Charles (Chuck) Cairns

Professor Emeritus

MA/Ph.D. Program in Linguistics

Graduate Center, City University of New York

Queens College, Department of Linguistics and Communication Disorders

Education:

Bachelors in Linguistics, 1961, Columbia University

MA in Uralic and Altaic Languages, 1963, Columbia University

Masters Thesis in Finnish Syntax

Ph.D. in Linguistics, 1968, Columbia University

Doctoral Dissertation: Neutralization and Markedness in Phonological Rules

Employment:

1966 -- 1971 Assistant Professor of Linguistics and Speech

University of Texas at Austin

1971 -- 2003 Professor of Linguistics, Queens College and the Graduate

Center of the City University of New York

Currently Professor Emeritus of Linguistics, Queens College and the Graduate Center, CUNY

Research interests: Phonological theory

(This is the bare beginning of my web site. I am just learning how to create and update the web site, so bear with me during the growing pains, please.)

My field of specialization is Phonology, the scientific study of the sound structure of human language. Below are some references to work I've done recently; there will be more later, as I develop this web site.

A large portion of my professional life has been occupied by being Chair of the Queens College Linguistics Department (12 and a half years), and then Executive Officer of the MA/Ph.D. Program in Linguistics at the Graduate Center (nine years).

I met my wife, Helen, in Texas; she is also an academic and we have been at CUNY together. She has also spent many years in administration -- as dean, department chair, etc. We have one child, Stewart, together. I have a daughter, Kristina, by a previous marriage; Helen has two children, Rick and Helene, by a previous marriage. All these children are now adults. Helen has seven grandchildren.

Here is a reference to a paper I am now in the final stages of completing: Foot and Syllable in Southern Paiute
Here's the reference to the version of the Southern Paiute paper that I read at the LSA in January, 2003. The diagrams are all at the end of the paper. LSA Version of SoPai paper
My current project is the Symposium in Phonological Theory, to be held at the CUNY Graduate Center February 20 and 21, 2004.
Here are three photographs of our two Shih Tzu puppies, when they were just a few weeks old. They were born in August, 2003.
The darker puppy is named "Pazuzu" and the lighter one is called "Leander." Pazuzu is the name of an ancient Mesopotamian demon. "Leander" is the name of a curly maned lion in a children's book that my children enjoyed.

Here's a good picture of Pazuzu, taken at the same time as the others. Cute, huh? It's hard to tell that he's running, because his front legs are so fuzzy.

First try.