Patrick Thomas
Visiting Assistant Professor of Linguistics
Irby 302 B
(501) 852-0989
Patrick N. Thomas is a visiting assistant professor of linguistics. He joined the UCA faculty in the Fall 2017 semester. His dissertation uses instrumental techniques to provide an acoustic analysis of the phonetics of Kawaiisu, an endangered Uto-Aztecan language of California. Dr. Thomas has also worked with a member of the Gila River Indian Community to compile resources for the beginnings of a project whose goal is to create a dictionary for Akimel O’otham, an indigenous language of Arizona. His research interests are in the areas of phonetics, phonology, Optimality Theory, language revitalization, linguistic documentation, Uto-Aztecan languages, and Muskogean languages. Courses taught at UCA include Language, Culture & Society, Intro to Linguistics, World Languages, Semantics, Phonology, and occasionally (as Special Topics) Phonetics, and Methods of Language Revitalization.