Walt Wolfram | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1941-02-15)February 15, 1941 (age 84) Philadelphia,Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Occupation | Professor of English Linguistics |
| Known for | Sociolinguistics Variationist sociolinguistics |
| Academic background | |
| Education | |
| Doctoral advisor | Roger Shuy |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | |
| Website | chass |
Walt Wolfram (/ˈwʊlfrəm/WUUL-frəm; born February 15, 1941) is an Americansociolinguist specializing in social and ethnicdialects ofAmerican English. He was one of the early pioneers in the study of urbanAfrican American English through his work inDetroit in 1969.[1] He is theWilliam C. FridayDistinguished University Professor atNorth Carolina State University.
Since the 1960s, Wolfram has authored or co-authored more than 20 books and more than 300 articles on variation inAmerican English. He was an active participant in the 1996 debate surrounding theOakland Ebonics controversy, supporting the legitimacy ofAfrican American English as a systematic language system.[2][3][4] In addition to African American English, Wolfram has written extensively aboutAppalachian English,Puerto Rican English,Lumbee English, and many other dialects ofNorth Carolina, particularly those of rural, isolated communities such asOcracoke Island.
Wolfram was bornPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania in 1941.[5] His parents were German immigrants.[6] He attended and graduated from Olney High School,[7] where he played baseball, basketball, and football.[8][9] He received his B.A. in anthropology (Greek) in 1963 fromWheaton College, where he played football and basketball.[9] He received his M.A. in linguistics fromHartford Seminary Foundation in 1966, and his Ph.D. in linguistics fromHartford Seminary Foundation in 1969, studying underRoger Shuy.
He has been on the faculty atGeorgetown University and theUniversity of the District of Columbia, was the Director of Research at theCenter for Applied Linguistics from 1980 to 1992, and in 1992 he was named the first William C. Friday Distinguished University Professor of English Linguistics at North Carolina State University.[10] Wolfram is a former president of theLinguistic Society of America as well as of theAmerican Dialect Society.
In 1993, Wolfram formulated theprinciple of linguistic gratuity, which states that "investigators who have obtained linguistic data from members of a speech community should actively pursue ways in which they can return linguistic favors to the community".[11] In 2008, he and co-authors outlined venues for engaging in linguistic gratuity, including "video documentaries, oral history CDs, museum exhibits, formal curricular programs, and popular trade books on language differences,"[12] venues through which Wolfram himself has engaged in collaborative engagement via the Language and Life Project (seebelow).
Wolfram directs theLanguage and Life Project, a nonprofit at North Carolina State University dedicated to documenting and celebrating language diversity through public means.[13] He established the Language and Life Project in 1993.[13] Through the Language and Life Project, Wolfram has been involved in the production of television and film documentaries about dialect diversity (often in collaboration withNeal Hutcheson), as well as the construction of museum exhibits, the publication of popular books, and the development ofdialect awareness curricula for schools and the general public.[14][13]
Wolfram was executive producer for the Language and Life Project documentary filmFirst Language: The Race to Save Cherokee (2014), produced and directed by Danica Cullinan and Neal Hutcheson.[15] The documentary chronicles the history of theCherokee language in North Carolina and the efforts of theEastern Band of Cherokee to save and preserve theirendangered language. The film was awarded Best Public Service Film at the 2014American Indian Film Festival.[16] In 2015, PBS selected the documentary for national distribution, making it available for broadcast at member stations in 2016.[17] In 2016, film won a regional Emmy in the documentary/cultural category at the 30th Midsouth Emmy Awards.[18]
Also in conjunction with the Language and Life Project, Wolfram was executive producer for the documentary filmsTalking Black in America: The Story of African American Language (2019) andSigning Black in America: The Story of Black ASL (2020), both produced and directed by Danica Cullinan and Neal Hutcheson; as well as theTalking Black in American Project, a five-part documentary television series.[19]Talking Black in America (2019) chronicles the history and impact ofAfrican American English. In 2020, the film won a Midsouth RegionalEmmy award in the documentary/cultural category.[20]Signing Black in America (2020) is the first documentary aboutBlack ASL.[19]
Wolfram has co-authored and co-edited multiple books written for the general public, including:Hoi Toide on the Sound Soide: The Story of the Ocracoke Brogue (1997UNC Press), co-authored withNatalie Schilling;American Voices: How Dialects Differ from Coast to Coast (Wiley 2005), co-edited with Ben Ward;Talkin' Tar Heel: How our Voices Tell the Story of North Carolina (2014UNC Press), co-authored with Jeffrey Reaser; andThe Five-Minute Linguist: Bite-sized Essays on Language and Languages, 3rd Edition (Equinox 2019).[21]
Talkin' Tar Heel explores regional, social, and ethnic dialects of North Carolina, drawing upon decades of research and thousands of recorded interviews with North Carolinians.[22][23] The book was written for the general audience, with the goal of "shar[ing] knowledge and respect for the languages and dialects in North Carolina in a readable, audible, and visual format accessible to the public."[24] It is first popular linguistics book to embed more than 100 video and audio clips through the use ofQR codes.[25] The book was awarded the 2014 North Caroliniana Book Award by the North Caroliniana Society.[26]
In 2008, Wolfram was honored with the prestigious John Tyler Caldwell Award for the Humanities from theNorth Carolina Humanities Council, a statewide nonprofit affiliate of theNational Endowment for the Humanities.[27] In 2010, he was awarded the Linguistics, Language, and the Public Award by theLinguistic Society of America.[28] In 2013, he was awarded theNorth Carolina Award, the highest award given to a North Carolina citizen.[10] In 2018, he was awarded the Governor James E. Holshouser, Jr. Award for Excellence in Public Service by theUNC System.[29] In 2019, he was inducted into the prestigiousAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences.[30][31]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Wolfram, Walt and Jeffrey Reaser. 2014. Talkin' Tar Heel: How our Voices Tell the Story of North Carolina. Chapel Hill. University of North Carolina Press.
