Kenneth Van Bik
Assistant Professor
Biography
Ken grew up in Hakha, Chin State, Myanmar (Burma), and was the fourth son of a Bible translator (Rev. Dr. David Van Bik) and a primary school teacher (Mabel Zo Kai). He went to a high school in Yangon (formerly known as St. John Diocesan Boys School), and continued his college education at Yangon University where he graduated with a B.S. Degree in Physics. Afterwards, Ken pursued a theological education at Myanmar Institute of Theology in Yangon, American Baptist Seminary of the West in Berkeley, CA, and the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley. While he was at the GTU, he had an opportunity to work with Berkeley linguist Prof. James A. Matisoff and become convinced that he was more interested in linguistics than theology. Ken went on to study linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned a Ph.D. His dissertation was about the historical aspect of the Chin languages, reconstructing a hypothetical ancestor-language of the modern Chin languages, and the analysis of how Chin languages are related to one another. Ken has taught in the Department of Linguistics and Language Development at San Jose State University for several years, and he was an adjunct professor in the Department of Education at the University of San Francisco.
Degrees
Ph.D. 2006 Linguistics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
M.A. 2000 Linguistics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
M.A. 1993 Religion, American Baptist Seminary of the West, Berkeley
B.D. 1991 Theology, Myanmar Institute of Theology, Yangon, Myanmar
B.S. 1985 Physics, University of Yangon, Myanmar
Research Areas
Historical-comparative linguistics, morphology, lexicography, Tibeto-Burman linguistics, sociolinguistics, and second language acquisition.
Courses Regularly Taught
Language and Linguistics, Historical Linguistics, English as a Global Language
Publications
Van Bik, K. (2021). Typological profile of Kuki-Chin languages. In P. Sidwell & M. Jenny (Eds.), The Languages and Linguistics of Mainland Southeast Asia: A comprehensive guide (pp. 369-402). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110558142-019
Van Bik, K. (2020). The origin of the causative and simulative suffix -ter in Hakha Lai and Falam Chin. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area.Vol.43.2. https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/ltba.19016.bik
Van Bik, Kenneth, and Thlasui Tluangneh. (2017). Directional Pre-verbal Particles in Hakha Lai. Himalayan Linguistics 16.1 (http://escholarship.org/uc/item/26d535zr).
Van Bik, Kenneth (Ed.). (2015). Continuum of the Richness of Languages and Dialects in Myanmar. Published by Chin Human Rights Organization, Yangon, Myanmar.
Van Bik, Kenneth. (2010). The Syntax of Psycho-collocaltion in Hakha Lai. Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area, Volume 33.2:137-150.
Van Bik, Kenneth. (2009). Proto-Kuki-Chin: A Reconstructed Ancestor of the Kuki-Chin Languages. STEDT Monograph Series: University of California at Berkeley.
Van Bik, Kenneth. (2007). The Chin. In Donald A. Ranard and Sandy Barron (eds.), Refugees From Burma, Their Backgrounds and Refugee Experiences. WashingtonD.C. CAL.
Van Bik, Kenneth. (2004). Junctural and parasitic voicing in Burmese. In Pawel M. Nowak, CoreyYoquelet, and David Mortenson (eds.), Proceedings of the 29th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistic Society. Berkeley, CA.
Grants & Special Projects
Spring 2022 The Gregory, Cheryl, and Kathryn Wirzbicki Fund for Student-Faculty Research and Creative Activity Award, Department of English, Comp.Lit., and Linguistics, CSUF.
Fall 2019 National Science Foundation (NSF)-Documentation of Endangered Languages (DEL): Collaborative Research: Using the structure of verbal complexes to assess linguistic relationships. (Grant Period: September 1, 2019 - February 28, 2023). Amount Awarded to CSUF (August 14, 2019): $164,724.00. With David A. Peterson, Dartmouth College, NH.
Fall 2018 Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity (RSCA): Documentation of an endangered language, Lamtuk. Amount Awarded (Deccember 14, 2018): $14,983.00.
Office Hours
Fall 2025
To be announced
