Sam Obeng was awarded the Distinguished Professorship in Linguistics by Indiana University last spring. From the announcement given by I.U. President Pamela Witten:
Samuel Obeng Promoted
The pioneering scholarship of Samuel Obeng weaves together more than 30 African languages, offering insights into the structures of West African languages. A professor of linguistics in the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, Samuel is a leading Africanist and the principal authority of African pragmatics and the sociology of language.
Distinguished Professor Obeng joined the faculty of the Department of Linguistics in 1994. He came to the position from a faculty position at the University of Ghana in Legon, having received his doctoral degree from the University of York in 1988, working on the phonological and phonetic structure of his native Twi. His research has centered in African linguistics and has expanded around the area of phonological elocution to discourse topics in a wide variety of areas from conversational strategy to juridical discourse to political speech to religious practice.
Over his time at I.U. he’s published over 30 written and edited volumes and more than 130 other scholarly works in language description and discourse. His specific topics of study have brought to light many different discourse concepts and practices, including political indirection, the intersection of language and liberty, naming convention, and pidgin and creole-genesis in west Africa. His scholarly work also includes extensive translations in and out of the Akan languages.
Along with his research output, he directed the African Studies here at I.U. for seven years, and has been research mentor and chair for over 20 doctoral students. Prof. Obeng has been tireless cultural bridge between the African language communities and western scholarship here at I.U. for over a quarter of century, so we are glad to see the university recognize his commitment to the discipline, the university, and our department.
The College of Arts