French & Italian

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Valdman earns French government's highest award

French Ambassador to the United States François Bujon de l'Estang presents Professor Valdman with the Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques.

On Oct. 26, 2000, IU Bloomington's Rudy Professor of French and Italian and Linguistics, Albert Valdman, received the highest academic honor that the government of France can bestow to recognize outstanding contributions and devotion to teaching, scholarship, and research: the Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques.

L'Ordre des Palmes Académiques, established in 1808 by Napoléon Bonaparte, comprises three ascending ranks: Chevalier, Officier, and Commandeur all three of which Valdman has now been awarded.

The award ceremony took place before an overflow audience in the Moot Court of the School of Law. It was presided over by French Ambassador to the United States François Bujon de l'Estang, accompanied by General Consul Jean-René Gehan, Cultural Counselor Pierre Buhler, and Cultural Attaché Olivier Boasson. Dean of International Programs Patrick O'Meara and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Kumble Subbaswamy delivered the introductions.

The ambassador praised Valdman as a "staunch defender of the linguistic diversity of French" and cited him as one of the world's top specialists in the study of French-based Creole languages. Valdman has received numerous international honors and accolades in a lifetime dedicated to research and teaching of the French language, French linguistics, pidgin and Creole studies (especially Haitian and Louisiana Creoles), second language acquisition, and bilingual education. His work and scholarship have been recognized by the French government, the U.S. Embassy in Haiti, the International Association of Applied Linguistics, and the American Association of Teachers of French. He also holds an honorary degree from the Université de Neuchâtel (1991).

In addition to authoring and editing numerous books and textbooks, Valdman founded IU's Creole Institute in 1964, and he is founder/editor of the journal Studies in Second Language Acquisition, the leading international journal in the field. Among his most recent books as senior author and editor are A Learner's Dictionary of Haitian Creole (1998), Dictionary of Louisiana Creole (1998), and Chez nous: Introduction au monde francophone (1998), a first-year French language textbook co-written with Cathy Pons, MA'81, MA'84, PhD'90. Moreover, Valdman has written more than 200 articles and reviews for the major professional journals in his fields of research.

In response to the ambassador's remarks, Valdman paid tribute to the dedicated teachers of French in the United States, to IUB for supporting a French graduate program specializing in linguistics as well as language and literature, and to colleagues and students willing to work on non-mainstream, French-based language varieties outside of France.

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