Linguists who work on AAL
On this page, we highlight Black linguists who have contributed to the study of African American Language in the United States. Some have worked on AAL in the variationist sociolinguistic paradigm, while others focus on educational or psycholinguistic questions. This list is not meant to be exhaustive. At the bottom of the page, we include an In Memoriam section.
If you have a suggestion for an addition, or if you are on this list and want to be removed, please contact us at OnlineResourcesAAL@gmail.com.
H. Samy Alim
David O. Sears Presidential Endowed Chair and Professor of Anthropology and African American Studies, University of California, Los Angeles
https://anthro.ucla.edu/faculty/h-samy-alim
April Baker-Bell
Associate Professor of Language, Literacy, and English Education, Department of English, Michigan State University
https://english.msu.edu/faculty/april-baker-bell/
Arnetha Ball
Charles E. Ducommun Endowed Professor (Emerita), Graduate School of Education, Stanford University
http://web.stanford.edu/dept/gse/cgi-bin/arnetha/
John Baugh
Margaret Bush Wilson Professor in Arts & Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis
https://psych.wustl.edu/people/john-baugh
Renée Blake
Associate Professor of Linguistics and Social & Cultural Analysis, New York University
https://as.nyu.edu/faculty/renee-blake.html
Jennifer Bloomquist
Associate Provost for Faculty Development, Dean of Social Sciences and Interdisciplinary Programs, Professor, Gettysburg College
Dominique Branson
Soros Justice Fellow, The Open Society Foundations
Erica Britt
Associate Teaching Professor, Emory University
https://linguistics.emory.edu/people/corefaculty/britt.html
Alexus P. Brown
Adjunct Professor of Musicianship, Duquesne University
Kendra Calhoun
Assistant Professor of Linguistic Anthropology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Dominique Canning
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Linguistics, University of Michigan
https://lsa.umich.edu/linguistics/people/graduate-students/dominique-canning.html
Anne Charity Hudley
Associate Dean of Educational Affairs, Professor of Education, Stanford University
https://annecharityhudley.com/
Tracy Conner
Assistant Professor, School of Communication, Northwestern University
https://tracyconner.academia.edu/
Alexis Davis
PhD Candidate, Department of Linguistics, University of Florida
https://slam.lin.ufl.edu/people/alexis-davis/
Charles DeBose
Professor Emeritus, Department of English, Cal State East Bay
https://www.csueastbay.edu/directory/profiles/engl/debosecharles.html
Michel DeGraff
Professor of Linguistics, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
https://linguistics.mit.edu/user/degraff/
Walter F. Edwards
Professor of Linguistics, Director of Humanities Center, Wayne State University
https://research2.wayne.edu/hum/AboutUs/ourstaff.html
Sabriya Fisher
Diana Chapman Walsh Assistant Professor of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences, Wellesley College
https://www.sabriya-fisher.com/
Akiemi Glenn
Executive Director, The Pōpolo Project
Shelome Gooden
Professor, Department of Linguistics, University of Pittsburgh
https://www.linguistics.pitt.edu/people/shelome-gooden
Lisa Green
Professor, Department of Linguistics, University of Massachusetts Amherst
https://people.umass.edu/lisag/
Jessi Grieser
Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics, University of Michigan
Shenika Hankerson
Assistant Professor, Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership, University of Maryland
https://education.umd.edu/directory/shenika-hankerson
Joseph Hill
Professor of Deaf Studies and Linguistics and Director of the Center for Black Deaf Studies, Gallaudet University
Nicole Holliday
Acting Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics, University of California, Berkeley
https://nicolerholliday.wordpress.com/
Yolanda Holt
Associate Professor, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, East Carolina University
http://blog.ecu.edu/sites/ppsholt/
Tiffany M. Jones
Visiting Assistant Professor, Oxford College, Emory University
https://tiffanymarquisejones.com/
Sharese King
Neubauer Family Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistics, The University of Chicago
https://www.drshareseking.com/
Sonja Lanehart
Professor of Linguistics, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of Arizona
https://www.sonjallanehart.com/
Qiuana Lopez
Assistant Project Specialist, University of California, Santa Barbara
https://independent.academia.edu/QiuanaLopez
Zion Mengesha
Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles
John H. McWhorter
Associate Professor, Slavic Department, Columbia University
Carolyn McCaskill
Professor, Department of ASL and Deaf Studies, Gallaudet University
http://blackaslproject.gallaudet.edu/Bios/Carolyn_McCaskill.html
deandre a. miles-hercules
Ph.D. Student, Department of Linguistics, University of California, Santa Barbara
https://www.linguistics.ucsb.edu/people/deandre-miles-hercules
David Mitchell
Assistant Professor, Department of English, Metropolitan State University of Denver
https://webapp.msudenver.edu/directory/profile.php?uName=dmitch58
Claudia Mitchell-Kernan
Professor Emerita, Department of African American Studies, Princeton University
https://aas.princeton.edu/people/claudia-mitchell-kernan
Simanique Moody
Assistant Professor, Department of English, Brooklyn College
