JEFFREY P. KAPLAN

Professor of Linguistics                                                       11360 Meadow View Rd.

Department of Linguistics                                                    El Cajon, CA 92020

& Asian/Middle Eastern Languages         (619) 579-1190                       

San Diego State University                                              

San Diego, CA 92182

(619) 594-5879

E-mail:  jkaplan@mail.sdsu.edu                        

Fax:  (619) 594-4877                    

Research interests:  English grammar, functional syntax, semantics, pragmatics; language and law.  

EDUCATION:

1994        University of San Diego.            J.D.        Law

1976        University of Pennsylvania        Ph.D.      Linguistics

1971        University of Pennsylvania        M.A.       Linguistics

1965        University of Chicago                A.B.        Linguistics

1987        Linguistic Institute (Linguistic Society of America), Stanford University

1983        Linguistic Institute (Linguistic Society of America), UCLA

1981        NEH Summer Seminar for College Teachers, University of Massachusetts

(Topic:  Formal semantics; Barbara Partee and Emmon Bach, co-directors)

1977        NEH Summer Seminar for College Teachers, University of New Mexico

(Topic:  Bilingualism; Bernard Spolsky, director)

1971        Linguistic Institute (Linguistic Society of America), SUNY-Buffalo

TEACHING:

1981 - date:      Department of Linguistics & Asian/Middle Eastern Languages, San Diego

State University.  Tenured 1984, promoted to full professor 1996.  2002-2009:  department chair.  

1979-1981:      Assistant Professor, English Department, Northeastern University, Boston,

MA.

1976-1979:      Lecturer, Linguistics Department, San Diego State University.

1976:              Visiting Assistant Professor, English Department, University of Arizona.

1974-1975:      Lecturer, Program in Linguistics, University of Melbourne (Australia).

1973-1974:      Visiting Instructor, English Department, University of Arizona.

TEACHING AWARDS:

1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2001:    Most influential faculty member, chosen by Linguistics Department Outstanding Graduating Student.

BRIEFS AMICUS CURIAE:

2009. Neal Goldfarb, counsel of record. With Hana Filip, Georgia M. Green, Jason

Merchant, Barbara Partee, Roger Shuy, and Thomas Wasow. ÒMemorandum of professors of linguistics as amici curiae in support of the defendantsÕ motion to dismiss the complaint.Ó State District Court for the District of Columbia, No. 1:09-cv-00171-JR.

2008.  Charles M. Dyke, counsel of record. With Dennis E. Baron and Richard W. Bailey. 

D.C. v. Heller, No. 07-290. Supreme Court of the United States.  "Brief for professors of linguistics and English in support of petitioners."

2008.  Neal Goldfarb, counsel of record.  With Edward Gibson, Georgia M. Green, Ray

Jackendoff, and Roger W. Shuy.  U.S. v. Hayes, No. 7-608.  Supreme Court of the United States.  "Brief of professors of linguistics and cognitive science as Amici Curiae in support of neither party."

2008. Neal Goldfarb, counsel of record. With Thomas Ernst, Georgia M. Green, and

Sally McConnell-Ginet. Ignacio Carlos Flores-Figueroa v. U.S., No. 08-108. Supreme Court of the United States. ÒBrief of professors of linguistics as amici curiai in support of neither party.Ó

1993    Clark D. Cunningham, counsel of record. With Judith N. Levi, Georgia M. Green,

and Lawrence Solan. U.S. v. X-Citement Video, Inc., 115 S. Ct 464 (1994). ÒBrief amicus curiae of the Law and Linguistics Consortium.Ó

PUBLICATIONS:

2007.  With Betty J. Birner & Gregory Ward.  Functional compositionality and the

interaction of discourse constraints. Language 83 (2).317-343.

2007.  With Gregory Ward & Betty J. Birner.  Epistemic would, open propositions, and

truncated clefts, in Topics on the Grammar-Pragmatics Interface: Papers in Honor of Jeanette K. Gundel, edited by Nancy Hedberg and Ron Zacharski. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, p. 77-90.

2004    With Betty J. Birner.  Scalar nominals in English.  Papers from the 38th regional

meeting, Chicago Linguistic Society. Edited by Mary Andronis, Erin Debenport, Anne Pycha & Keiko Yoshimura.  Chicago:  University of Chicago Press, p. 91-102.

