Faculty

Biography

Jeremy Coburn has a primary research focus on the phonetics and phonology of African languages. Using traditional fieldwork methodologies and novel laboratory techniques, he investigates the complex acoustics and articulations of non-pulmonic consonants, i.e., clicks, ejectives, and implosives. His dissertation described the sound system of Hadza, a language isolate spoken in north-central Tanzania, and highlighted recent declines in the language's vitality. Jeremy adopts a community-based, community-focused approach to work in collaboration with the Hadza community to bolster intergenerational language transmission.

Selected Publications

• Coburn, Jeremy. 2024. The Hadza Language: Vitality, Phonetics, and Phonology. Doctoral dissertation, Indiana University.
• Coburn, Jeremy & Bonny Sands & Richard Griscom & Andrew Harvey. Forthcoming. Tonal Patterns of Hadza Nouns. In the Proceedings of the 10th World Congress of African Linguistics.
• Coburn, Jeremy. In press. Language Endangerment and Vitality Among the Hadzabe of Tanzania. In Multilingualism, Identity, and Language Endangerment in Africa. Springer Reference Series.
• Harvey, Andrew & Griscom, Richard & Coburn, Jeremy. In press. A Sketch of Hadza Grammar. Submitted to Studies in African Linguistics.