Robin M. Queen is an American

sociolinguist Sociolinguistics is the descriptive, scientific study of how language is shaped by, and used differently within, any given society. The field largely looks at how a language changes between distinct social groups, as well as how it varies under ...

and Professor of Linguistics at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. In 2010 she was named a Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and Professor of Linguistics,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

Languages and Literatures, and

Germanic Languages The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania, and Southern Africa. The most widely spoke ...

and Literatures. She served as the Chair of the Department of Linguistics at the University of Michigan from 2014-2021 and the Chair of the Department of Communication and Media from 2022-2024. In 2024 she was named the

Sarah Thomason Sarah "Sally" Thomason (; born 1939) is an American scholar of linguistics, Bernard Bloch distinguished professor emerita at the University of Michigan. She is best known for her work on language contact, historical linguistics, pidgins and cr ...

Collegiate Professor of Linguistics.

Education and research

Queen earned a B.S. in Linguistics from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

in 1990, and she received both an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

(1993) and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

(1996) in Linguistics from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

. Her Ph.D. dissertation is titled, ''Intonation in contact: A study of Turkish–German bilingual intonation patterns''. Her work has primarily focused on the language use among lesbians, on language contact, especially among those of Turkish descent in Germany. She has also studied grammar peeves and how shepherds communicate with sheepdogs when moving livestock. Zacsheddingsheep

She published Vox Popular: The Surprising Life of Language with Wiley in 2015. Her work on shepherds and their

border collies The Border Collie is a British breed of herding dog of the collie type of medium size. It originates in the region of the Anglo-Scottish border, and descends from the traditional sheepdogs once found all over the British Isles. It is kept mos ...

has been featured on

Nova A nova ( novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. All observed novae involve white ...

and in

Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...

Honors

Queen was elected a Fellow of the

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'', ...

in 2015. Queen served as the co-editor-in-chief with

Anne Curzan Anne Curzan is a professor of English at the University of Michigan since 2012 and served as the dean of its College of Literature, Science, and the Arts from 2019-2024. Biography Curzan received a bachelor of arts in linguistics ''summa cum lau ...

of the ''

Journal of English Linguistics ''The Journal of English Linguistics'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering the field of linguistics. The editors-in-chief are Peter Grund (University of Kansas) and Alexandra D'Arcy (University of Victoria). It was established i ...

'' from 2006 to 2012.

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Georgetown University alumni University of Texas at Austin alumni University of Michigan faculty Fellows of the Linguistic Society of America American women linguists 20th-century American linguists 20th-century American academics 21st-century American linguists 21st-century American academics 21st-century American women academics {{US-linguist-stub