Blust est notamment connu pour ses travaux sur les langues austronésiennes. Il a également réalisé un vaste dictionnaire comparatif austronésien (Blust 1995c) ainsi qu'un dictionnaire thao-anglais (Blust 2003b).
1977. "The Proto-Austronesian pronouns and Austronesian subgrouping: a preliminary report". University of Hawai‘i Working Papers in Linguistics 9.2: 1–15.
1988. Austronesian Root Theory: An Essay on the Limits of Morphology. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
1993. "*S metathesis and the Formosan/Malayo-Polynesian language boundary". In Oyvind Dahl, ed., Language — a doorway between human cultures: tributes to Dr. Otto Chr. Dahl on his ninetieth birthday, 178–183. Oslo, Novus.
1995a. "The position of the Formosan languages: method and theory in Austronesian comparative linguistics". In Paul Jen-kuei Li et al., eds., Austronesian Studies Relating to Taiwan: 585—650. Symposium Series of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, No. 3. Taipei: Academia Sinica.
1995b. Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (ACD). Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.
1996. "Some remarks on the linguistic position of Thao". Oceanic Linguistics 35: 272–294.
1999. "Pazeh phonology and morphology". Oceanic Linguistics 38.2: 321–365.
2003a. "Three notes on early Austronesian morphology". Oceanic Linguistics, 42.2: 438–478.
2003b. Thao dictionary. Language and Linguistics Monograph Series, No. A5. Taipei: Institute of Linguistics (Preparatory Office), Academia Sinica.
2003c. A short morphology, phonology and vocabulary of Kiput, Sarawak. Shorter Grammars. Pacific Linguistics 546. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University.
2005. "Must sound change be linguistically motivated?" Diachronica 22: 219–269.
2006. "The origin of the Kelabit voiced aspirates: a historical hypothesis revisited". Oceanic Linguistics 45.2: 311–338.
Zeitoun, Eliabeth (2007). Three Western scholars' contributions to Formosan linguistics. Paper presented at "The International Conference for the 100th anniversary of linguistics in Taiwan: In honor of the linguistics pioneer Professor Naoyosi Ogawa". 8-9 September 2007. National Taichung University, Taichung, Taiwan ROC.