Research areas:
- Language contact (Louisiana French, Welsh, Breton)
- Lexicology and lexicography
- Pidgins and creoles
- Minority, regional and endangered languages
Most of my research involves three different settings where an endangered minority language is in intense contact with a socially dominant world language: Louisiana French and English, Welsh and English, and Breton and French. I am especially interested in contact-induced structural and grammatical change, such as the question of how a language's typological profile with respect to the expression of motion events (Talmy 1985) may be influenced by intense contact with a language of a different profile. I am also interested in the lexicography of minority languages, and currently I am working on an etymological/historical dictionary of Louisiana French.
At the graduate level I teach courses on language contact, lexicography, the structure of Breton, pidgin and creole linguistics, and Applied French linguistics, and I have occasionally taught Welsh through European Studies. Other interests include French historical linguistics and dialectology.
Other interests include French historical linguistics and dialectology
Research Interests: language contact (Louisiana French, Welsh, Breton); lexicography; pidgins and creoles; endangered languages
