Geoffrey Pullum

Professor Geoffrey K. Pullum (born March 8, 1945 in Irvine, Scotland) is a linguist specialising in the study of English. (The surname Pullum is pronounced ['pʊləm].) He is Professor of General Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh.

Geoffrey Pullum had, by his own admission, a very mediocre academic career before university, ending in his leaving secondary school early at age 16. After working in several jobs and performing as part of the rock band Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band, he enrolled in the University of York in 1968, graduating in 1972 with a Bachelor of Arts with first class honours. In 1976 he completed a PhD in linguistics at University College London.

Pullum left Britain in 1980, taking visiting positions at the University of Washington and Stanford University. He worked at the University of California, Santa Cruz from 1981 to 2007. In 1987 he became a citizen of the USA.

Pullum is also a frequent contributor to the blog Language Log upon which he can often be found arguing for linguistic descriptivism.

Liberman, Mark and Pullum, Geoffrey K. (2006). Far from the Madding Gerund and Other Dispatches from the Language Log, William, James & Company. ISBN 1-59028-055-5
Huddleston, Rodney D. and Pullum, Geoffrey K. (2005). A Student's Introduction to English Grammar, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-61288-8
Huddleston, Rodney D. and Pullum, Geoffrey K. (2002). The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-43146-8
Pullum, Geoffrey K. and Ladusaw, William A. (1996). Phonetic Symbol Guide, University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-68535-7
Pullum, Geoffrey K. (1991). The Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax and Other Irreverent Essays on the Study of Language, University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-68534-9. (See also Eskimo words for snow)
Gazdar, Gerald; Klein, Ewan; Pullum, Geoffrey K.; and Sag, Ivan A. (1985). Generalized Phrase Structure Grammar. Basil Blackwell, Oxford. ISBN 0-631-13206-6

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