Associate Director, African Studies Center; Associate Professor, Linguistics
coetzee@umich.edu
Office Information:
Department of Linguistics
440 Lorch Hall, 611 Tappan Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1220
phone: (734) 764-0353
African Studies Center;
ASC Faculty;
ASC Staff;
International Institute
Education/Degree:
PhD in Linguistics, University of Massachusetts, 2004
MA in Linguistics, University of Massachusetts, 2002
MA in Semitic Languages, Potchefstroom University, South Africa, 1996
About
Andries Coetzee is an Associate Professor of Linguistics. His research interests cover formal phonological theory, phonetics, speech processing, and the interface between these research areas. In terms of phonological theory, he focuses on phonological variation, and on how current constraint-based models of phonological grammar (Optimality Theory and Harmonic Grammar) can be adapted to account for variable phenomena. A particular focus of this research is on how to combine grammatical and non-grammatical factors that contribute to variation into one integrated model. His phonetic research has focused on the acoustic description of Southern African languages (both Afrikaans and Bantu languages). He also collaborates with colleagues in the department on topics related to speech perception, with a focus on how phonological grammar impacts speech perception and processing.
Professor Coetzee regularly teaches phonology, both at the undergraduate and graduate level, as well as several of the department’s introductory level undergraduate offerings. He has recently supervised graduate students Michael Marlo (now on the faculty at the University of Missouri), “The verbal tonology of Lumarachi and Lunyala-West: two dialects of Lulyia” (2007), and Miyeon Ahn, “The interplay of phonetics and phonology in cross-language speech perception: the case of English loans in Korean” (2011). He also advised the undergraduate honors theses by Ania Musial, “Overcoming the subset problem” (2009), and Katherine Barcy “Parlez-vous Anglais?: rhythmic transfer in French accented English” (2010) [Recipient of the Matt Alexander Award for Best Undergraduate Honors Thesis in the Department of Linguistics.]
Andries Coetzee has served on several committees in Linguistics, including the Executive Committee, the Admissions Committee, and the Graduate Committee. He is a member of the University of Michigan African Presidential Scholar Program (UMAPS) evaluation committee, a member of the NSF Graduate Fellowship Evaluation Panel, and co-director of the 2013 LSA Institute. He is also an editorial board member of Phonology.
