022a). Direction and associated motion in Tibeto-Burman. Linguistic Typology. https://doi.org/10.1515/lingty-2020-2064
- Sims, Nathaniel A. (2021b). Tonogenesis in three Northeastern Himalayan languages. Transactions of the Philological Society. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-968X.12204
- List, Johann-Mattis, Nathaniel A. Sims, & Robert Forkel (2021a). Towards a sustainable handling of inter-linear-glossed text in language documentation. Association for Computing Machinery Transactions on Asian and Low-Resource Language Information Processing 19:1-15. http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/nppg-x393
- Sims, Nathaniel A. (2020). Reconsidering the diachrony of tone in Rma. Journal of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society. 13(1): 53-80. http://hdl.handle.net/10524/52460
- Sims, Nathaniel A. & Carol Genetti (2017). The grammatical encoding of space in Yonghe Qiang. Himalayan Linguistics 16(1): 99-140. https://doi.org/10.5070/H916130636
- Sims, Nathaniel A. (2016). Towards a More Comprehensive Understanding of Qiang Dialectology. Language and Linguistics, 17(3): 351-381. https://doi.org/10.1177/1606822X15586685
- Sims, Nathaniel A. (2014). A Phonology and Lexicon of the Yonghe Variety of Qiang. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 37(1): 34-74. https://doi.org/10.1075/ltba.37.1.02sim
Book Chapters
- Lai Yunfan & Sims, Nathaniel A. (to appear). Eastern Tibeto-Burman (or Burmo-Qiangic). In Hildebrandt & Suzuki eds. The Oxford Guide to Tibeto-Burman Languages. Oxford University Press.
Book Reviews
- Sims, Nathaniel A. (2017). Review of A Grammar of Prinmi. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 80(2): 411-412. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X17000684
Other publications
- 2024. CHAN Eiso 陈永聪; JIANG Kushim 姜兆勤; WEI Jiuqiao 魏久乔, Wei, Nathaniel A. Sims 陈德宁. Proposal to encode the Rma script to UCS. https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2022/22130-rma-script.pdf
- 2022. CHAN Eiso 陈永聪; WEI Jiuqiao 魏久乔, Wei, Nathaniel A. Sims 陈德宁. Preliminary proposal to encode the Rma script to UCS https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2022/22130-rma-script.pdf
- 2021. Linn, Mary S. & Nathaniel A. Sims Sino-Tibetan Language Research Methodology Workshop. https://folklife.si.edu/sino-tibetan-languagesSmithsonian Folklife Magazine
- 2021 'In Their Own Words': The Himalayan Languages of Sichuan Workshop. Smithsonian Folklife Magazine https://folklife.si.edu/magazine/own-words-himalayan-languages-sichuan
- 2020 Le préfixe de l’aspect continu en Rma. Panchronica, https://panchr.hypotheses.org/3309
- 2016. Report on the Workshop on Recent Advances in Chinese Historical Phonology. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 39(1): 177-178, https://dx.doi.org/10.1075/ltba.39.1.08sim
- 2011. Vowel harmony in Qiang: An Optimality Theoretic Account. ROA-1182 Rutgers Optimality Archive, http://roa.rutgers.edu/article/view/1269
Major Digital Archival Collections
Material culture in Heishui, Sichuan
Collection for the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Ralph Rinzler Archives as part of a larger Tibetan Nomad Material Culture Documentation project.
The collection contains 57 images, 575 video files: approximately 86 hours of audio-video recordings. Recordings include traditional practices of saddle making, iron smithing, carpentry, and weaving.
Documentation of Yonghe Qiang language and culture
Language documentation archival deposit. The Endangered Languages Archive. SOAS, London. 45 hours of audio-video recordings.
Workshops Organized
The Himalayan Languages of Sichuan Workshop
The goal of the workshop, co-sponsored by the Smithsonian Language Vitality Initiative, is to give native speakers of minoritized languages of Sichuan access to documentary linguistic methods courses in an accessible language to foster interest in language documentation and revitalization through the funding of pilot projects. Since 2020, the workshop has trained 145 students and supported seven pilot projects by native speakers of Stau, Rma, Queyu, and Rgyalrong which has resulted in 21 hours of audio and video recordings.
Workshop flyers in various languages of Sichuan (Rma/Qiang, Chinese, Tibetan, and Nosu) are given below.
Reports
- Sims, Nathaniel A. (2021) In Their Own Words: The Himalayan Languages of Sichuan Workshop. Smithsonian Folklife Magazine https://folklife.si.edu/magazine/own-words-himalayan-languages-sichuan
- Sims, Nathaniel A. (2016). Report on the Workshop on Recent Advances in Chinese Historical Phonology. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area 39(1): 177-178. https://dx.doi.org/10.1075/ltba.39.1.08sim
Invited guest posts
- Sims, Nathaniel A. (2020). “Le préfixe de l’aspect continu en Rma” Panchronica, 17/11/2020, https://panchr.hypotheses.org/3309 (ISSN 2494-775X)