About
EMPLOYMENT
1989-present Professor of Linguistics, University of Michigan.
1987 Visiting Associate Professor of Linguistics, University of Michigan.
1982-85 Associate Professor of Linguistics, Harvard.
1977-1982 Assistant Professor of Linguistics, Harvard.
1973-77 Research Fellow, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.
EXTERNAL FELLOWSHIPS
1988-89 Alexander von Humboldt Fellow, attached to Orientalishes Seminar, Universitt zu Kln, West Germany.
1986 Fulbright Research Fellow, Islamic Civilization Program; research in Morocco, Mauritania, Mali, and Tunisia.
1983Invited scholar, Hebrew University; one month.
1981 National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow.
1981 Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, study visit in Hamburg and Berlin.
PUBLICATIONS
Books on Songhay languages of West Africa
Grammar of Koyraboro (Koroboro) Senni, the Songhay of Gao. Cologne: Rdiger Kppe Verlag, pp. 403, 1999.
A Grammar of Koyra Chiini, the Songhay of Timbuktu. Mouton de Gruyter: Mouton Grammar Series, pp. xv, 453, 1998.
Texts in Koyra Chiini, Songhay of Timbuktu, Mali. (Wortkunst und Dokumentartexte in afrikanischen Sprachen, 5) Cologne: Rdiger Kppe Verlag, pp. viii, 389, 1998 (facing English translations; material from Gao and Bamba).
Texts in Korobora Senni, Songhay of Gao, Mali. (Wortkunst und Dokumentartexte in afrikanischen Sprachen, 6) Cologne: Rdiger Kppe Verlag, pp. viii, 283, 1988 (facing English translations; material from Gao and Bamba).
Dictionnaire Songhay-Anglais-Franais. Paris: lHarmattan. Vol. 1: Koyra Chiini, pp. 264. Vol. 2: Djenne Chiini, pp. 202. vol. 3: Koroboro Senni, pp. 344. 1998.
Books on Arabic
In preparation. Jewish and Muslim Dialects or Moroccan Arabic. London: Curzon.
Ablaut and Ambiguity: Phonology of a Moroccan Arabic Dialect. Albany: State University of New York Press, pp. 366, 1987.
Books on Australian Aboriginal Languages
Functional Grammar of Nunggubuyu. Canberra: AIAS, pp. 664, 1984.
Nunggubuyu Dictionary. Canberra: AIAS, pp. 399, 1982.
Basic Materials in Mara: Grammar, Texts, and Dictionary. Pacific Linguistics C-60. Canberra: Australian National University, pp. 522, 1981.
Dhuwal (Arnhem Land) Texts on Kinship and Other Subjects, with Grammatical Sketch andDictionary. Oceana Linguistic Monographs, 23. Sydney: University of Sydney, pp. 241, 1980.
Nunggubuyu Myths and Ethnographic Texts. Canberra: AIAS, pp. 556, 1980.
Basic Material in Warndarang: Grammar, Texts, and Dictionary. Pacific Linguistics, C-60. Canberra: Australian National University, pp. 174, 1980.
Basic Materials in Ritharngu: Grammar, Texts, and Dictionary. Pacific Linguistics B-62. Canberra: Australian National University, pp. 249, 1980.
Ngandi Grammar, Texts, and Dictionary. Canberra: AIAS, pp. 297, 1978.
Books on language-contact phenomena
From Code-Switching to Borrowing: A Case Study of Moroccan Arabic. (Library of Arabic Linguistics, 9) London and New York: Kegan Paul International, pp. 328, 1989.
Linguistic Diffusion in Arnhem Land. Canberra: AIAS, pp. 146, 1978.
Edited book
J. Heath, F. Merlan, and A. Rumsey, eds. Languages of Kinship in Aboriginal Australia. Oceania Linguistic Monographs, 24. Sydney: University of Sydney, 1982.
Articles and reviews
Some forty published book notes, reviews, and review articles.
Some fifty published articles including the following:
Sino-Moroccan citrus: borrowing as a natural linguistic experiment, in Lutz Erhard and Mohammed Nekroumi, eds., Tradition und Innovation: Norm and Deviation in Arabic and Semitic Linguistics, 168-76, Weisbaden: Harrassowitz, 1999.
Hermit crabs: formal renewal of morphology by phonologically mediated affix substitution, Language 74: 728-59, 1998.
Sex, sound symbolism, and sociolinguistics, (with Matthew Gordon) Current Anthropology 39: 421-49, 1998.
Pragmatic skewing in 1< - >2 pronominal combinations in American Indian languages, International Journal of American Linguistics 64: 83-104, 1998.
Moroccan Arabic phonology, in Alan Kaye, ed., Phonologies of Africa and Asia. Vol. 1, pp. 205-18. Winona Lake In: Eisenbrauns. 1997
Lost wax: abrupt replacement of key morphemes in Australian agreement complexes, Diachronica 14.2.197-232, 1997.
Pragmatic disguise in pronominal-affix paradigms, in Frans Plank, ed., Paradigms: The Economy of Inflection, 75-89. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. 1991.
Lexicon, in Ulrich Ammon et al., eds., Sociolinguistics: An International Handbook/ Soziolinguistik: Ein internationals Handbuch, 1153-63. Berlin and New York: De Gruyter. 1988.
Syntactic and lexical aspects of nonconfigurationality in Nunggubuyu (Australia), Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 4: 375-408, 1986.
Language contact and language change, Annual Review of Anthropology 1984, 367-84. Palo Alto: Annual Reviews, Inc. 1984.
A case of intensive lexical diffusion: Arnhem Land, Australia, Language 57: 335-67, 1981.
Some functional relationship in grammar, Language 51: 89-104, 1975.
