John M Clifton
Degrees
- PhD (major: Linguistics), Indiana University, 1980
- MA (major: Linguistics), Indiana University, 1978
- BA (majors: Linguistics & Anthropology), Indiana University, 1974
Current positions
- International Consultant, Linguistics Department
Other experience
- Director of Graduate Studies, Linguistics Program, University of North Dakota (2002– )
- Adjunct Professor of Linguistics, University of North Dakota (1981– )
- Linguistic Consultant, SIL North Eurasia Group (1996 – 2007)
- Sociolinguistics Consultant, SIL North Eurasia Group (2002 – 2007)
- Sociolinguistics Research Coordinator, SIL North Eurasia Group (1998 – 2005)
- Linguistic Consultant, SIL Papua New Guinea Branch (1984 – 1995)
- Editor, Language and Linguistics in Melanesia (1992 – 1995)
Memberships
- Linguistic Society of America
- Association of the International Phonetic Association
- Linguistic Society of Papua New Guinea
Language proficiency
- Tok Pisin
- Russian
Research interests
- orthography
- sociolinguistics
- language documentation
- languages of Azerbaijan
- languages of Papua New Guinea
Selected publications
Publications in SIL International Bibliography
2009. The future of the Shahdagh languages. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 198: 33-45.
2005 (ed). Studies in Languages of Tajikistan. . St. Petersburg, Russia: North Eurasia Group, SIL International and Dushanbe, Tajikistan: National State University of Tajikistan.
2002-2003 (ed). Studies in Languages of Azerbaijan, vol. 1&2. St. Petersburg, Russia: North Eurasia Group, SIL International and Baku, Azerbaijan: Institute of International Relations, Academcy of Sciences of Azerbaijan.
1997. The Kaki Ae language. In Materials on languages in danger of disappearing in the Asia-Pacific Region, No.1. S. A. Wurm, ed. Pp 3-65. Pacific Linguistics D-89. Canberra: Australian National University.
1995. How many transitivisers are in Kope? In Discourse grammar and typology: Papers in honor of John W. M. Verhaar. Werner Abraham, T. Givón, Sandra A. Thompson, eds. Studies in Language Companion Series, vol. 27. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
1994. Stable multilingualism in a small language group: The case of Kaki Ae. Language and Linguistics in Melanesia25:107-124.
Selected papers presented
2010. Stable multilingualism in Tajikistan. Paper presented at the 46th Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, Chicago, IL. To appear in proceedings.
2009. Orthography development as an ongoing collaborative process: Lessons from Bangladesh. In . Honolulu, March. http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/5034.
2007. Issues in Udi Orthography. Paper presented at the Conference on the Languages of the Caucasus, Leipzig, Germany, December 7-9 2007.
2007. Do the Tat and Talysh Languages Have a Future in Azerbaijan? Paper read at the 14th Annual Central Eurasian Studies Conference, Bloomington, Indiana, March 31-April 1, 2007.
1996. The sociolinguistic situation in the Papuan lowlands region. Paper read at the conference Sociolinguistic Problems in Various Regions of the World, Moscow, Russia, October 22-24, 1996.
1992. A comparative analysis of the Strickland Plain languages. Paper read at the Third International Conference on Papuan Linguistics, Madang, Papua New Guinea.