2003 With Betty J. Birner and Gregory Ward.  A pragmatic analysis of the epistemic

would construction in English.  In Facchineti, R., M. Krug, & F. Palmer, eds., Modality in contemporary English.  Mouton de Gruyter, p. 71-80.

1998    Pragmatic contributions to the interpretation of a will.   Forensic Linguistics 5.107-

126.

1995    With Georgia M. Green.  Grammar and inferences of rationality in interpreting the

child pornography statute.  Washington University Law Quarterly 73.1223-1251.

1995.  With Georgia M. Green, Clark D. Cunningham, and Judith N. Levi.   Bringing

linguistics into judicial decisionmaking:  semantic analysis submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court.  Forensic Linguistics 2.81-98.

1995    English Grammar:  Principles and Facts.   Englewood Cliffs, NJ:  Prentice-Hall.  2e.

1994    With Clark D. Cunningham, Judith N. Levi, and Georgia M. Green.  Plain meaning

and hard cases.  Yale Law Journal 103.1561-1625.

This review article reported on application of linguistic analysis to three cases under consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1993 term.  The article was sent, in galley form, to the Court in late November, 1993, before oral argument.  In one of the cases, the article was cited in the majority opinion (U.S. v. Granderson, 114 S. Ct. 1259, 1267 n. 7 (1994)).  In another, the article was cited in the concurrence (U.S. v. Staples, 62 USLW 4379, 4386 (1994) (Ginsburg, J., concurring with O'Connor, J.)).

1994     Review of Levi, Judith N., & Anne Graffam Walker, eds., Language in the judicial

process, Forensic Linguistics 1.94-106.

1994    Review of Baldwin, J., & P. French, Forensic Phonetics, International criminal

justice review 4.91-93.

1993    Syntax in the interpretation of legal language: the vested vs. contingent distinction

in property law," American Speech 68.58-82.

1989    English grammar:  principles and facts.  Englewood Cliffs, NJ:  Prentice-Hall.  

1988    Small clauses and the projection principle. Proceedings of the 14th Annual Meeting,

Berkeley Linguistics Society, ed., by S. Axmaker, A. Jaisser, and H. Singmaster (Berkeley:  Berkeley Linguistics Society) 78-87.

1986    Review of Celce-Murcia, M. & D. Larsen-Freeman, The grammar book. CATESOL

News.

1985    VP anaphor choice in discourse.   Beyond the sentence:  discourse and sentential

form, ed. by J.R. Wirth.  Ann Arbor:  Karoma Publishers.

1984    Obligatory too  in English.   Language 60.510-518.

1984    With Michael A. Shand.  Error detection as a function of integrativity.   Universals

of second language acquisition, ed. by F.R. Eckman, L.H. Bell, and D. Nelson.  Rowley, MA:  Newbury House.

1980    Non-transformational grammar for non-linguists. Linguistics and the university

education, ed. by G. Hudson.  East Lansing:  Michigan State University.

1976    The variability of phrasal anaphoric islands.   Papers from the 12th Regional

Meeting, Chicago Linguistics Society, ed. by S. Mufwene, C. Walker, and S. Steever. Chicago:  Chicago Linguistics Society, 337-350.

1976    The anaphoric bond.   Melbourne University working papers in linguistics, ed. by

R. Zatorski and E. Pearce.  Melbourne:  Melbourne University.

1972    Review of Patricia L. Carrell, A transformational grammar of Igbo.  American

Anthropologist 74.

ORAL PRESENTATIONS:

2007    A partial answer to a question about Miranda.   International Association 
of

Forensic Linguists, 8th Biennial Conference on Forensic Linguistics/Language and Law, 
University of Washington.

2006    A linguistic look at the Miranda Òwarning.Ó  Invited talk, Interpreter Services, U.S.

District Court, Southern District of CA.

2004    Speech acts in custodial interrogation:  how linguists can help courts even if

language is 'plain.'  Invited talk, Northern Illinois University.

2004    The perils of being a linguistic tour guide:  teaching linguistics to lawyers, judges,

and juries.  UCSD Dept. of Linguistics lecture series on Interdisciplinary Approaches to Linguistics. 

2004    With Betty J. Birner & Gregory Ward.  Epistemic would, clefts, and functional

compositionality.  Eighth Annual Meeting, Texas Linguistic Society, Austin, TX.

