Photograph by Mónica Villalón

Research
My primary areas of research in linguistics are the phonology, morphology and sociolinguistics of Wolof, Pulaar and Seereer-Siin, three Atlantic (Niger-Congo) languages spoken in Senegal.  My current areas of investigation are:

             - language contact in urban Senegal
             - reduplication
             - ideophones and information structure

A secondary interest of mine is Islam and popular culture, especially popular music, in Senegal.


Selected publications:

2008. On the origins of urban Wolof: evidence from Louis Descemet's 1864 phrase book.  Language in Society                    37(5).
2008.  Senegal: the emergence of a national lingua franca.  Language and national identity in Africa.  In Andrew                        Simpson, ed.  Oxford: Oxford UP.  79-97.  2008.
2005.  Voiceless implosives in Seereer-Siin.  Journal of the International Phonetic Association 35:201-214.  2005.
2005. Reduplication and consonant mutation in the Northern Atlantic languages.  Studies on reduplication.  In Bernhard                Hurch, ed. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. 111-133.
2005.  On the theoretical status of base and reduplicant in Northern Atlantic.  In J. Mugane et al., eds.
           Selected proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference on African Linguistics.  Cascadilla Press.  169-180.
2004.  Is there an adjective class in Wolof?  Adjective classes: a cross-linguistic typology.  In R.M.W. Dixon &  Alexandra                Y. Aikhenvald, eds. Oxford: Oxford UP.  242-262.
2003.  Some theoretical consequences of phonological agreement in Wolof: REPEAT domains.  Typologie des  langues                 d'Afrique et universaux de la grammaire.  In Patric Sauzet & Anne Zribi-Hertz, eds.  Paris: L'Harmattan.
2001.  Dakar Wolof and the configuration of an urban identity.  Journal of African Cultural Studies 14:153-172. 
2001.  The give and take of fieldwork: noun classes and other concerns in Fatick, Senegal (with Thierno Seydou Sall).                  Paul Newman & Martha Ratliff, eds.  Linguistic fieldwork.  Cambridge UP:189-210.
2000.  Consonant mutation and reduplication in Seereer-Siin.  Phonology 17:333-363.
2000.  'In the name of God I will sing again, Mawdo Malik the good': popular music and the Senegalese Sufi tariqas.                  Journal of Religion in Africa 30:191-207.
1997.  Noun classification in Wolof: when affixes are not renewed.  Studies in African Linguistics 26:1-28.
1997.  Islam and popular music in Senegal: the emergence of a 'new tradition.' Africa 67:560-581.




I have translated a novel by Senegalese writer, Boubacar Boris Diop, from French to English:
Murambi, The Book of Bones.  Indiana University Press, 2006.  The translation was supported
by a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities.


Courses

Spring 2008
Morphology                     LIN 4400/6402
African Popular Culture   AFS 4930/ 6905

Fall 2007
Introduction to the Languages of Africa
Languages & Dialects

Spring 2007
Languages in Contact
Islam & African Literature






I am director of the University of Florida's 2008 Summer Intensive Arabic Program in Fez, Morocco
For more information click here:  UF in Fez