Larry Selinker, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics
1937–2026
Larry Selinker, professor emeritus of linguistics, passed away on Sunday, May 10, 2026, at the age of 89, after a rich life filled with language, family, and friends from across the world. Selinker was a preeminent second language acquisition scholar of the 20th century. His early research changed the field of second language acquisition in fundamental ways.
Larry Selinker was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1937 as the son of printer Solomon Selinker and his wife Miriam Fabricant Selinker. Larry’s commitment to community was exemplified early in his adult life through his service in the Rhode Island Air National Guard. He earned a bachelor’s degree in near eastern studies from Brandeis University (1959), and a master’s degree in linguistics from the American University (1960). He completed doctoral studies in linguistics at Georgetown University (1966) with a dissertation, titled A Psycholinguistic Study of Transfer, that contained many of the ideas that would later inform his influential theoretical contributions to second language acquisition.
Selinker started his academic career as assistant professor of linguistics and director of English for foreign students at the University of Washington in 1966. After a decade at Washington, he was on faculty at San Jose State University from 1976-77 before joining the University of Michigan in 1977 as professor of linguistics and director of the English Language Institute. Over the next 16 years at Michigan he did some of the most impactful research of his career, and helped establish the University of Michigan as an important center for the study of second language acquisition. He created and regularly taught a freshman course, “The Good and Bad Language Learner”, which consistently drew large enrollments and attracted many students to linguistics. After retiring from Michigan in 1993 as professor emeritus of linguistics, he served as professor of applied linguistics at the University of London Birkbeck until 2002, followed by three years at New York University until his retirement from there in 2005. During his career he also received three Fulbright fellowships that gave him the opportunity to spend a year each at the University of Edinburgh, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and University of Kassel.
In linguistics, Larry is most well known for the concept of “interlanguage”, according to which second-language learners adhere to specific rules that are different from those of the native language and the target language. Although many aspects of the concept of interlanguage were already present in his 1966 dissertation, it was his influential 1972 article titled “Interlanguage” (International Review of Applied Linguistics) that brought the concept to broader attention in second language studies, and that has impacted the research in this field ever since. The paper also introduced the concept of fossilization, when adult language learners cease to progress toward native-like fluency, regardless of continued exposure to the target language. With over 15,000 citations, this is one of the most highly cited papers in linguistics. Larry spent the rest of his career developing this idea further, and published an updated and expanded version in his 1992 monograph Rediscovering Interlanguage. In 1994 he co-authored with Susan Gass the popular introductory textbook Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory Course, which has been widely used in the field.
Larry had many passions that extended beyond his commitment to linguistics. He was particularly passionate about New York City where he and his wife, Sonia Rocca, lived since 2002. He loved strolls through Central Park and was an avid supporter of New York’s many art museums. Two other loves included good food (especially Italian) and good music. He had a particular appreciation for and deep knowledge of swing, blues, and all jazz styles.
Larry Selinker is survived by his wife, language educator Sonia Rocca; his son, game designer Mike Selinker; and his sister, Lea Schneider.
