NEAL HUTCHESON

PRODUCER
An Emmy Award winning producer of cultural documentaries whose work has been featured on PBS, Discovery, History, A&E, Documentary Channel and Sundance. His films include The Last One, Coresounders, and First Language.

RENÉE BLAKE

PRODUCER
Associate Professor of Linguistics, New York University. Blake’s research examines language contact, race, ethnicity and class with a focus on African American English, Caribbean English Creoles and New York City English.

DANICA CULLINAN

PRODUCER
An Emmy Award winning producer of cultural documentaries whose work has been featured on PBS. Her films include Spanish Voices, Cedars in the Pines, and First Language.

WALT WOLFRAM

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Distinguished Professor at NC State University, a world leader in sociolinguistic research and publications, and the Director of the Language & Life Project at NC State University (LLP). Through the LLP Wolfram has facilitated numerous television documentaries, audio compilations, and other publications.

JOHN BAUGH

Margaret Bush Wilson Professor in Arts & Sciences. Washington University in St. Louis. Baugh has pioneered research in a number of descriptive and applications in African American English, and has led the examination of housing discrimination and linguistic profiling.

NOBLE KOFI NAZZAH

Writer and research consultant on issues related to Ghanaian history, economics, politics and culture. Nazzah holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Ghana and Master’s degrees from Webster University (USA) and the London School of Economics and Political Science (UK). His articles have been published in the Ghanaian press and in Foreign Policy (FP) magazine (Washington, USA).

PATRICIA CUKOR-AVILA

Professor of Linguistics and Technical Communication, University of North Texas. Cukor-Avila has conducted formative research on rural African American English in Texas and the differences between urban and rural speech in the South.

LISA GREEN

Professor of Linguistics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Green’s research focuses on the formal structure of African American English and the acquisition of language by African American children.

SONJA LANEHART

Breckenridge Endowed Chair in Literature and Humanities, University of Texas at San Antonio. Lanehart specializes in the study of English literature and linguistics, humanities, education and African-American studies.

SALIKOKO MUFWENE

Frank J McLoraine Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Linguistics and Humanities Collegiate Division, University of Chicago. Mufwene has a distinguished research career in the study of Gullah and is also an expert in the ecology of language change.

JEFFREY REASER

Associate Professor, English, North Carolina State University. Reaser has pioneered research and application on dialect diversity in public education and is the Director of the Teacher Education Program in English at NC State University.

JOHN RICKFORD

J.E. Wallace Sterling Professor of Linguistics and the Humanities, Stanford University. Rickford has an extensive research and applied experience in both creole languages and African American English.

CHANTI SEYMOUR

Associate Professor, the School of English Studies at the College of the Bahamas. Seymour is an expert in the study of Bahamian English and its educational and social status in the Bahamas.

JOHN SINGLER

Professor of Linguistics, NYU. Singler has conducted extensive research on Liberian English and its relationship to English in the African American diaspora.

ARTHUR SPEARS

Professor of Linguistics, Professor of Anthropology, City University of New York (CUNY). Spears is a specialist in African American English and pidgins and creoles, as well as race and ideology.

TRACEY WELDON

Associate Professor, University of South Carolina. Weldon has conducted research on Gullah in South Carolina, and currently examines language use among middle-class African Americans.

JOSEPH HILL

Assistant Professor of ASL and Interpreting Education, National Technical Institute for the Deaf RIT. Hill’s research interests include socio-historical and -linguistic aspects of Black ASL and attitudes and ideologies about signing varieties in the American Deaf community.

CEIL LUCAS

Professor Emerita of Gallaudet University and Editor of Sign Language Studies at Gallaudet University Press. Lucas is known for her significant contributions to the field of sign language linguistics.

CAROLYN McCASKILL

Professor of ASL and Deaf Studies, Gallaudet University. McCaskill is the second Black Deaf woman to have earned a Ph.D from Gallaudet University. She has served as the coordinator of the Deaf Studies program since 2005.