Louward Allen Zubiri
Louward Allen Zubiri joined Yale University in 2025 as Lector in Filipino and a member of the Council on Southeast Asia Studies (CSEAS). He holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics and a Graduate Certificate in Multilingual Multicultural Professional Practice from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. His research focuses on the description, documentation, acquisition, and revitalization of Austronesian languages and writing systems, with particular emphasis on the Philippines. He has conducted fieldwork across the archipelago and works closely with Indigenous Cultural Communities, especially the Mangyans of Mindoro.
Dr. Zubiri’s current research examines child-directed and child speech among emergent multilinguals in endangered and heritage language contexts. Combining ethnographic and experimental approaches, he investigates intergenerational language transmission, language development, and multilingual practices. His work has been presented and published internationally, earning him several honors, including the 2024 University of Hawaiʻi Excellence in Research Award, the Teresita Ramos Endowment for Philippine Languages, Literature, and Culture, and a Sharing Language Diversity Fellowship from the Endangered Language Fund. He was also an invited panelist at the Library of Congress event, "Mangyan Scripts, Literary Heritage, and Collections."
Dr. Zubiri brings extensive experience in both institutional and community settings. In the Philippines, he was affiliated with the University of the Philippines Diliman, where he taught various linguistics courses and collaborated with the Commission on the Filipino Language and the Philippine Department of Education on language policy, curriculum development, and mother-tongue-based multilingual education. He has also partnered with local and international NGOs on community development and cultural heritage projects. As a field linguist, he has worked closely with multiple Indigenous Cultural Communities across the Philippines on Indigenous education and language revitalization initiatives.
In North America, he served as the inaugural Filipino Coordinator at the University of Victoria under the Canadian Southeast Asian (SEA) Initiative, leading the design and launch of a Filipino language program serving multiple Canadian universities. At the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, he taught courses such as Introduction to Language Studies and Languages of Hawaiʻi and the Pacific in the Department of Linguistics, as well as Filipino language and Indo-Pacific culture courses in the Department of Indo-Pacific Languages and Literatures. While in Hawaiʻi, he also contributed to Ethnic Education Hawaiʻi and the Filipino Curriculum Project, a student-led, community-driven initiative aimed at strengthening Philippine Studies in local schools.
At Yale, Dr. Zubiri teaches Filipino language courses and mentors students interested in heritage language education, Austronesian linguistics, and Philippine Studies. He remains active in community-based educational initiatives and continues to develop pedagogical materials grounded in Indigenous knowledge systems and multicultural, multilingual practices.