Eric Heath Prendergast

Linguist, Balkanist, and translator


PhD Student
Department of Linguistics
University of California, Berkeley


About Me

Eric walkingI am a PhD student  in the Department of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, specializing in Balkan and Slavic languages. My theoretical interests include syntax, semantics, and information structure. I am particularly interested in how elements of discourse structure like old and new information-marking may be secondarily signaled by the use of grammatical elements whose primary purpose is to mark the interrelation between lexical elements. In this regard, I have done extensive theoretical and field work with clitic doubling in Balkan languages such as Albanian, Macedonian, Bulgarian, and Romanian.

I am also interested in the ways that social context and intersubjectivity affects speakers' use of 'deep structure' components of language like morphosyntax or semantic reference. This interest in the effect of social context on language has lead me to research topics such as: multilingualism within ethnically and linguistically mixed groups, the effect of language standardization on the linguistic performance of identity, and the realization of culturally-bound cognitive categories in the use of terms to describe and define subcultural communities such as gay men.

My graduate advisor at UC, Berkeley is Line Mikkelsen of the Department of Linguistics and I do extensive work with Ronelle Alexander of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures. I have also been advised by Victor Friedman of the University of Chicago. I collaborate with Timothy McCajor Hall of UCLA.

In addition to research, I provide professional translation services from Macedonian and Albanian to English. I have experience with both academic and literary translation.

Beyond linguistics, I have participated in artistic collaborations such as the drawing of ghosts/horror vacui installation and maintain an amateur interest in contemporary literature and poetry. I play rugby for the San Francisco Fog RFC and I am an avid bike rider and public transportation user. I like snowy weather, punk and indie rock, progressive policy, good beer, cityscapes, gender and sexuality theory, libraries, and the bewildering pleasures of Eastern European politics.

Office:
1309 Dwinelle Hall

Office hours:
Tu 11:30am-12:30pm
W 11:00am-12:00pm

Mailing address:
1203 Dwinelle Hall
UC, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-2650
USA

E-mail:
pren@berkeley.edu

Last updated October 3rd, 2011

Current Projects

Bulgarian Dialectology as Living Tradition

This project, directed by Ronelle Alexander, is aimed at producing a complex digital object comprising selected audio clips each of which is keyed to several text files containing analysis (and in certain instances still photos), plus a general comparative commentary embracing the entire collection. This complex of materials not only presents the diversity of Bulgarian dialectal speech in a more vivid and realistic manner than currently possible via dialect atlases, but also gives a capsule illustration of two important traditions in Bulgaria: that of village life as it maintains its inheritance from the past, and that of Bulgarian dialectology as it documents village speech in its living context. I have been aiding in the technical implementation of the project and the entry, glossing, and analysis of Bulgarian dialectological data.

Bulgarian Dialectology as Living Tradition
Sexual Identities, Sexual Health, and Social Networking among Czech Youth and Young Adults

This is a focused ethnographic project in collaboration with Timothy McCajor Hall of UCLA and Petr Prokopík of Charles University pursued over the Summer 2011 in Prague, Czech Republic to investigate the fragmenting of queer identities into multiple micro-identities determined by intersections with class, age, ethnicity (Czech and Roma/Gypsy), and HIV status. This project is being pursued with a view to increasing awareness of HIV/AIDS in this community, and possible changes in circumstances and attitudes since the accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union. My contribution to this project will be a sociolinguistic and cognitive anthropological analysis of traditional and new media concerning homosexuality in Czech in order to identify local cultural models of sexuality. These will help inform the interpretation of data that we gathered in surveys, participant-observation fieldwork, and semi-structured interviews.
Garifuna Pedagogical Grammar

In participation with Tim Palacio, a native speaker of the endagered Garifuna language of Belize, Honduras, and Guatemala, and with the Belize Garifuna National Council, my colleagues and I in the Berkeley Linguistics Field Methods seminar have been working toward the construction of a pedagogical grammar for Garifuna. In this work we have been guided by Lev Michael, who is teaching the seminar for Fall 2011 and Spring 2012. Ideally, this grammar will be of use for the recently established Gulisi Community Primary School for preserving Garifuna language and culture in Belize. As we proceed with linguistic documentation of Garifuna, we are also integrating our work with the needs of the language community whose cooperation is essential to our task. In creating a pedagogical grammar, we hope to contribute a resource of lasting value to the Garifuna community while also enriching our understanding of the structure of the Garifuna language.