2003    With Kyle Thompson.  Absolutes and second amendment interpretation.  Annual

meeting, Linguistic Society of America. Atlanta, GA, Jan. 3.

2003    With Betty J. Birner & Gregory Ward. Epistemic modals and temporal reference.

Annual meeting, Linguistic Society of America. Atlanta, GA, Jan. 3.  

2002    With Betty J. Birner.  Implicature and scalar nominals.  Thirty-eighth annual

meeting, Chicago Linguistic Society.  April 26.  Poster.

2001 With Betty J. Birner & Gregory Ward:

Pragmatics of epistemic would.   Philadelphia Semantics Society.

A pragmatic analysis of the epistemic would construction in English.   International conference on modality in contemporary English, University of Verona, Italy.  

Epistemic must and would:  a pragmatic differentiation.  Twenty-sixth annual linguistics colloquium, San Diego State University.

Referential ambiguity in the Ôthat would be XÕ construction.  Midwest conference on film, language, and literature, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL.

Open propositions and epistemic would.  Annual meeting, Linguistic Society of America. Washington, D.C.

2000 Recent applications of linguistics to law.  San Diego State University Linguistics

Department ÔBrown BagÕ Series.

1997    Linguistic contributions to the interpretation of a disputed will.  Third annual

conference, International Association of Forensic Linguists.  Duke University.  Also presented at San Diego State University Linguistics Colloquium.

1997    With Judith N. Levi.  Understandings of "meaning" in linguistics and law.  Annual

meeting, Law & Society Association, St. Louis.

1994    Invited participant, Northwestern University / Washington University Colloquium,

"What is meaning in a legal text."  Edited transcript of panel discussions published in Washington University Law Quarterly 73 (1995).

1994    Discussant, Panel, Linguistic analysis of Supreme Court cases, Annual Meeting,

Law and Society Association, Phoenix, AZ.

1994    Lexical semantics meets the Enterprise.   San Diego State University Linguistics

Colloquium.

1992    Discussant, Panel, The adequacy of the language of death penalty instructions.  

Annual Meeting, Law & Society Association.

1992    Out-of-court speech vs. legislation:  does QUANTITY apply?  Linguistic Society of

America Annual Meeting.

1991    Pragmatics and the law of evidence: adoptive admissions and legislation.   South

Atlantic Regional Meeting, American Dialect Society, Atlanta.

1991    The legal interpretation of silence:  the role of pragmatics.  San Diego State

University Linguistics Colloquium.

1990    Syntax and property law:  the 'vested' vs. 'contingent' distinction and a syntactic

explanation for it.  Northwestern University Linguistics Colloquium.  

Also presented at San Diego State University Linguistics Colloquium.

1988    Small clauses and the projection principle.  14th Annual Meeting, Berkeley

Linguistics Society.

1987    Small clauses in English.   San Diego State University Linguistics Colloquium.

1984    Sentential subjects and extraposition.  San Diego State University Linguistics     

Colloquium.

1982    Obligatory too  in English.   Linguistic Society of America Annual Meeting.

1981    With Michael A. Shand.  Error detection as a function of integrativity.  11th Annual

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Linguistics Symposium.

1981    Aspects of the grammar and semantics of too.  NEH Summer Seminar for College

Teachers, Amherst, MA.

1981    Recent findings about English VP anaphora.   San Jose State University and

University of Tennessee.

1980    Non-transformational grammar for non-linguists.   Michigan State University

Symposium:  Linguistics and the University Education.  East Lansing, MI.

1980    VP anaphor choice in discourse.  9th Annual University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Linguistics Symposium.  Milwaukee, WI.  

1979    Some issues in the formal grammar of Spanish-English code-switching. 

Georgetown University Roundtable on Languages and Linguistics.

1978    With Nancy S. Levin.  Say something new:  a constraint on VP deletion.  Linguistic

Society of America Annual Meeting.

