Research

Current Research

• Historical sociolinguistics of the Slovak language area, particularly the development of standardized forms of Slovak in the period before the official codification of a standard Slovak language (15-18th centuries).
• Historical and contemporary sociolinguistics of the German language islands (Sprachinseln) in Slovakia
• Use of XML and TEI to markup historical dialect texts, and use of GIS to create new representations of diachronic progression of dialect features

Research Interests

• Diachronic and synchronic sociolinguistics (focus on the West Slavic languages - Czech, Polish, Slovak, Sorbian)
• Historical dialectology (focus on the West Slavic languages)
• Indigenous minority languages (focus on Western and Central Europe)
• Language planning and linguistic legislation (focus on Western and Central Europe)

Courses taught (at UK and previously)

• Introduction to Linguistics I & II
• Introduction to Language Study
• Nature of the English Language
• Ethnic, Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in France
• Slavic, Romance, Germanic and Classical Languages in Space and Time

Selected Publications

Selected Print Publications

Books and Edited Volumes:

• (edited with Curt F. Woolhiser). Slavic Sociolinguistics in North America, special volume of the Journal of Slavic Linguistics, Vol. 17, forthcoming summer 2009.
• The Question of 'Cultural Language' and Interdialectal Norm in 16th Century Slovakia: A Phonological Analysis of 16th Century Slovak Administrative-Legal Texts. Munich: Verlag Otto Sagner, 1996. (Slavistische Beiträge 335)

Articles and Chapters:

• "Slavic Sociolinguistics in North America: Lineage and Leading Edge", in: Slavic Sociolinguistics in North America, special issue of the Journal of Slavic Linguistics, vol. 17, forthcoming summer 2009.
• "Protestant Language Use in 17th Century Slovakia in a Diglossia Framework", in: Peter Žeňuch, ed. Život slova v dejinách a jazykových vzťahoch (Na sedemdesiatiny profesora Jána Doruľu). Bratislava: Slavistický kabinet SAV, 2003: 49-60.
• "Slovak Standard Language Development in the 15th-18th Centuries: A Diglossia Approach", in: Laura A. Janda, Ronald Feldstein, and Steven Franks, eds. Where One's Tongue Rules Well: A Festschrift for Charles E. Townsend. Indiana Slavic Studies (Bloomington, Indiana), Vol. 13 (2002): 245-264.
• "Kultúrna slovenčina administratívno-právnych textov zo 16. storočia. 'Čo s fonológiou a morfológiou?' " (= "Cultural Slovak in 16th Century Slovak Administrative-Legal Texts. 'What About Phonology and Morphology?' "), in: Mira Nábělková, ed. Varia VII. Bratislava: Slovenská jazykovedná spoločnosť pri SAV, 1998: 308-312.

Selected Digital Publications

Digital Projects:

• (with Jeanmarie Rouhier-Willoughby). Russian Folk Religious Imagination. Collaboratory for Research in Computing for Humanities, University of Kentucky, 2007-present.

Conference Proceedings:

• (with Dorothy Carr Porter). AudioCast - Changing the Center of Gravity: Transforming Classical Studies Through Cyberinfrastructure, October 5, 2007. Collaboratory for Research in Computing for Humanities, University of Kentucky, 2007. Latest update: 28 January 2008.
• VideoCast - University of Kentucky Digital Scholarship Colloquium II, October 4, 2007. Collaboratory for Research in Computing for Humanities, University of Kentucky, 2007. Latest update: 28 January 2008.