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
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
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.