Degrees

• B.A., University of North Carolina, Interdisciplinary Studies, 1980
• M.A., Cornell University, Linguistics, 1988
• Ph.D., Cornell University, Linguistics, 1993

Academic Experience

• Associate Professor, Tulane University, 1998-
• Assistant Professor, Tulane University, 1991-1998
• Adjunct Instructor, Rutgers University, 1988-1991

Distinctions

• BORSF-ENH-029HUM Grant, “Innovation, Immersion, and Integration: The Future of Foreign Language Studies at Tulane,” 2000-2001
• Culpepper Grant, Tulane University, 2000
• Mellon Fellowship for summer research in Latin America, 1999, 1998, 1996, 1995, 1994, 1993
• Louisana Education Quality Support Fund Grant, 1996-1997, 1994-1995
• Linguistic Society of America Summer Research Fellowship, 1988, 1987

Languages

• Spanish

Overseas Experience

• Spain

Related Experience

• Chair, Student Academic Judiciary Committee, 2006
• Undergraduate Spanish Major and Minor Advisor, 2006
• Associate Chair, Department of Spanish & Portuguese, Tulane University, 1999-2000
• Acting Chair, Department of Spanish & Portuguese, Tulane University, 1997
• Director of Linguistics Program, Tulane University, 1995-1996

Selected Publications

• 2007. “Sparseness and Entropy in Semantic Change: Precedents from Early Vision.” International Journal of English Studies. 7 (1):17-34.
• 2006. “Simulated evolution of a radial category for the diminutive.” In Language, Mind, and the Lexicon. Ibarretxe-Antuñano, et al., eds. Hamburg: Peter Lang.
• 2004. Connectionist semantics: An artificial neural network approach to coordinators, quantifiers, and collective predicates. New York: Elsevier Scientific.
• 2004. “Four challenges for cognitive neuroscience and the cortico-hippocampal division of memory.” Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 27: 681-2.
• 2001. “Entropic vs. negentropic causation.” In Linguagem e Cognição: A perspectiva da Linguística Cognitiva. Augusto Soares da Silva, ed. Brazil: Associação Portuguesa de Linguística.

Recently-Taught Latin American-Related Courses:

• SPAN 4260: Spanish Phonetics and Phonology
• SPAN 4270: Iberoamerican Dialectology