Welcome to my website. I have divided the information in this Home Page into sections with basic information.

Academic

I am currently Presidential Professor Emeritus at the City University of New York (CUNY). Within CUNY, I was at City College (Anthropology Department) and The Graduate Center, where I was a doctoral faculty member of both the Linguistics and the Anthropology Programs. At City College, I was chair of the Anthropology Department for many years and also Director of the Black Studies Program.

From 2007-2009 I served as President of the Society for Pidgin and Creole Linguistics. 

Education

I earned my Ph.D. in Linguistics in 1977 from the University of California, San Diego. The Ph.D. was immediately after my M.A. in Linguistics from Northwestern University.  Prior to that, I received an M.A. with Distinction in International Relations from The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). My undergraduate degree is from the University of Kansas, a B.A. with a triple major in French (Honors), Spanish, and Political Science.

Research

My research spans linguistic anthropology and sociolinguistics; pidgins/creoles and language contact; grammatical analysis; race and ethnicity; and ideology and decoloniality. Additionally, I have done research on the use of obscenity, including the N-word and other controversial aspects of language and symbolism. The languages I specialize in are African American English and Haitian Creole; and, I have fluency in my working languages: English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. I am honored to be one of the few U.S. State Department certified contract interpreters in four languages (certification in one’s native language, English in my case, is not a given).

Publications

Among my books and journal special issues are Language and White Supremacy (co-editor, special issue of Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, 2021), Languages and Dialects in the U.S.: Focus on Diversity and Linguistics (co-editor, 2014); The Haitian Creole Language: History, Structure, Use, and Education (co-editor, 2010); Language, Inequality, and Endangerment: African Americans and Native Americans (editor, special issue of Transforming Anthropology, 2010); Black Linguistics: Language, Society, and Politics in Africa and the Americas (co-editor, 2003); Race and Ideology: Language, Symbolism, and Popular Culture (editor, 1999); and The Structure and Status of Pidgins and Creoles (co-editor, 1997).

My academic publications have appeared in several journals: Language, Language in Society, Journal of Pidgin and Creole Linguistics, Transforming Anthropology, American Speech, Études Créoles, Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, and the Anthropology and Education Quarterly.

Editorial

One of the projects I am particularly proud of and enjoyed the most was founding and serving as first editor of Transforming Anthropology, the journal of the Association of Black Anthropologists (ABA), a unit of the American Anthropological Association. I served also as the ABA’s general editor for two terms. In that capacity, I oversaw all of the ABA’s publications. 

I have been a member of the editorial boards of several linguistics journals­­­—Language, Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages, and American Speech—and am currently on of the Editorial Board of the Oxford [University Press] Studies in Language and Race. 

Consulting and Public Service

I have consulted as a legal expert in federal and other court cases involving race, speech analysis, and the use of controversial words and symbolism. These cases have almost all involved African American English speakers, most of whom have been caught up in heartbreaking situations. Bringing my expertise to bear in helping them has been among the most rewarding events in my life.

Media and Documentary Films

Believing in the importance of disseminating scholarship, I have presented information connected with my areas of specialization through media appearances—the British Broadcasting Corporation (“The Story of English”), Réseau France Outre-Mer (Groupe France Télévisions), Black Entertainment Television, Gil Noble’s current events talk show on ABC, National Public Radio, WBAI, and Inner City Broadcasting’s WLIB, among other media organizations. Some of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my career have been my involvement as Associate Producer of the documentaries “Talking Black in America: The Story of African American Language,” 2017; “Signing Black in America: The Story of Black American Sign Language,” 2018; and “Talking Black in America: Performance,” 2022. (For all three documentaries, Walt Wolfram was the Executive Producer, Neal Hutcheson and Danica Cullinan Producers and Directors; Raleigh, NC, Language and Life Project.) 

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For personal information, you can access my brief biography in The African American National Biography (edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Oxford University Press).

Please refer to CV for contact information.