About
Martin is a first year linguistics PhD student. His research investigates the structural changes brought about in language by contact and attrition in languages of southern Africa, primarily Khoekhoe and Afrikaans. The phonetic, semantic and morphosyntactic consequences of language loss in Khoekhoe-speaking communities is of particular interest to him, as are the sociolinguistic and historic patterns that lead to these changes. His current interests centre on the influences and contributions of Khoekhoe languages to the historic and ongoing shaping of varieties of Afrikaans.
Martin completed his MA and BA(Hons) in Linguistics at the University of Cape Town (South Africa), before coordinating a large research project in South Africa developing early child language development norms for eleven languages.
