Roderic F. Casali PhD

Associate Professor & MA Linguistics Program Director

Department: School of Graduate Studies, MALing, ACTS, Linguistics

Email:

Phone1: 604-888-7511 x3931

Area of Expertise: Phonology (vowel phenomena), Phonetics, African Languages;

Research: Phonology, Phonetics, African Languages

Education: PhD Linguistics(California, Los Angeles) 1996; MA Linguistics (University of Texas, Arlington), 1988; BS Physics (Univ. of Massachusetts) 1980

Rod Casali, along with his wife Ellen, spent over seven years working as Bible translators with SIL International in Ghana. During that time, they did linguistic research and language development with the Nawuri language. They also served with Wycliffe for a brief time in Cote d'Ivoire. Dr. Casali has worked as a linguistics consultant for SIL for many years and began teaching at TWU in 2006.

Recent Publications:

  • In press. Hiatus resolution. To appear in the Blackwell Companion to Phonology, ed. by Marc van Oostendorp, Colin J. Ewen, Elizabeth Hume & Keren Rice. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
  • 2008. ATR Harmony in African Languages. Language and Linguistics Compass 2: 496-549. http://www.blackwell-compass.com/subject/linguistics/article_view?article_id=lnco_articles_bpl064
  • 2003.  [ATR] value assymetries and underlying vowel inventory structure in Niger-Congo and Nilo-Sahatan. Linguistic Typology 7: 307-382.

 Conferences and Presentations:

  • 2010 Dekereke: A software tool for phonological fieldwork. Paper presented at the 41st Annual Conference on African Linguistics, Toronto, May 6-8, 2010.
  • 2009 Dekereke: A software tool for phonological fieldwork. Paper presented at the 6th World Congress of African Linguistics, University of Cologne, August 17-21, 2009.
  • 2008 Phonetics, phonology and [+ATR] dominance in Akan. Paper presented at the Simon Fraser University Phonology Fest, April 5, 2008.
  • 2007 On the distinction between root-controlled and dominant ATR harmony. Paper presented at the 38th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, March 22-25, 2007.
  • 2006 Preliminary observations on the phonology and noun class system of Animere. Paper presented at the 37th Annual Conference on African Languages and Linguistics, University of Oregon, April 6-9, 2006.
  • 2002 (& Myles F. Leitch) Underspecification revisited: [-ATR] dominance and default [+ATR] in Bantu C. Paper presented at the Workshop on the Phonology of African Languages, November 2, 2002, Vienna.
  • 2002 [-ATR] Dominance in Underlying Five-height Vowel Systems. Paper presented at the 33rd Annual Conference on African Linguistics, Ohio University, March 22-24, 2002.
  • 2002 In search of Yoruba+: [ATR] dominance and vowel inventory structure. Paper presented at the January 1995 Linguistic Society of America meeting, San Fransisco, January 4, 2002.
  • 1999 Nawuri ATR harmony in typological perspective. Paper presented at the 29th Colloquium on African Languages and Linguistics, Leiden University, 29 August - 1 September 1999.
  • 1998 Is the active value of ATR predictable? Paper presented at the 21st West African Linguistics Society Congress, Abidjan, July 27, 1998.
  • 1998 Predicting ATR Activity. Paper presented at the 34th regional meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, April 1998.
  • 1997 ATR harmony systems: Some issues for research. Paper presented at the 28th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, Cornell University, July 11-13, 1997.
  • 1996 Vowel coalescence in Niger-Congo: Implications for height-feature theory. Paper presented at the 27th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, University of Florida, Gainesville, March 29, 1996.
  • 1996 A typology of vowel coalescence. Paper presented at the 2nd Southwest Optimality Theory Workshop, University of California Irvine, May 11, 1996.
  • 1995 Patterns of Glide Formation in Niger-Congo: An Optimality Account. Paper presented at the January 1995 Linguistic Society of America meeting, New Orleans, January 7, 1995.
  • 1994 Vowel Elision and Glide Formation in Niger-Congo: A Harmony Theoretic Approach. Paper presented at the January 1994 Linguistic Society of America meeting, Boston, January 9, 1994.
  • 1993 Labial opacity and roundness harmony in Nawuri. Paper presented at the 24th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, Ohio State University.
  • 1991 Vowel elision and glide formation in Niger-Congo: An approach based on syllabification. Paper presented at the 22nd Annual Conference on African Linguistics, Nairobi.

Memberships and Affiliations:

  • West African Linguistics Society