Mary Paster

Mary Paster is Professor of Linguistics and Cognitive Science at Pomona College, where she has been a faculty member since 2006. She is currently on leave during Fall 2025. Her work bridges theoretical linguistics with community-based language preservation, with a strong emphasis on phonological theory and fieldwork.

Research Interests:

• Phonology and Morphology, especially their interface
• Tone systems and vowel harmony in understudied languages
• Sound change and interspeaker phonological variation
• Field linguistics and language documentation
• Language reclamation and revitalization, particularly for African and Indigenous American languages

Her research is deeply collaborative, involving direct work with native speaker communities across multiple continents. Though no recent publications are listed in the provided text, her research trajectory centers on descriptive and theoretical phonology within a cognitive science framework, often contributing to the understanding of typologically diverse and endangered languages.

Scientific Affiliations and Initiatives:

• 7 College Native American Indigenous Studies Network
• Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival
• African Linguistics School Association
• Contemporary African Linguistics
• CoLang: Institute for Collaborative Language Research
• Foundation for Endangered Languages
• Linguistic Variation journal
• NSF Dynamic Language Infrastructure – Documenting Endangered Languages Program
• NSF Linguistics Program
• Pomona College Linguistics and Cognitive Science Department
• Rumsen Language Reclamation Project
• Somali Bantu Community of San Diego
• Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
• Word Structure journal
• Yurok Language Project

She mentors students in field methods and linguistic theory, and her work is grounded in ethical collaboration with language communities. She acknowledges that Pomona College resides on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded land of the Gabrielino-Tongva people.

Education:

• Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
• M.A., University of California, Berkeley
• B.A., summa cum laude, Ohio State University