astronomy

Samuel Obeng (linguist)

Samuel Obeng (linguist) is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Samuel Obeng (linguist) rather than just read about it. In short: Samuel Gyasi Obeng is a Ghanaian-American linguist. He is currently Distinguished Professor of Linguistics and the Director of the West African Languages Institute (WALI) at Indiana University Bloomington (IUB).

Key takeaways

Samuel Obeng (linguist) belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Samuel Obeng (linguist) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Samuel Obeng (linguist) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Samuel Gyasi Obeng is a Ghanaian-American linguist. He is currently Distinguished Professor of Linguistics and the Director of the West African Languages Institute (WALI) at Indiana University Bloomington (IUB). He is affiliated with IUB’s Linguistics Department, African Studies Program (Hamilton-Lugar School of Global and International Studies) and holds Adjunct Professorship positions in the Departments of African American and African Diaspora Studies, Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures, and Islamic Studies Obeng has written extensively (35 books and 135 refereed articles) about language and liberty, African communicational mores, especially, verbal indirection, political, juridical, religious, health and informal discourses, African onomasiology and African languages documentation. Obeng has appeared on radio (Public Radio International, WFHB, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, etc.), television (GTV, etc.) and in print media to present some of his work and provide expert opinion on social and political issues in Africa. He has been a keynote speaker at important conferences, won important awards and served as external evaluator for universities in Africa, Oceania, Asia, Europe, the Americas and the Greater Middle East.

Education

Obeng obtained his Bachelor of Arts (Honors) degree in Linguistics in 1981 at the University of Ghana, Legon-Accra (Ghana). He earned his Doctor of Philosophy (D.Phil.) from the University of York in England (UK) in 1988 specializing in Language and Linguistics Science with emphasis on Phonetics, Phonology and Pragmatics with a dissertation entitled, Conversational Strategies: Towards a Phonological Description of Projection in Akyem-Twi.

Research interests Obeng’s primary research interests are in African linguistics, conversational phonetics, Firthian Prosodic Phonology, language and liberty, Discourse-Pragmatics (especially institutional discourse, language and law, language and politics, language and religion, language and health), Multilingualism and Language Contact. An expert in African Social Interaction, Obeng is credited for being the first linguist to investigate how Conversation Analytic methodology informs and restructures our understanding of the functioning of phonetic detail and phonetic distinction and variation in an African language. His work scrutinizes the phonetic resources used by African language interactional participants in institutional domains (e.g., courtrooms, political arenas, health institutions, etc.) and in informal discourse settings. He has examined how speakers employ phonetic features like pitch, loudness, tempo, voice quality (e.g., creaky, plain and breathy phonation types), rhythm, as well as vowel and consonant quality to manage interactional categories like turn-taking, repair, overlapping talk, backchannel communications, concurrence, descensions, requests, apologies, cross-examinations as well as bad and good news delivery. Obeng has also investigated how listeners orient to and are impacted by the above-mentioned phonetic features. These have resulted in the publication of several books and refereed journal articles and book chapters. Obeng’s work on language and liberty draws inspiration from Sir Isaiah Berlin’s (1960) Four Essays on Liberty and investigates how people with less power use resistive speech to challenge the validity claims of powerful political, judicial, health and religious actors. His work on African onomasiology, especially anthroponymy (personal names) and toponymy (place names), which draws on names from over 30 African languages and cultures is one of the most comprehensive works in the study of African onomasiology. African names, according to Obeng, provide us with insights into linguistic structure via morphophonology, syntax, semantics, ethnopragmatics, geography, history, politics and other human phenomena.

Awards Distinguished Professor (Indiana University) 2022 Carnegie African Diaspora Fellow 2015 & 2016 McGraw-Hill Higher Education Distinguished Scholar Award 2015 Distinguished Service Award. African Language Research Project (University of Maryland, Eastern Shore (UMES) 2005 Distinguished Research Scholar in African Linguistics (UMES) 2004 Outstanding Performance and Lasting Contribution as a Research Consultant in African languages (UMES) 2002 James S. Coleman African Studies Scholar Award (UCLA) 1993 Association of Commonwealth Universities Scholar 1984-1987.

Academic work Discipline: Linguistics Sub-discipline:

African Linguistics Conversational Phonetics Discourse-Pragmatics (especially language and liberty, institutional discourse, language and law, language and politics, language and religion, language and health) Multilingualism and Language Contact. Firthian Prosodic Phonology African Onomasiology.

Publications Obeng has published many articles, books and book chapters, including:

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Samuel Obeng (linguist)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Samuel Obeng (linguist) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Samuel Obeng (linguist) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Samuel Obeng (linguist) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Samuel Obeng (linguist)

In research: Samuel Obeng (linguist) appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Samuel Obeng (linguist) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Samuel Obeng (linguist) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1959 births, 21st-century Ghanaian writers, Academic staff of the University of Ghana, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Samuel Obeng (linguist) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Samuel Obeng (linguist) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Samuel Obeng (linguist) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Samuel Obeng (linguist) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Samuel Obeng (linguist) in simple terms?

Why does Samuel Obeng (linguist) matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Samuel Obeng (linguist)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Samuel Obeng (linguist).