Department of English
207 Lind Hall
207 Church Street SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Phone: 612-625-3363

College of Liberal Arts Voices from the Gaps

Faculty

 

Genevieve Escure portrait

 

Geneviève Escure

Professor

Department of English
University of Minnesota
207 Lind Hall
207 Church Street SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
(612)625-6095
Fax (612)624-8228
escur001@umn.edu 

Central Interests

  • Linguistics/Sociolinguistics
  • Pidgins, creoles and other contact languages
  • Belizean Creole (Central America)
  • Endangered languages
  • Garifuna (Belize and Honduras)
  • African-American English
  • Chinese-English Pidgin English
  • Chinese language variation
  • Language, Gender and Identity

 

Honors & Awards

  • Semester Leave for Research, Fall 2004
  • McKnight Research Award, 2003-06
  • NEH Fellowship, January-December 2001
  • Graduate School Grant-in-Aid of Research, January 2001-June 2002
  • Sabbatical award and supplement, 2000-2001
  • Single Quarter Leave, CLA, Winter 1998
  • McKnight Summer Fellowship, 1995
  • Gordon L. Starr Award (for Advising students), awarded by Minnesota Student Association, 1995
  • Sabbatical award and Bush Sabbatical Supplement, 1993-94
  • Gordon L. Starr Award (for Advising students), awarded by Minnesota Student Association, 1993
  • McKnight Summer Fellowship, 1992
  • United Board Fellowship, 1990
  • NSF Grant, 1990
  • Graduate School Grant-in-Aid of Research, 1988-89
  • Graduate School Grant-in-Aid of Research, 1987-88
  • Single Quarter Leave, Fall 1987
  • Sabbatical award, 1985-86
  • Graduate School Grant-in-Aid of Research, 1984-85
  • Graduate School Summer Fellowship, 1984
  • Graduate School Summer Fellowship, 1981
  • Graduate School Grant-in-Aid of Research, 1979-80
  • Graduate School Summer Fellowship, 1979
  • Single Quarter Leave, Spring 1978
  • Graduate School Grant-in-Aid of Research, 1977-78
  • Ford Foundation grant, Hollins College, Va, 1971-72

 

Background

  • Education
    • Indiana University, Bloomington, Ph.D. (Linguistics); M.A. (Linguistics); M.A. (French Linguistics)
    • University of Paris, France, Agregation (admissible), Maitrise, C.A.P.E.S., Licence (English Language and Literature; Linguistics)
  • Academic Appointments
    • Professor, University of Minnesota, 1980-present
    • Visiting Professor, Stanford University, Linguistics, 1997
    • Visiting Professor, Huazhong University, Wuhan, PRC, Linguistics, 1985-86
    • Associate Professor, University of Minnesota, 1980-88
    • Assistant-Professor, University of Minnesota, 1974-80

