Linguistics Colloquium

Jack Martin is Chancellor Professor of English and Linguistics at the College of William and Mary. Dr. Jack Martin's research in language documentation includes fieldwork and creating dictionaries, grammars, and story collections. His work also focuses on language maintenance, such as literacy workshops, teacher training, and language textbooks, in addition to training new linguists.

He specializes in Native languages of the American South, particularly Muskogee (Creek), Miccosukee, Koasati, and Choctaw, conducting most fieldwork in eastern Oklahoma, south Florida, and western Louisiana. His collaborative efforts for Muskogee involved working with Margaret Mauldin, Juanita McGirt, Chumona Deere, and staff at the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and Seminole Nation’s Pumvhakv Immersion School. For Miccosukee, he worked with Carol Cypress, Virginia Tommie, Jeannette Cypress, and Mary Jene Koenes. His Koasati work included collaborations with Linda and Bertney Langley and the Coushatta Heritage Department. For Choctaw, he collaborated on a modern dictionary with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and edited Cyrus Byington’s Choctaw dictionary, starting oral history and lexicography work with the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians in 2020.

Maintaining websites for Muskogee, Koasati, and Choctaw, Dr. Martin examines unusual linguistic features to understand language structures better. He teaches courses at William & Mary and has taught at several other universities, including the University of Michigan and Rice University.