1978    A semantic theory of inverted so.   Linguistic Society of America Summer Meeting.

1976    The variability of phrasal anaphoric islands.   Chicago Linguistic Society.

1974    Aspects of the theory of aspect.   University of Arizona Linguistics Club.

1973    The interative aspect in English.   Linguistic Society of America Summer Meeting.

LEGAL CONSULTING:

2009 Briccetti, Calhoun & Lawrence, LLP. Linguistic analysis of affidavit.

2008 Krause, Kalfaya, Benink & Slavens. Linguistic analysis of contract.

2006    Barger & Wolen.  Linguistic analysis of insurance policy.

2006 Hill & Robbins, P.C.  Linguistic analysis of insurance notification form.

2006    Law Offices of James S. Marinos.  Linguistic analysis of bank disclosure

agreement.  Deposition.

2004 Evans, Latham, & Campisi.  Linguistic analyses of trust.

2004 Barry D. Edwards.  Linguistic analysis of surreptitiously recorded telephone

conversations in criminal case.  Trial testimony.

2003 Public Defender of San Bernardino County, CA.  Linguistic analysis of custodial

interrogation.  Testimony in hearing on admissibility of evidence.

2001 Loeb & Loeb.  Linguistic analysis of lease contracts.

2001 Evans, Latham, & Campisi.  Linguistic analyses of will, codicil, and trusts.

2000 Gibbs & Fuerst.  Linguistic analysis of possibly defamatory utterances.

2000 Thorsnes, Bartolotta, & McGuire.  Linguistic analyses of loan documents. 

Deposition.

2000 Finkelstein & Krinsk.  Linguistic analysis of loan documents.

1999 Thorsnes, Bartolotta, McGuire & Padilla.  Linguistic analyses of mortgage

documents.  Deposition.

1997    Evans, Latham, Harris & Campisi.  Linguistic analysis of holographic will. 

Deposition; courtroom testimony.

1993 Thorsnes, Bartolotta, McGuire & Padilla.  Linguistic analysis of insurance company

documents.

1990 Thorsnes, Bartolotta, McGuire & Padilla.  Linguistic analysis of insurance company

documents.

1985 Defenders Program of San Diego, Inc.  Linguistic analysis of tapes of recorded

conversations.

1983 With Pamela Downing:  Fletcher & Patton.  Linguistic analysis of tapes of recorded

conversations.

SERVICE:

University (San Diego State University):

1986 - 1990     University General Education Committee

1984                University Curriculum Committee

College of Arts & Letters, San Diego State University:

1997 - 1999    Personnel Committee

1987 - 1989    Research and Professional Leaves Committee (Chair, 1988-9)

1982 - 1984    Academic Planning Committee (Chair, 1983-4)

Department of Linguistics, San Diego State University:

2002 – 2009 Chair    

2001 - 2002    Associate chair

1999 - 2002    Chair, Computational linguistics search committee

1991 - 2001    Chair, Departmental curriculum committee

1983 - 2001    Undergraduate adviser and certificate adviser

1981 - 1984    Adviser, Linguistics Students Association

Community:

2009 Lemon Grove, CA Rotary Club, invited speaker. A linguistic look at the

Second Amendment.

2009 Congregation Dor Hadash, invited speaker. A linguistic look at the Miranda

warning.

Various     Reviewer for Language, Law & Society Review, Natural Language and

Linguistic Theory, Forensic Linguistics, Journal of Mathematics Education, various publishers.

Various     Grant proposal reviewer, National Science Foundation.

2007        Op-ed article, The language gives us no such right.  San Diego Union-

Tribune, Nov. 2.        

(http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20071123/news_lz1e23kaplan.html)

2005         National Science Foundation:  revewer of graduate research fellowships

2003         Lemon Grove, CA Rotary Club, invited speaker. Linguistics and law.

2002, 2003     Reviewer of abstracts, Semantics and Linguistic Theory (SALT) Conference.

1997          Op-ed article, Ebonics could help black youths cope.  San Diego

Union-Tribune, Jan. 2.

1995        Op-ed article, Flag-burning ban:  protecting what it symbolizes or the

symbol?  San Diego Union-Tribune, Dec. 14, 1999. 

Reprinted in Censorship:  opposing viewpoints, ed. by B. Stay.  San Diego:  Greenhaven Press (1997).

Excerpt placed on panel in large sculpture Ò12151791Ó designed by Amy Larimer and Peter Bernheim on display at the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum, Chicago.

1987         Curriculum consultant, State Department of Education.

1995 – 2008 North American Representative, International Association of Forensic

Linguists.

1999 – date    Member, Editorial Board, Forensic Linguistics.