Last updated October 13th, 2011

CV and Papers

[PDF version]

Research Interests

Syntax and semantics, information packaging, interfaces between discourse and morphosyntax, language and gender, language and subcultural identity, Balkan languages, Slavic languages, language contact

Education

Degree-granting institutions

2011-
2009-2011
2004-2008
Certificate-granting institutions

2011
2010
2009
2008
  • Test of Macedonian as a Foreign Language, Level B1 certification
  • Certificate of completion, Macedonian High Intermediate Level, 41st International Seminar for Macedonian Language, Literature, and Culture
2007
2006

Academic Grants, Fellowships, and Awards

2011
2010
2009
2008

Publications

2012
  • "Pragmatic dimensions of Macedonian object reduplication." Balkanistica 25:2.
2011

Selected talks

2011
  • February. "Contested grammars and Balkan identities: Results from fieldwork in the Republic of Macedonia." Fieldwork Forum: University of California, Berkeley [handout/powerpoint]
  • February. "Object doubling in Macedonian." Syntax and Semantics Circle: University of California, Berkeley [handout/powerpoint]
2010
  • April. "The pragmatic role of object reduplication in Albanian, Macedonian, and Bulgarian." 17th Balkan and South Slavic Conference, The Ohio State University. [paper/powerpoint/handout]
  • February. "Object relative clauses and clitic reduplication in Macedonian." Slavic languages: Time and contingency, University of California, Berkeley. [paper/powerpoint/handout]
2009
  • November. "Pragmatic dimensions of Macedonian object reduplication." 7th Macedonian-North American Conference on Macedonian Studies, University of Utah, Salt Lake City. [conference digital archive]
2008
  • November. "Istaknuvanjeto kako pragmatički determinator na udvojuvanje vo makedonskiot jazik." (Noteworthiness as a pragmatic determiner of reduplication in the Macedonian language.) VI. Naučen sobir na makedonisti, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje.

Relevant Work Experience and Service

2011
  • Graduate Student Instructor, Ling 100 (Introduction to Linguistic Science), Department of Linguistics, University of California, Berkeley
  • Sexual Identities, Sexual Health, and Social Networking among Czech Youth and Young Adults fieldwork project, research assistant
  • Bulgarian Dialectology as Living Tradition project for transcription, glossing, and analysis, research assistant
  • Editing of academic article "On grammatical category markers," Zuzanna Topolińska, Macedonian Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • Translation and editing services from Macedonian to English for Translation and Proofreading of 130 Volumes of Macedonian Literature into English project through the Congress Service Center
2010-2011
2010
  • Translation from Albanian to English of a literary essay for Heather McHugh, University of Washington
  • Translation from Macedonian to English of an academic journal article "Posesor i posesum" for Sonja Milenkovska, Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts
  • Editing of the Macedonian to English translation of the academic article "The Balkan Sprachbund from a Slavic perspective" for Zuzanna Topolińska, Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts
2009
  • Volunteer English teacher, Sumnal organization for Roma youth education
  • Volunteer English teacher, Rajko Žinzifov Elementary School

Professional Membership

Linguistic Society of America
American Anthropological Association
American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages
Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
Languages

English: native
Macedonian: advanced high
Czech: advanced low
Romanian: intermediate high
Albanian: intermediate high (advanced high reading)
German: intermediate mid
Russian: intermediate mid
Japanese: intermediate low
Romani (Arli): novice
Slovak: reading knowledge
Bulgarian: reading knowledge
Garifuna: elicitation

Computer Skills

LaTeX, R, HTML, CSS, Praat, Perl, C++


Last updated October 3rd, 2011

Translation

I have done professional translation and editing work from Macedonian and Albanian into English. I have experience with both literary and academic translation. I charge $25 per approximately one hour of work. The number of hours it will take to complete a given project is determined from the initial amount of the document that I complete in one hour, provided to you as a free sample. This gives you a chance, before we agree to a fee, to evaluate whether the translation quality is at the level you are looking for.

If you are interested in employing me for translation, contact me via e-mail (pren@berkeley.edu). I can provide references from previous clients on request.
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