Russell G. Schuh

Russell G. Schuh (1941–2016) was a Distinguished Professor of Linguistics at UCLA, known for his groundbreaking work on Chadic languages and African poetic metrics. He served as Chair of the Linguistics Department (1989–94) and the final Chair of Applied Linguistics at UCLA. His research focused on documenting understudied African languages, particularly in Northern Nigeria, Cameroon, and Niger.

Education:

• BA in French, University of Oregon (1963)
• MA in French, Northwestern University (1964)
• MA in Linguistics, UCLA (1968)
• PhD in Linguistics, UCLA (1972)

Research Interests: Schuh specialized in descriptive and historical comparative linguistics of Chadic languages (e.g., Hausa, Bole, Ngizim), African poetic metrics, and language documentation. His work extended to West African languages like Fula, Ewe, and Wolof. He also explored linguistic structures in Korean later in his career.

Grants & Collaborations: Supported by National Science Foundation grants, he conducted fieldwork in Nigeria, collaborating with Dr. Alhaji Maina Gimba on projects such as the Yobe Languages Research Project. His work produced lexicons, grammars, and text collections for languages like Bole and Bade.

Labs/Teams: His research involved creating lexical databases using FileMaker Pro and contributing to the Aflang website, managed by Dr. Olga Ivanova. He pioneered online teaching, digitizing UCLA's Linguistics 1 course.

Legacy: Remembered for his scholarly rigor, administrative leadership, and kindness, Schuh’s legacy includes extensive linguistic archives and educational innovations. His fieldwork and publications remain foundational for Chadic studies.