Marcyliena Morgan
Ernest E. Monrad Professor of the Social Sciences, Professor of African and African American Studies, Executive Director of the HipHop Archive and Research Institute, Harvard University
https://aaas.fas.harvard.edu/people/marcyliena-morgan
Marissa Morgan
PhD Student, University of California, Santa Barbara
https://linguistics.ucsb.edu/people/marissa-smith-morgan
Salikoko Mufwene
Frank J. McLoraine Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Linguistics, University of Chicago
Jamaal Muwwakkil
University of California Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Education, University of California, Los Angeles
https://www.wordsbyjamaal.com/
Monica Nesbitt
Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistics, Indiana University
https://monnesbitt.github.io/Website/
Brandi Newkirk-Turner
Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Communicative Disorders, Jacksonville State University
https://www.jsums.edu/commdisorders/cd-faculty/newkirk-turner-2/
Django Paris
James A. & Cherry A. Banks Professor of Multicultural Education, College of Education, University of Washington
https://education.uw.edu/people/dparis
Staci Perryman-Clark
Associate Professor of English, Department of English, Western Michigan University
https://wmich.edu/english/directory/perryman-clark
Sarah Phillips
Postdoctoral Scholar, Georgetown University Medical Center
Jaylen Pittman
Ph.D. Student, Graduate School of Education, Stanford University
https://ccsre.stanford.edu/people/jaylen-pittman
Mackenzie Price
Linguist and language strategist, Washington DC
https://www.mackenzielprice.com//
Minnie Quartey
Vice President, Impact and Innovation, Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington DC
Jacquelyn Rahman
Associate Professor of Linguistics, Department of English, Miami University
Elaine Richardson
Professor, Department of Teaching and Learning, The Ohio State University
https://u.osu.edu/richardson.486/
Angela E. Rickford
Professor, Special Education, San Jose State University
https://www.sjsu.edu/people/angela.rickford/
John Rickford
J.E. Wallace Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Department of Linguistics, Emeritus, Stanford University
Harry Seymour
Professor Emeritus, Department of Communication Disorders, University of Massachusetts
https://www.umass.edu/aae/hseymour.htm
Nandi Sims
Assistant Professor, Stanford University
Walter Sistrunk
Associate Professor, Education and Language Acquisition Department, LaGuardia Community College
Hiram Smith
Associate Professor of Spanish, Bucknell University
https://www.bucknell.edu/fac-staff/hiram-smith
Geneva Smitherman
University Distinguished Professor Emerita, Department of English, Michigan State University
Arthur K. Spears
Professor of Linguistics and Anthropology, The City University of New York
Ida Stockman
Emeritus Faculty, Department of Communicative Sciences & Disorders, Michigan State University
https://comartsci.msu.edu/our-people/ida-stockman
J. Michael Terry
Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
https://unc.academia.edu/JMichaelTerry
Nicole Patton Terry
Olive & Manuel Bordas Professor of Education, School of Teacher Education, Florida State University
https://fcrr.org/person/nicole-patton-terry-phd
Jamie A. Thomas
Assistant Professor of Linguistics, Santa Monica College
Alayo Tripp
Assistant Professor of Computational Language Science, Department of Linguistics, University of Florida
Denise Troutman
Associate Professor, Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures, Department of Linguistics and Languages, Michigan State University
http://linglang.msu.edu/people/faculty/denise-troutman/
Julie A. Washington
Professor, School of Education, University of California, Irvine
https://education.uci.edu/washington_bio.html
Alicia Beckford Wassink
Professor, Department of Linguistics, University of Washington
https://depts.washington.edu/sociolab/Wassink/Wassink.php/
Rachel Elizabeth Weissler
Assistant Professor, Department of Linguistics, University of Oregon
https://sites.google.com/view/rachel-elizabeth-weissler
Tracey Weldon
Vice President of Executive Search, Greenwood Asher & Associates
https://greenwoodsearch.com/team-members/tracey-weldon/
Bonnie J. Williams-Farrier
Associate Professor, Department of English, Comparative Literature, and Linguistics, California State University, Fullerton
http://english.fullerton.edu/faculty/profile/b_williams.aspx
Kelly Elizabeth Wright
Assistant Professor, Language Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Madison
https://kellywright5.wixsite.com/raciolinguistics
Mary Zeigler
Associate Professor of English Language and Linguistics, English Department, Georgia State University
https://english.gsu.edu/emeritus-faculty/mary-e-brown-zeigler/
In Memoriam
William Edward Farrison
(1902 - 1985)
Dr. Farrison completed his Ph.D. in linguistics at the Ohio State Univerity in 1936, with his dissertation, The phonology of the illiterate Negro dialect of Guilford County, North Carolina, available here. He taught at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania (1926-1928), West Virginia State (1928-1931), Bennett College (1932-1939), and North Carolina Central University (1939-1970), where he retired. He published numerous articles on the English language, speech, and literature of African Americans, including the definitive biography of William Wells Brown.
