Research Areas

language ecology

dialectology

language on the internet

space & place

language revitalization

morphophonology

minority languages and cultures of France, especially Occitan

"France" throughout time

Biography

Oliver's primary research interest concerns sound change within and across morphological boundaries in Western Romance. He is influenced by cognitive models and interpretations, such as exemplar modeling and phonetic analogy. He is quite interested in Occitan language, culture, and society, focusing on issues such as: inheritance, retention and creation of cultural knowledge, recognition of linguistic knowledge, globalization and identity, and language use in daily life, cultural products, and the media. He has advised the University Libraries in obtaining contemporary Occitan materials.

Unsurprisingly, Oliver's favorite wines come from Languedoc. He is also a tea enthusiast and enjoys taking walks in nature.

In Spring 2023, he is teaching French 35: Pronunciation, Placemaking, and Dialectology.
For Spring 2022 & Fall 2022, Oliver worked as the librarian in the department's Library of French Thought.
For Summer 2022, he taught R1b Language Endangerment in the department of Linguistics 

M.A. French, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2018
B.A. with Honors Research Distinction, Romance Studies & Linguistics, The Ohio State University, 2016

Interested in learning more about contemporary Occitan? Please contact Oliver to learn more about the Occitan Studies Working Group, which he coordinates.