I am the chair of the Graduate Group in Linguistics. For information about applying to the graduate program, visit our applications page. For the undergraduate program in Linguistics, contact Prof. Florian Schwarz.

The best way to reach me is by email; be sure to include an informative subject header, or your message may be deleted with the morning spam. The simplest address is ling as shown above, but I will also receive email sent to babel.ling, sas, and facstaff.sas within the upenn.edu domain.

Courses

Research Interests

I am interested in formal approaches to phonology, especially metrical and syllable structure; the interaction of phonology and morphological structure; the relation of phonetic and functional explanation to phonological theory; and the expression of the categories of spoken language in the world's writing systems. Much of my research focuses on Kashaya, a Native American language of northern California.

You can view my curriculum vitae, which has links to pdf files of papers and handouts for downloading. (It is updated at irregular intervals.)

Assorted Links

Linguistics and related academic interests

• Language Log
• The Linguist List
• The Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas
• National Museum of the American Indian

News and information

• Factcheck.org: Annenberg political fact check
• The Human Rights Campaign: gay and lesbian advocacy

Facts galore

• The Straight Dope by Cecil Adams
• How Stuff Works: just what it says
• Usenet FAQ Archive, for example the sci.lang linguistics FAQ

Humor

• This Modern World, a comic strip by Tom Tomorrow
• The Onion, on-line satire
• Animated irreverence with Family Guy and Archer