Jerrie C. Scott
(1944 - 2017)
Dr. Scott completed her Ph.D. in linguistics at the University of Michigan. She authored numerous books and articles, and founded the National African American Read-In. See Sawubona (“I see you”), Jerrie: Continuing the Legacy of the African American Read-In on the National Council of Teachers of English blog, written by Dr. Stephanie Power-Carter and Dr. David E. Kirkland.
Gary Simpkins
(1943 - 2009)
Dr. Simpkins completed his Ed.D. at the University of Massachusetts in 1976. He was one of the creators of the BRIDGE program, and published about language, reading and education among African American children. See Word: The Online Journal on African American English’s page dedicated to Dr. Simpkins.
Orlando Taylor
(1936 - 2024)
Dr. Taylor completed his Ph.D. in education from the University of Michigan. He was a prolific scholar in the field of education and was author of several books, including, most recently, Higher Education in a Changing World. For more information about Dr. Taylor, see https://www.natcom.org/press-room/remembrance-past-nca-president-orlando-l-taylor-1936-2024
Lorenzo Dow Turner
(1890 - 1972)
Dr. Turner completed his Ph.D. in linguistics at the University of Chicago. Check out the Linguistic Society of America’s Tribute to Lorenzo Dow Turner. Also check out Dr. Margaret Wade-Lewis’s (2007) biography, Lorenzo Dow Turner, Father of Gullah Studies. Recenlty, the Amistad Research Center in New Orleans digitized some of Dr. Turner’s Field Recordings with help from the Council on Library and Information Resources. More information is available here, and you can stream the audio via Soundcloud.
Fay Vaughn-Cooke
(1947 - 2010)
Professor, University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Dr. Vaughn-Cooke received her Ph.D. from Georgetown University in 1976, with her dissertation, The Implementation of a Phonological Change: The Case of Resyllabification in Black English. She went on to work on speech language pathology and language acquisition in the speech of African American children in Washington DC.
Margaret Wade-Lewis
(1945 - 2009)
Dr. Wade-Lewis was a historian of African American linguists, and served as the Department Chair and Associate Professor of Linguistics and Literature in the Department of Black Studies at the State University of New York at New Paltz. She was the first African American woman to receive her Ph.D. in linguistics from NYU (1988).
Mark Hanna Watkins
(1903 - 1976)
Dr. Watkins was a University of Chicago trained linguist whose dissertation was a descriptive grammar of Chichewa (a Bantu language). In 2018, Dr. Arthur K. Spears wrote about Dr. Watkins for the Linguistics Society of America for Black History Month. You can find that article here. While Dr. Watkins did not work on the speech of African Americans, we want to celebrate his contributions to linguistics as the first African American to receive his PhD in linguistics in the United States.
Darnell Williams
(1944 - 2021)
Dr. Williams was the former Dean of Social Sciences and Education at Langston University in Langston, Oklahoma. His 1973 dissertation, An investigation of possible Gullah survivals in the speech and cultural patterns of Black Mississippians, focused on the social and linguistic lives of Black Mississippians. He was also active in assisting smaller African American colleges in preparing for accreditation.
Robert Lee Williams II
(1930 - 2020)
Dr. Williams was Professor Emeritus of Psychology and African and Afro-American studies at Washington University in St. Louis. A prolific psychologist, Dr. Williams is perhaps best known in linguistic circles for coining the term Ebonics to refer to the speech of African Americans in 1973. In 2018, Patricia Griffin interviewed Dr. Williams for the Arkansas Association of Black Psychologists Oral History Project, the audio is available on the Central Arkansas Library System
Juanita Williamson
(1917 - 1993)
Dr. Williamson was a Professor of English and Chair of the Humanities at LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis, Tennessee. She was well known in the fields of linguistics, education, and reading, but readers here might be most familiar with her dissertation and subsequent 1968 monograph for the Publication of the American Dialect Society, A Phonological and Morphological Study of the Speech of the Negro of Memphis, Tennessee. For more information about Dr. Williamson, see her Women of Achievement write up.
Charlie Farrington, September 2024