Publications

  • Books
    • Creoles, Contact and Language Change: Linguistic and Social Implications, Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, Creole Language Library vol. 27, edited with Armin Schwegler, 2004 (354 pages + i-x)
    • Creole and Dialect Continua: Standard Acquisition Processes in Belize and China (PRC), Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, Creole Language Library, vol.18, 1997, 307 pages + i-ix)
  • Articles
    • “Pidgins/Creoles and discourse,” The Handbook of Pidgins and Creoles, eds., John Singler & Silvia Kouwenberg, London: Blackwell Handbooks (forthcoming).
    • "Creole Linguistics," Handbook of Pragmatics Online, International Pragmatics Association and John Benjamins (update of Pieter Muysken's article), 2006 (35 pages).
    • “Black/white contacts and the maintenance of identity in Minneapolis African American English: An examination of habitual aspect," Studies in Contact Linguistics: Essays in Honor of Glenn G. Gilbert, eds. Janet Fuller & Linda Thornburg Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, New York: Peter Lang, 2006:  45-70.
    • "Serialization in Chinese Pidgin English," Chinese Pidgin English, eds. S. Matthews, J. Smith & U. Ansaldo, London: Battlebridge Publications (forthcoming; 18 pages)
    • "Pidgins and Creoles" Inaugural Edition of the EOLSS, Encyclopedia of Life Support systems, UNESCO, 2006.
    • “Variation in pidgins and creoles," The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, Second Edition. Oxford: Elsevier Publishers, 2005 (text, maps & CDs with speech sample of English-based creoles).
    • “Belize: Language situation," The Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, Second Edition Oxford: Elsevier Publishers, 2005 (text, maps & CDs with speech samples).
    • “Garifuna in Belize and Honduras,” In Creoles, Contact and Language Change: Linguistic and Social Implications, eds. Geneviève Escure & Armin Schwegler,Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2004: 35-66.
    • “Belize and other Central American varieties: Morphology and syntax,” A Handbook of Varieties of English: The Americas and the Caribbean, ed., Edgar Schneider, The Hague: Mouton, 2004:Vol. 2: 517-544.
    • "Belizean Creole: Gender, creole, and the role of women in language change," Gender Across Languages: The Linguistic Representation of Women and Men, eds., Marlis Hellinger & Hadumod Bussman, Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2001, vol I: 53-84.
    • “The grammaticalization of past in creoles,” American Speech, 1999, 74.2: 165-202.
    • “Gender and tense/aspect in Belizean Creole,” Language Contact, eds., France Mugler & Jan Tent, Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1998: 27-41.
    • “Anaphores et catégories sémantiques dans les variétés créolisées de Bélize,” Les Classes Grammaticales des Langues Créoles, ed.,Daniel Véronique, Aix-en- Provence: Publications de l’Université de Provence, 1996: 273-286.
    • "Gender and linguistic change in the Belizean Creole community," Locating Power: Second Berkeley Women and Language Conference (1992), eds. K. Hall, M. Bucholz & B. Moonwoman, University of California Press, 1993: Vol. I: 118-131.
    • "Focus, topic particles and discourse markers in the Belizean creole continuum." In Focus and Grammatical Relations, eds. Francis Byrne & Don Winford, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, Creole Language Library, 1993: 233-247.
    • “Adverb Fronting in the Acrolectal speech of Roatan,” (with Glenn Gilbert). Southern Illinois Working Papers in Linguistics and Language Teaching, 1993: 233-250.
    • “Anaphoric reference in creoles and noncreoles.” Language Variation and Change, 1993. 5.3: 233-250.
    • "Gender roles and linguistic variation in the Belizean Creole community," English Around the World: Sociolinguistic Perspectives, ed., Jenny Cheshire, Cambridge University Press, 1991: 595-608.
    • "Verb serialization in Creole oral discourse," Development and Structures of Creole Languages: Essays in Honor of Derek Bickerton, eds.,Francis Byrne & Thom Huebner, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, Creole Language Library, 1991: 179-192.
    • "Topic marking particles in creoles and Chinese dialects." Focus and Grammatical Relations in Creole Languages, eds., Francis Byrne & Alexander Caskey, University of Chicago, 1990, Vol II: 339-350.
    • "The acquisition of Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese) by speakers of the Wuhan Dialect,” Variation in Language: NWAV-XV at Stanford, eds., John Rickford et al., Stanford, Department of Linguistics, 1987: 121-136.
    • "A copula em Belizano: um caso de mudanca semantica," Cadernos de Estudos Linguisticos 11, Instituto de Estudas da Linguagem, Universidade de Campinas, Brasil, 1986: 39-54.
    • "The Belizean copula: A case of semantactic shift," Dialogue: An Interdisciplinary Approach, vol.1: Pragmatics and Beyond, ed., Marcelo Dascal,  Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1985: 265-281.
    • "Pronunciation Guide,” West's Law and Commercial Dictionary in Five Languages, St Paul: West Publishing Company, 1985: xi-xvi.
    • "The acquisition of creole by urban and rural Black Caribs in Belize.” In York Papers in Linguistics 11: Urban Creoles. Mark Sebba & Loreto Todd (eds.). York, England, University of York (1984): 95-106.
    • "The use of creole as interlanguage by the Black Caribs of Belize." 1982 Mid America Linguistics Conference Papers. Frances Ingemann (ed.). Lawrence: University of Kansas Press (1983): 271-282.
    • "Belizean Creole." Chapter Two: Central American English. John Holm (ed.). Heidelberg: Julius Groos Verlag and Philadelphia: John Benjamins (1983): 29-70.
    • "The Belizean copula: A case of semantactic shift" In Studies in Caribbean Language. Lawrence Carrington (ed.) Trinidad: Society for Caribbean Linguistics (1983) 190-202.
    • "Decreolization in a creole continuum: Belize." In Historicity and Variation in Creole Studies, Arnold Highfield and Albert Valdman (eds.). Ann Arbor: Karoma Press (1981): 27-49.
    • "Linguistic variation and ethnic interaction in Belize: Creole/Carib.” In Language and Ethnic Relations. Howard Giles & Bernard Saint-Jacques (eds.). Oxford:Pergamon Press (1979):101-116.
    • "Vocalic change in the Belizean English-Creole continuum and markedness theory." In Berkeley Linguistics Society IV. Berkeley: University of  California  Press (1978): 158-167.
    • "Vowel-lengthening in French." In Current Studies in Romance Linguistics. Marta Lujan and Fritz Hensey (eds.). Washington: Georgetown University Press (1976): 63-75.
    • "Palatalization: a persistent rule of English." In Berkeley Linguistics Society II.Berkeley: University of California Press (1976): 158-167.

Teaching

  • Structure of the English language/linguistics
  • Sociolinguistics
  • World Englishes
  • American English and Society
  • Language and Gender
  • Pidgins and Creoles

Other Activities

  • Editorial board, Pidgin and Creole Linguistics, 1988-Present
  • President, Society for Pidgin and Creole Linguistics, 1999-2000