Native of North Carolina: born in Concord, grew up there and in Southern Pines. Received B.A. from Wake Forest University 1970 (Spanish), M.A. and Ph.D. from Cornell University 1974 (Linguistics). Academic appointments: 1974-1989 West Virginia University, 1989-1990 UNC-Charlotte, 1990-present Wake Forest University. Member of International Phonetic Association, Linguistic Society of America, American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, and American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. You can guess that I've always enjoyed language and languages.

As for my name, click here for some practical linguistics!

Family: wife Mary Jo (special education teacher, also WFU alumna), two fine sons, and two skittish cats. Eclectic tastes, but I still go for North Carolina barbecue, blackeyed peas, a "mess o' greens," and watermelon. Live in a part of historic Bethania, NC, that the postal service called Pfafftown, that the phone company called Old Town, that Bethania de-annexed as no town, and that Winston-Salem then annexed as part of the big town--and yet the postal service still says we're in Pfafftown, which was also annexed by Winston-Salem. Go figure.

Church: Lutheran (ELCA). Personal philosophy:

... which says it all.

Hobbies: reading, music, old movies, history, yard work/landscaping, pipe collecting, hiking, star-gazing, playing with computers, classic comics--especially Steve Roper, a long series (1936-2004) that I've collected; samples below:

I also like (almost) all kinds of music, but really go for Baroque (sorry). I'm a special fan of Johann Sebastian Bach, who recognized the source of his work with "J.J." (Jesu, juva) and "Soli Deo Gloria". For one of his many websites, click here.