Ryan Kasak

Associate Professor and Advisor, Linguistics, Teaching English As A Second Language

kasak@ou.edu
Kaufman Hall 103B

Ryan Kasak is an Assistant Professor of Linguistics who received his Ph.D. from Yale University in 2019. Dr. Kasak specializes in documentation of indigenous languages of the Americas. He also has over 15 years of experience as a K12 teacher in ESL, Special Education, and World Language (Spanish and Russian) classrooms and as a school administrator. He has taught in high school and college classrooms in Illinois, Iowa, Connecticut, North Dakota, and Montana before coming to OU. As part of his work with indigenous languages of the Americas, he has participated in the creation of pedagogical materials on different languages of the northern Great Plains.

Dr. Kasak currently serves on the M.A. TESOL Steering Committee and teaches TESL 5553 (Teaching ESL Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking) for the program.

Selected Publications

Kasak, Ryan M. Kasak & Samiron Dutta (eds.). 2021. Proceedings of the 40th Siouan and Caddoan Languages Conference (SCLC 40). Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Department of Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics.
Kasak, Ryan M., Samiron Dutta, & Justin T. McBride (eds.). 2020. Proceedings of the 39th Siouan and Caddoan Languages Conference (SCLC 39). Broken Arrow, OK: Northeastern State University Department of Languages and Literature.
Torres Carolan, Jonnia & Ryan M. Kasak. 2019. A phonetic analysis of obstruent series in Hidatsa. In Ryan M. Kasak (ed.), Proceedings of the 38th Siouan and Caddoan Languages Conference (SCLC 38), 123-144. Chicago, IL: Northeastern Illinois University Linguistics Department.
Kasak, Ryan M. & Sarah Lundquist. 2019. Nasal harmony in Hoocąk and Mandan. In Ryan M. Kasak (ed.), Proceedings of the 38th Siouan and Caddoan Languages Conference (SCLC 38), 99-122. Chicago, IL: Northeastern Illinois University Linguistics Department.
Kasak, Ryan M. 2016. A distant relationship between Siouan-Catawban and Yuchi. In Catherine Rudin & Binah T. Gordon (eds.), Advances in the study of Siouan languages and linguistics, 5-39. Berlin, Germany: Language Science Press.

Education

Ph.D. in Linguistics. 2019. Yale University
M.A. in Linguistics. 2015. Yale University
M.A. in Linguistics. 2011. Northeastern Illinois University
B.A. in Russian, Spanish, and Secondary Foreign Language Education. 2006. University of Iowa

Invited talks

2019. Phonological innovation in Missouri Valley Siouan: Debuccalizations and tonogenesis. Invited talk given at the Workshop on the Phonetics and Phonotactics of Hidatsa and Missouri Valley Siouan. Fresno, CA: California State University, Fresno.

2016. Modern methodologies in historical linguistics: Using computational phylogentics to investigate ancient relationships in North America. Invited talk given at the Northeastern Illinois University Linguistics Colloquium. Chicago, IL: Northeastern Illinois University.