Pullum, Geoffrey K(eith) 1945-

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PULLUM, Geoffrey K(eith) 1945-

PERSONAL: Born March 8, 1945, in Irvine, Scotland; naturalized U.S. citizen, 1987; son of Keith Francis and Marjorie Joan (Horsey) Pullum; married Joan Elona Rainford (a dressmaker), September 29, 1967 (divorced, July, 1993); married Barbara Caroline Scholz, July 22, 1994; children: (first marriage) Calvin James. Education: University of York, B.A. (language; first class honors), 1972; University of London, Ph.D. (general linguistics), 1976.

ADDRESSES: Home—262 Calvin Pl., Santa Cruz, CA 95060. Offıce—Stevenson College, University of California, 1156 High St., Santa Cruz, CA 95064; fax: 408-459-3334.

CAREER: Educator and author. University of London, London, England, faculty member, 1974-81; University of California, Santa Cruz, faculty member, 1981-87, acting director of the arts, 1987-88, dean of graduate studies and research, 1987-93, professor of linguistics, 1987—. Visiting lecturer, LSA Linguistic Institute, University of Massachusetts, 1974; visiting professor, Ohio State University, 1977; visiting lecturer, University of Birmingham, England, 1978; visiting scientist, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, 1978; visiting professor, University of Washington, 1980-81; visiting associate professor of linguistics, Stanford University, 1981; visiting professor, University of California—Los Angeles, 1983; visiting professor, Stanford University, 1987. Member, University of California—Santa Cruz Foundation Board, 1992-93. Served on various academic committees.

MEMBER: International Phonetic Association (life member), Linguistic Society of America (life member), Philological Society, Association for Computational Linguistics.

AWARDS, HONORS: Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences fellowship, 1990-91.

WRITINGS:

(Editor, with Didier L. Goyvaerts) Essays on the Sound Pattern of English, E. Story-Scientia (Ghent, Belgium), 1975.

(Compiler, with Gerald Gazdar and Ewan Klein) A Bibliography of Contemporary Linguistic Research, Garland (New York, NY), 1978.

Rule Interaction and the Organization of a Grammar, Garland (New York, NY), 1979.

(Editor, with Pauline Jacobson) The Nature of Syntactic Representation, D. Reidel (Boston, MA), 1981.

(Editor, with Gerald Gazdar and Ewan Klein) Order, Concord, and Constituency, Foris (Cinnaminson, NJ), 1983.

(With W. A. Ladusaw) Phonetic Symbol Guide, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 1986.

(Editor, with Desmond C. Derbyshire) Handbook of Amazonian Languages, four volumes, De Gruyter (New York, NY), 1986-98.

The Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 1991.

(With Rodney Huddleston and others) The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2002.

(With Rodney Huddleston and others) A Student's Introduction to English Grammar, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2005.

Also coauthor or coeditor of other books. Author of "Topic . . . Comment," a regular column in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 1983-89.

SIDELIGHTS: Geoffrey K. Pullum is an educator and author best known for his research in linguistics and language. With professor Rodney Huddleston and a group of thirteen scholars, Pullum coauthored The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, a massive 1,842-page tome. The book is not an English usage manual, as its title suggests, but a reference manual explaining how words and sentences are constructed "without recommending or condemning particular usage choices," the authors explain. Pullum and his collaborators do not fault incorrect grammar but simply explain its construction, a stance that elicited different reactions from reviewers. A Contemporary Review contributor explained the authors' approach to discussing grammar in the book: "As befits our democratic age, the Grammar never proscribes something as incorrect. 'I ain't got no bananas' is not so much 'wrong' as something which conflicts with 'the principles that govern the construction of words and sentences in the present-day language.'"

Library Journal's Manya S. Chylinski observed that the book is a combination of grammar and linguistics, but "leans heavily toward the field of linguistics." Chylinski felt that the book would appeal more to the "informed student of linguistics than to the simple lover of the English language." Writing in the Guardian Unlimited Web site, Eric Griffiths noted that the authors' approach to presenting—and not critiquing—English usage is characteristic of linguists. "We should not expect too much from linguists," he explained, "they are witnesses not judges." Griffiths went on to note, however, that the authors "sometimes fail to confine themselves within the narrow bounds of testimony." According to Griffiths, the authors observe that sentences like "'They invited my partners and I to lunch'" are often used by "'a significant portion of speakers of Standard English.'" However, "they fail to specify when a 'proportion' becomes 'significant'—does it take a bare majority or will a stroppy minority equally suffice?" he questioned.

Reviewers in general ultimately concluded that, even with its limitations, The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language is of great value. Another Library Journal critic dubbed the book "the most comprehensive study of English grammar" published in the last decade and a half, and the Contemporary Reviews contributor felt that the book "must stand as one of the best analyses of modern English."

Pullum once told CA: "I acquired U.S. citizenship in 1987 because California had come to seem so much my home that my British birth had come to feel like a clerical error in need of correction. My guiding intellectual principle is that appearances are not deceptive; it only seems as if they are. I spent most of the 1960s working as a professional rock musician and songwriter; I switched from rock music to academia because I wanted excitement."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Pullum, Geoffrey K., Rodney Huddleston, and others, The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2002.

PERIODICALS

American Reference Books Annual, 1997, review of Phonetic Symbol Guide, p. 375.

Contemporary Review, August, 2002, "New and Noteworthy," pp. 119-121.

Library Journal, September 1, 2002, Manya S. Chylinski, review of The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, p. 166; April 15, 2003, review of The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, p. 43.

Modern Language Review, July, 1998, review of Phonetic Symbol Guide, p. 764.

Reference and Research Book News, review of Phonetic Symbol Guide, p. 63.

Times Literary Supplement, September 6, 1991, p. 27.