Dr. Omar Ka
Professor · Tenured
Department of Modern Languages, Linguistics & Intercultural Communication
About
Biographical SketchOmar Ka earned a Doctorat du Troisième Cycle from Cheikh Anta Diop University (formerly the University of Dakar) in 1983, and a PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1987. A former Fulbright Senior Scholar, he taught and did research at Université Cheikh Anta Diop and Université Gaston Berger (both in Senegal), and at the University of Illinois. He is presently teaching Linguistics, Wolof and French at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, where he is a Regular member of the Graduate Faculty. His areas of specialization include Sociolinguistics, specifically Language Planning and Language Policy, and Phonology and Morphology.
He has authored or co-authored a number of books and articles on Language Planning (e.g., Une nouvelle place pour le français au Sénégal 1993; Senegalese Languages in Education: The First Congress of Wolof 1993; Social Reality and Perceptions of French in Sénégal 2002; Le défi d’intégration des langues et cultures africaines dans les programmes de scolarisation en Afrique Noire 2003), Wolof structure (e.g., La dérivation et la composition en Wolof 1981; Wolof Phonology and Morphology 1994; Wolof 2001), as well as textbooks (Nanu Dégg Wolof 2009; Aywa ci Wolof 1985; Africa Interactive Maps 1998).
His current research includes Language Planning and Education in Senegal; Wolof Prosodic Structure; the Phonology of Northern West Atlantic Languages (Seereer, Pulaar, Joola, Wolof).
Dr. Ka is a member of the Advisory Board for the Open Language Resource Center at the University of Kansas, and a member of the College of Senior Academic Mentors for the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) in Dakar, Senegal.
Research interests
Sociolinguistics, Language Planning, Phonology, African Linguistics, Wolof languageTeaching interests
Applied Linguistics, Phonology, Language Planning, Wolof (Introductory, Intermediate and Advanced levels), French Phonetics.Education
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Ph D, Linguistics
— University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (1988) Wolof Phonology and Morphology: A Non-Linear Approach
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Other, Linguistics
— University of Dakar (1983) La Syntaxe du Wolof: Essai D'Analyse Distributionnelle
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MA, Linguistics
— University of Dakar (1979) L'Accent en Wolof: Essai D'Analyse Phonetique et Linguistique
- BA, Linguistics — University of Dakar (1976)
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MA, Classics
— University of Dakar (1976) Les Richesses Africaines
- BA, Literature — University of Dakar (1975)