Professor, Linguistics/Middle East Studies
About
EDUCATION
A.B. summa cum laude, Linguistics and Arabic, Harvard, 1971.
M.A. 1973; Ph.D. with distinction, 1976, University of Chicago.
EMPLOYMENT
1989-present Professor of Linguistics, University of Michigan.
1987 Visiting Associate Professor of Linguistics, University of Michigan.
1982-85 Associate Professor of Linguistics, Harvard.
1977-1982 Assistant Professor of Linguistics, Harvard.
1973-77 Research Fellow, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.
EXTERNAL GRANTS and FELLOWSHIPS
National Science Foundation BCS-9816324 & National Endowment for the Humanities PA-23375 (jointly funded), Tamashek (Tuareg) language of Mali.
1995-97 National Endowment for the Humanities grant, Grammar-Test-Dictionaries of Songhay (Mali, West Africa).
1991-94 National Science Foundation grant BNS 9020409, Timbuktu-Djenne Songhay.
1988-89 Alexander von Humboldt Fellow, attached to Orientalishes Seminar, Universitt zu Kln, West Germany.
1986 Fulbright Research Fellow, Islamic Civilization Program; research in Morocco, Mauritania, Mali, and Tunisia.
1983Invited scholar, Hebrew University; one month.
1983-85 National Science Foundation grant BNS 82-19685, Judeo-Arabic Dialects of Morocco.
1982 National Science Foundation grant, Moroccan Arabic Phonology.
1981 National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow.
1981 Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, study visit in Hamburg and Berlin.
1979-81 National Science Foundation grant BNS 79-04779; Language Mixing in Moroccan Arabic.
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
AIDA (Association Internationale de la Dialectologie Arabe)
Linguistic Society of America
American Anthropological Association
Australian Linguistic Society
ADMINISTRATION and EDITING
1991-92 Acting Director, Linguistics Program, University of Michigan
1989-94 Associate Director, Linguistics Program, University of Michigan
1997-present Editorial board, Anthropological Linguistics
PUBLICATIONS
Books on Songhay languages of West Africa
Grammar of Koyraboro (Koroboro) Senni, the Songhay of Gao. Cologne: Rdiger Kppe Verlag, pp. 403, 1999.
A Grammar of Koyra Chiini, the Songhay of Timbuktu. Mouton de Gruyter: Mouton Grammar Series, pp. xv, 453, 1998.
Texts in Koyra Chiini, Songhay of Timbuktu, Mali. (Wortkunst und Dokumentartexte in afrikanischen Sprachen, 5) Cologne: Rdiger Kppe Verlag, pp. viii, 389, 1998 (facing English translations; material from Gao and Bamba).
Texts in Korobora Senni, Songhay of Gao, Mali. (Wortkunst und Dokumentartexte in afrikanischen Sprachen, 6) Cologne: Rdiger Kppe Verlag, pp. viii, 283, 1988 (facing English translations; material from Gao and Bamba).
Dictionnaire Songhay-Anglais-Franais. Paris: lHarmattan. Vol. 1: Koyra Chiini, pp. 264. Vol. 2: Djenne Chiini, pp. 202. vol. 3: Koroboro Senni, pp. 344. 1998.
Books on Arabic
In preparation. Jewish and Muslim Dialects or Moroccan Arabic. London: Curzon.
Ablaut and Ambiguity: Phonology of a Moroccan Arabic Dialect. Albany: State University of New York Press, pp. 366, 1987.
Books on Australian Aboriginal Languages
Functional Grammar of Nunggubuyu. Canberra: AIAS, pp. 664, 1984.
Nunggubuyu Dictionary. Canberra: AIAS, pp. 399, 1982.
Basic Materials in Mara: Grammar, Texts, and Dictionary. Pacific Linguistics C-60. Canberra: Australian National University, pp. 522, 1981.
Dhuwal (Arnhem Land) Texts on Kinship and Other Subjects, with Grammatical Sketch andDictionary. Oceana Linguistic Monographs, 23. Sydney: University of Sydney, pp. 241, 1980.
Nunggubuyu Myths and Ethnographic Texts. Canberra: AIAS, pp. 556, 1980.
Basic Material in Warndarang: Grammar, Texts, and Dictionary. Pacific Linguistics, C-60. Canberra: Australian National University, pp. 174, 1980.
Basic Materials in Ritharngu: Grammar, Texts, and Dictionary. Pacific Linguistics B-62. Canberra: Australian National University, pp. 249, 1980.
Ngandi Grammar, Texts, and Dictionary. Canberra: AIAS, pp. 297, 1978.
Books on language-contact phenomena
From Code-Switching to Borrowing: A Case Study of Moroccan Arabic. (Library of Arabic Linguistics, 9) London and New York: Kegan Paul International, pp. 328, 1989.
Linguistic Diffusion in Arnhem Land. Canberra: AIAS, pp. 146, 1978.
Edited book
J. Heath, F. Merlan, and A. Rumsey, eds. Languages of Kinship in Aboriginal Australia. Oceania Linguistic Monographs, 24. Sydney: University of Sydney, 1982.
Articles and reviews
Some forty published book notes, reviews, and review articles.
Some fifty published articles including the following:
Sino-Moroccan citrus: borrowing as a natural linguistic experiment, in Lutz Erhard and Mohammed Nekroumi, eds., Tradition und Innovation: Norm and Deviation in Arabic and Semitic Linguistics, 168-76, Weisbaden: Harrassowitz, 1999.
Hermit crabs: formal renewal of morphology by phonologically mediated affix substitution, Language 74: 728-59, 1998.
Sex, sound symbolism, and sociolinguistics, (with Matthew Gordon) Current Anthropology 39: 421-49, 1998.
Pragmatic skewing in 1< - >2 pronominal combinations in American Indian languages, International Journal of American Linguistics 64: 83-104, 1998.
Moroccan Arabic phonology, in Alan Kaye, ed., Phonologies of Africa and Asia. Vol. 1, pp. 205-18. Winona Lake In: Eisenbrauns. 1997
Lost wax: abrupt replacement of key morphemes in Australian agreement complexes, Diachronica 14.2.197-232, 1997.
Pragmatic disguise in pronominal-affix paradigms, in Frans Plank, ed., Paradigms: The Economy of Inflection, 75-89. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. 1991.
Lexicon, in Ulrich Ammon et al., eds., Sociolinguistics: An International Handbook/ Soziolinguistik: Ein internationals Handbuch, 1153-63. Berlin and New York: De Gruyter. 1988.
Syntactic and lexical aspects of nonconfigurationality in Nunggubuyu (Australia), Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 4: 375-408, 1986.
Language contact and language change, Annual Review of Anthropology 1984, 367-84. Palo Alto: Annual Reviews, Inc. 1984.
A case of intensive lexical diffusion: Arnhem Land, Australia, Language 57: 335-67, 1981.
Some functional relationship in grammar, Language 51: 89-104, 1975.
Field(s) of Study
- Morphology
- Prosody (tonosyntax, grammaticalized intonation)
- Cognitive linguistics, lexical semantics
- NW and W Africa (Dogon, Songhay, Tamashek, spoken Arabic)
- Language Contact
- Jokes, advertising