I inhabit a number of different roles in my professional life, and language is fundamental to each of them. I am trained as a theoretical phonologist and phonetician, with a focus on languages spoken in Southeast Asia, particularly Mon-Khmer languages. I have an ongoing interest in the maintenance and preservation of lesser spoken languages, in part because linguistic rights and language diversity are strong indicators of human rights, biological diversity, class (in)equality and so on. Finally, my recent work has involved training and supporting Burmese and Karen-American youth to collect oral histories in their local communities.
