Some personal archaeology
I came into Linguistics serendipitously. Although I have always been interested in languages, largely due to growing up on the Mexican border, hearing Spanish spoken all around me, in Holtville, California (where my dad worked as a cowboy, bartender, and mechanic), near Mexicali, Mexico, I wasn't particulary interested in science - I wanted to be a musician. But on a trip with my school band to Hollywood, I went to see the movie My Fair Lady (at the Egyptian Theater) and I was fascinated by the work of 'Henry Higgins' (coincidentally, the linguistic consultant for that film was Peter Ladefoged, who became a good friend and co-author, before his death in 2006). Higgins's work attracted me intellectually and because it looked like phoneticians could get rich.
Research
Over the years I have had grants totalling more than three million dollars for Amazonian research, from the European Commission, Brazil, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and Economics and Social Research Council of Great Britain, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Science Foundation, among others. I am currently between grants.My research these days is focused mainly on language and culture.
What interests me most
- The interaction of culture and grammar, cognition, philosophy of linguistics, the blues, and the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at ISU! (My full cv: Curriculum Vitae (pdf))
- Learn more about Dan and his research by checking out his academic website found at: http://www.llc.ilstu.edu/dlevere
Research Interests
Linguistics
Anthropology
Cognition
- In recent months I have been working extensively with Michael Frank, Ted Gibson, and Evelina Fedorenko, via Gibson's lab at MIT. An advanced draft of a paper on number in Pirahã by this team can be downloaded here.
- I am also collaborating in research with folks at Stanford Psychology, including Jennifer Yoon, Nathan Witthoft, and Jonathan Winawer,