Professor Nunberg’s research interests include work in semantics and pragmatics, text classification, normative grammar, and written-language structure. He also works and writes on the social and cultural implications of new technology.
Regular listeners to the popular Fresh Air program on NPR are familiar with Nunberg’s insightful and witty features on language. He is the author of, among other books, Ascent of the A-Word, The Years of Talking Dangerously, Talking Right, Going Nucular, and The Way We Talk Now. Additionally, he has published widely in both scholarly and general-interest publications.
About Ascent of the A-Word, Glenn C. Altschuler writes in the San Francisco Chronicle, “Nunberg dissects his subject with style and surgical precision.” Publishers Weekly calls the book “An engaging blend of linguistics, analysis, and social commentary that breaks down the important place [the a-word] occupies in our language and culture.” And Booklist calls it “An intelligent and wide-ranging study of linguistics, ideas, and social trends.”
Nunberg is the emeritus chair of the usage panel of the American Heritage Dictionary. He has written on language and social trends for The Atlantic, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and the New York Times. He also contributes to the blog Language Log