Albert Valdman
•Rudy Professor Emeritus
of French & Italian
and Linguistics
•Director, Creole Institute
Email: valdman @indiana.edu
Research areas:
French linguistics, pidgin and creole studies (especially Haitian Creole), second language acquisition, foreign language teaching, French in the United States
Education:
- PhD, French Linguistics, Cornell University, 1960
- MA, French Linguistics, Cornell University, 1955
- AB, Romance Languages, University of Pennsylvania, 1953
Background:
My research interests include French linguistics, viewed broadly to include sociolinguistics, lexicography, and the spread of French in the Americas, creole studies (especially Haitian Creole and Louisiana Creole) , second language acquisition , and teaching methodology. I have a strong commitment to foreign language pedagogy and have authored several college-level and high-school French textbooks. I served eight years as secretary-treasurer of the American Association for Applied Linguistics, one term as secretary general and two terms as president of the International Association of Applied Linguistics, and as vice-president and president of the American Association of Teachers of French (1991-98). I am also a member of two major francophone committees in the area of the language sciences: since 1975, on the Comité International des Etudes Créoles and since 1991, on the scientific network "Etude du français en francophonie" of the Agence universitaire de la francophonie (formerly AUPELF-UREF).
I am the founder and continuing editor of the journal Studies in Second Language Acquisition published by Cambridge University Press. Throughout my career, I have had the pleasure of guiding graduate students through their own first research efforts, having served as PhD dissertation director for 45 students. I am currently working on a research project funded by a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation entitled “Sociolinguistic Research on Haitian Creole” and another for the preparation of a differential dictionary of Louisiana French funded by a Mellon Emeritus Fellowship.
Selected awards:
- Ordre des Francophones d’Amériques (Québec), 2008
- Mellon Emeritus Fellowship, 2007
- Honorary Member of AATF (American Association of Teachers of French), 1999
- Ordre des Palmes Académiques (France), Chevalier 1986; Officier 1993; Commandeur 1998
- Florence Steiner Prize, awarded by ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) for distinguished service for foreign language education (post-secondary), 1998
- John Ryan Award for Distinguished Contributions to International Programs and Studies, Indiana University, 1998
- Honorary Member of AILA (International Association of Applied Linguistics), 1995
- Indiana Association of Teachers of French - Teacher of the Year, 1995
- Doctorate honoris causa, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, 1991
- Fulbright Senior Research Fellowship, 1985
- NATO-NSF Summer Fellowship, 1974
- Guggenheim Fellowship,1968
Publications highlights:
Books
Haitian Creole-English Bilingual Dictionary. With various collaborators. Bloomington:, IN Indiana University Creole Institute, 2007.
Études sur les variétés du français. Brooklyn, NY: LEGAS, 2003.
Dictionary of Louisiana Creole. With T. Klingler, M. Marshall, & K. Rottet. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998.
Bien entendu! Introduction à la prononciation française. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1993.
Le créole: structure, statut et origine. Paris: Klincksieck.1978
Introduction to French phonology and morphology. Rowley, MA: Newbury House, 1976
Articles and book chapters
Normes et déminorisation du français de Louisiane. In C. Bavoux (Ed.), Normes endogènes et plurilinguisme. Lyon: ENS Editions, 2008. PP. 22-29.
Haitian Creole at the dawn of independence. In D. Jenson (Ed.), The Haitian Issue: 1804 and Nineteenth-Century French Studies, Yale French Studies, 197, 2006, PP. 146-151.
Le français vernaculaire des isolats américains. In A. Valdman, J. Auger, & D. Piston-Hatlen (Eds.), Le Français en Amérique du Nord: Etat présent (pp. 207-227). Québec: Les Presses de l’Université Laval. 2005. PP. 207-227.
Vers la standardisation du créole haïtien. Revue française de linguistique appliquée X (1), 2005. PP. 39-52
