Joseph Curtis "Joe" Salmons (born in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

in 1956) is an American linguist who is Professor of Language Sciences at

University of Wisconsin – Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ro ...

Biography

Salmons received his BA in

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

from the

University of North Carolina at Charlotte The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte or simply Charlotte) is a public research university in Charlotte, North Carolina. UNC Charlotte offers 24 doctoral, 66 master's, and 79 bachelor's degree programs through nine colle ...

1978, and his

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

Germanic Linguistics Germanic philology is the philological study of the Germanic languages, particularly from a comparative or historical perspective. The beginnings of research into the Germanic languages began in the 16th century, with the discovery of literary tex ...

from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

in 1984. His dissertation supervisor was

Edgar C. Polomé Edgar Ghislain Charles Polomé (July 31, 1920March 11, 2000) was a Belgian-born American philologist and religious studies scholar. He specialized in Germanic and Indo-European studies and was active at the University of Texas at Austin for mu ...

. He subsequently served as Assistant Professor (1985-1991) and Associate Professor (1991-1995) of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

and

Linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

. Since 1995, Salmons has served as Associate Professor (1995-1997) and Professor (1997-2017) of German and Professor of Language Sciences (2017-) at the

. Salmons specializes in

Germanic linguistics Germanic philology is the philological study of the Germanic languages, particularly from a comparative or historical perspective. The beginnings of research into the Germanic languages began in the 16th century, with the discovery of literary tex ...

and works increasingly on

Algonquian languages The Algonquian languages ( or ; also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Indigenous languages of the Americas, indigenous American languages that include most languages in the Algic languages, Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language f ...

. He primarily researches

language change Language change is variation over time in a language's features. It is studied in several subfields of linguistics: historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, and evolutionary linguistics. Traditional theories of historical linguistics identify ...

and linguistic theory, particularly sound systems. Salmons is the author numerous monographs, including ''A History of German'' (2018), and he is co-editor with Patrick Honeybone of the ''Oxford Handbook of Historical Phonology'' (2015). Salmons is married to linguist Monica Macaulay.

Honors and awards

Salmons edited the journal '' Diachronica'' from 2002-2020 and is on the editorial board of numerous scholarly journals, and has held leading positions at several scholarly societies. He co-founded the Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures with

Jim Leary Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring * ''Jim' ...

and has served as director for much of its existence. He 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 2018.

Selected works

* ''Accentual Change and Language Contact'', 1992. * ''The Glottalic Theory'', 1993. * ''A History of German'', 2018. * ''Sound Change'', 2022. * ''Oxford Handbook of Historical Phonology'', 2015. o-edited with Patrick Honeybone.

References

External links

Website
of Joe Salmons
Joe Salmons
at the website of the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

Interview with Joe Salmons, UofWisconsin-Madison Oral History Program
American editors American non-fiction writers American philologists Fellows of the Linguistic Society of America Living people Germanic studies scholars Germanists Linguists of Germanic languages Purdue University faculty University of North Carolina at Charlotte alumni University of Texas at Austin alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty {{Linguist-stub 1956 births