Research Areas

language ecology
dialectology
language on the internet
language heritage
language revitalization
morphophonology
minority languages and cultures of France, especially Occitan
"France" throughout time
cultural history of wine

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.

Interested in learning more about contemporary Occitan? Please contact Oliver to learn more about the Occitan Studies Working Group, which he coordinates. The annual lecture series is available here

Interested in doing research in the humanities as an undergrad? Please contact Oliver to learn more.

Press Interviews: 

Pratx, Philippe. (27 July 2024). "Oliver Whitmore: un universitaire américain fait entrer l'occitan à Berkeley (Interview)". Cheminez.fr https://cheminez.fr/2024/07/29/oliver-whitmore-fait-entrer-loccitan-a-berkeley-interview/

Pech, Clément. (8 March 2024). "Entrevista a Oliver Whitmore", on L'ora del tè. Radio Occitània. https://www.podcastics.com/podcast/episode/entrevista-doliver-whitmore-fr-285068/?s=788

Pratx, Philippe. (3 March 2024). "Occitans, cet universitaire américain a besoin de vous pour une étude". Cheminez.fr.  https://cheminez.fr/2024/03/03/occitans-cet-universitaire-americain-a-besoin-de-vous-pour-une-etude/

Gratiolet, Guillaume. (7 Aug 2023). "3 Questions A....Oliver Whitmore". Lo Diari revista culturala. https://lodiari.com/3qa-oliver-whitmore/

Recent Teaching & Educational Appointments

Fall 2024, French/Spanish/Italian C26: Introduction to Romance Languages and Linguistics
Summer 2024, French R1B The Embottled Experience: Testing Terroir and Sensing the Self.
Fall 2023, French/Spanish/Italian C26: Introduction to Romance Languages and Linguistics
Summer 2023, French 1 Introductory French
Spring 2023, French 35: Pronunciation, Placemaking, and Dialectology.
Summer 2022, R1b Language Endangerment in the department of Linguistics 

For Spring 2022, Fall 2022 & Fall 2023 Oliver served as the head librarian in the department's Library of French Thought.
In Summer 2021, he served as a Reader for Linguistics 155AC: Language in the United States: A Capsule History

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

Selected Publications

Whitmore, O. (2023). But I don't speak Breton ...? Teaching Regional & Minority Languages & Cultures of France. French Studies Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1093/frebul/ktad018

Review

Whitmore, O. (2024). Review of Studies in Italian as a Heritage Language (ed. Francisco Bryan Romano), De Gruyter Mouton. 324 pp. https://linguistlist.org/issues/35.1316/