Carol E. Genetti (born 1961) is an American linguist who is known for her

research Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...

into

Tibeto-Burman languages The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non- Sinitic members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken throughout the Southeast Asian Massif ("Zomia") as well as parts of East Asia and South Asia. Around 60 million people spe ...

and languages of the Himalayans.

Academic career

Genetti earned her Ph.D. in

Linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

in 1990 from the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

. Genetti is an emerita

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

from the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

, where she was a faculty member in the Department of Linguistics until 2020. Between 2013 and 2020 she was also the Dean of the UCSB Graduate Division, and she served as Chair of the Department of Linguistics from 1999-2005. Genetti now serves as the Vice Provost for Graduate and Postdoctoral Programs at NYU

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

. Her work into

Newar language Newar (; , ) is a Sino-Tibetan languages, Sino-Tibetan language spoken by the Newar people, the indigenous inhabitants of Nepal Mandala, which consists of the Kathmandu Valley and surrounding regions in Nepal. The language is known officially ...

is the first comprehensive grammar, focusing on the

Dolakhae dialect Dolakha Newar (endonym Dwālkhā Nepal Bhasa), or Eastern Newar, is a divergent dialect of the Newar language (''Nepal Bhasa'') spoken in Dolakha District, east of the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal, by 5,645 Newar people as of 1988. Some speakers of ...

. Her investigation into languages of the

Indosphere Indosphere is a term used for areas of Indian subcontinent, Indian linguistic influence in the neighboring Southern Asian, Southeast Asian, and East Asian regions. It is commonly used in areal linguistics in contrast with the Sinophone languages ...

has increased understanding of many typological features, including

auxiliaries Auxiliaries are combat support, support personnel that assist the military or police but are organised differently from regular army, regular forces. Auxiliary may be military volunteers undertaking support functions or performing certain duties ...

. In 2008, she founded

InField Infield is a sports term whose definition depends on the sport in whose context it is used. Baseball In baseball, the baseball field, diamond, as well as the area immediately beyond it, has both grass and dirt, in contrast to the more distant, ...

(now called

CoLang The Institute on Collaborative Language Research or CoLang is a biennial training institute in language documentation for any person interested in community-based, collaborative language work. CoLang has been described as part of a modern collabor ...

), an international training workshop in field linguistics and

language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

documentation. (See papers in

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

and Furbee.) She served as Director of the first InField when it was hosted by the University of California, Santa Barbara. InField/

has provided significant training/support for documentation of

endangered language An endangered language or moribund language is a language that is at risk of disappearing as its speakers die out or shift to speaking other languages. Language loss occurs when the language has no more native speakers and becomes a " dead langua ...

s in North America and worldwide.

Awards and distinctions

* 2011. Distinguished visiting fellow, the Cairns Institute,

James Cook University James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cair ...

, Cairns, Australia. * 2011. Chair, Committee on Endangered Languages and their Preservation,

Linguistic Society of America The Linguistic Society of America (LSA) is a learned society for the field of linguistics. Founded in New York City in 1924, the LSA works to promote the scientific study of language. The society publishes three scholarly journals: ''Language'', ...

* 2009. Inaugural

Georg von der Gabelentz Georg von der Gabelentz (16 March 1840 – 11 December 1893) was a German general linguist and sinologist. His (1881), according to a critic, "remains until today recognized as probably the finest overall grammatical survey of the Classical Chine ...

Award,

Association for Linguistic Typology The Association for Linguistic Typology (ALT) is a professional society for linguists interested in linguistic typology (general comparative linguistics, as opposed to historical-comparative linguistics). It was founded in 1995. The ALT has severa ...

(for ''A Grammar of Dolakha Newar'')

Publications

* 2014. ''How Languages Work: An Introduction to Language and Linguistics''. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

. (Editor) * 2013. (with Rebekka Siemens). ''Training as Empowering Social Action: An Ethical Response to Language Endangerment:'' ''

Language Death In linguistics, language death occurs when a language loses its last native speaker. By extension, language extinction is when the language is no longer known, including by second-language speakers, when it becomes known as an extinct langua ...

Endangerment Endangerment is a type of crime involving conduct that is wrongful and reckless or wanton, and likely to produce death or grievous bodily harm to another person. There are several kinds of endangerment, each of which is a criminal act that can ...

Documentation Documentation is any communicable material that is used to describe, explain or instruct regarding some attributes of an object, system or procedure, such as its parts, assembly, installation, maintenance, and use. As a form of knowledge managem ...

, and Revitalization''. ed. by Edith Moravcsik and Kathleen Wheatley. New York: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.142.04gen * 2013. Tense-Aspect

Morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

from Nominalizers in Newar. ''Functional-Historical Approaches to Explanation'', ed. by Tim Thornes, Erik Andvik, Gwendolyn Hyslop, and Joana Jansen. (Typological Studies in Language 103.) John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.103.10gen * 2011. The Tapestry of Dolakha Newar: Chaining, Embedding, and the Complexity of

Sentences The ''Sentences'' (. ) is a compendium of Christian theology written by Peter Lombard around 1150. It was the most important religious textbook of the Middle Ages. Background The sentence genre emerged from works like Prosper of Aquitaine's ...

Linguistic Typology Linguistic typology (or language typology) is a field of linguistics that studies and classifies languages according to their structural features to allow their comparison. Its aim is to describe and explain the structural diversity and the co ...

15. 5-24. https://doi.org/10.1515/lity.2011.002 * 2008. Syntactic Aspects of Nominalization in Five Tibeto-Burman Languages of the Himalayan Area. With Ellen Bartee, A. R. Coupe, Kristine Hildebrandt, and You-Jing Lin. ''Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area'' 31(2), 97-144. * 2007. ''A Grammar of Dolakha Newar.'' (Mouton Grammar Library 40.) Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110198812

External links

Carol Genetti

InField 2008 webpage

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Genetti, Carol 1961 births Living people Linguists from the United States University of Oregon alumni Linguists of Himalayan languages University of California, Santa Barbara faculty Newar studies scholars American women linguists