I am interested in all things having to do with sound. In particular, I am interested in theoretical phonology, the study of how sound patterns in the mind across languages. I am especially interested in distinctive features, which are the atoms of sounds, and how they are organized. Much of my research has centered around the class of sounds known as ejectives, which are made with a constricted larynx.

I am also concerned with describing endangered and minority languages. My current projects involve the Blin (also written Bilin or Bilen) language, a Central Cushitic (Agaw) language of Eritrea spoken by around 90,000 people. I am conducting the first study of the phonetic structures of Blin. I am investigating the complex alternations between noun forms in the singular and plural. (Note, for example, the change between [x] and [k'] in the forms for 'cave': [gax-a] ~ [gak'] 'cave' (sg./pl.)). And in verbs, I am formalizing a description of the alternations between different forms of the verb in the frequentative aspect, as in 'speak' [gab-na] vs. gab@b@ng-na 'speak frequently'. Most recently, I am collecting oral narratives in Blin, in part to study the grammar across connected sentences, and in part to create a corpus of stories which reflect Blin culture.

Interests include:
Phonetics

Phonology

feature theory

feature geometry

prosodic morphology

ejectives and other glottalized sounds

prosodic morphology

accents of English

Morphology, especially inflection and prosodic morphology in Cushitic
Writing Systems, especially Ethiopic (Ge'ez)
Historical Linguistics

History of English

Proto-Indo-European

Proto-Agaw

Proto-Cushitic

Proto-Afro-Asiatic

Proto-Nakh-Daghestanian

The Blin (Bilin, Bilen) language of Eritrea

a phonetic study of Blin consonants and vowels

a description of Blin phonology and morphology, including plural mutation, and reduplication of various types in nouns and verbs

oral narratives in Blin

click here for a colleague's on-line lessons in Blin

Begos Nettabai's homepage, with many photos and much information on Blin language and culture.

African languages, especially Afro-Asiatic