Publications

Books

Mayers & Mayeux (eds.). 2022. Févi. An anthology of contemporary poetry in Louisiana Creole. Shreveport: Les Cahiers du Tintamarre, Centenary College of Louisiana Press.

Guillory-Chatman, Mayeux, Wendte, Wiltz. 2020. Ti Liv Kréyòl: A learner's guide to Louisiana Creole (Second edition). New Orleans: TSHÒK.

Articles and book chapters (peer-reviewed)

Mayeux, O. forthcoming. 'Parisot's hoax grammar of Taensa: Revisiting the first scientific hoax in linguistics', in A. Long and J. J. Windsor (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Constructed Languages. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Mayeux, O. forthcoming. 'Decreolisation: A 'special case' of language change?', in D. Adone and A. Gramatke (eds.), On the Evolution, Acquisition and Development of Syntax: Essays in honour of Derek Bickerton. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Mayeux, O. forthcoming. 'On unstructured variation in pidgins and creoles', in Y. Asahi, A. D'Arcy and P. Kerswill (eds.), Handbook of Variationist Sociolinguistics. London: Routledge. 

Mayeux, O. 2024. 'The syntax of African American English borrowings in the Louisiana Creole Tense-Mood-Aspect system', Linguistics Vanguard. aop. doi:10.1515/lingvan-2023-0148

Mayeux, O. 2024. 'Racial segregation and language variation in Louisiana Creole: Social meaning in language loss', Sociolinguistica 38(1): 27 – 52. doi:10.1515/soci-2023-0006

Mayeux, O. 2024.  'Language revitalization on social media: Ten years in the Louisiana Creole Virtual Classroom', Language Documentation and Description 23(1). doi:10.25894/ldd.350

Nguyen, L., Bryant, C., Mayeux, O., Yuan, Z. 2023. 'How effective is machine translation on low-resource code-switching? A case study comparing human and automatic metrics', Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2023, pp. 14186 –14195. doi:10.18653/v1/2023.findings-acl.893

Nguyen, L.,  Mayeux, O., Yuan, Z. 2023. 'Code-switching input for machine translation: A case study of Vietnamese–English data', International Journal of Multilingualism. doi:10.1080/14790718.2023.2224013

Mayeux, O. 2022. 'Language revitalization, race and resistance in Creole Louisiana', in A. Jolivette, R. Prud'homme-Cranford, C. M. Dunn, & D. Barthe (eds.), Louisiana Creole Peoplehood: Tracing Post-Contact Afro-Indigeneity and Community. Seattle: University of Washington Press. pp. 143 –158. url:https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv2fjx0c8.11

Theses 

2019. Rethinking decreolization: Language contact and change in Louisiana Creole. PhD thesis. University of Cambridge, UK.  doi:10.17863/CAM.41629 

2015. New Speaker Language: The morphosyntax of new speakers of endangered languages. MPhil thesis. University of Cambridge, UK.

2014. Writing Louisiana Creole. BA thesis. SOAS, University of London, UK. 

Conference papers (peer-reviewed)

2024. Diachronic analysis of lexifier-targeted phonological change in Louisiana Creole.  Society of Pidgin and Creole Linguistics Winter Meeting. Online.
2023. Lexical similarity in contact-induced change. Cambridge Language Sciences Annual Symposium. University of Cambridge, UK.
2023. French and English contact features in the Louisiana Creole Verb Phrase. Society of Pidgin and Creole Linguistics Summer Meeting. Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Nederlands.
2021. « Le verbe pour je » : poésie, traumatismes et le soi dans la revitalisation linguistique / "The verb for I": Poetry, trauma and the self in language revitalization. Langues et littératures minoritaires : enjeux et valorisation. INALCO, Paris, France.
2021. Language revitalization and language change: New speakers of Louisiana Creole on Facebook. Conventional and unconventional ways of transmitting and revitalizing minoritized languages in European contexts and beyond. Instytut Slawistyki Polskiej Akademii Nauk & Fundacja Slawistyczna, Warszawa, Polska.
with David Willis. 2021. An examination of dialect variation in contemporary Haitian Creole using social-media data. LAGB 2021. Online.
with N. A. Wendte. 2021. Kou-d-min pou Kouri Vini: Helping hands for Louisiana Creole. Recognizing Relationships: The 7th International Conference on Language Documentation & Conservation (ICLDC). Ke Kulanui o Hawai‘i ma Mānoa.
2020. Emergent systematicity in Tây Bồi (Vietnamese Pidgin French). Cambridge Language Sciences Annual Symposium. University of Cambridge, UK. Cambridge Open Engage doi:10.33774/coe-2020-t6823
2020. Decreolization as a model of language change: Evidence from Louisiana Creole. Society for Pidgin and Creole Linguistics Annual Meeting, 94th Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America. Nouvelle-Orléans, Louisiane.
2019. Painting the town French:  Art, community-building and language activism in rural Louisiana. COLING Language Diversity Week & Film Festival 'Naszymi słowami/In our own words'. University of Warsaw, Poland.
2019. The Language Hoax: How a constructed language fooled linguists (for a while, anyway). Eighth Language Creation Conference. Anglia Ruskin University, UK.
2019. Rivitalizzazione linguistica online: La creazione di neologismi e curricula per la lingua creola della Luisiana / Social media for language revitalization: Neologism creation and curriculum development for Louisiana Creole. COLING Field School 'Lingue Fantastiche e Dove Trovarle/Fantastic Languages and Where to Find Them'. Chòra tu Vùa (Bova), Italia
2018. Beyond decreolization: Contact, change and endangerment in creole languages. Zurich Conference on Colonial and Postcolonial Language Studies. Universität Zürich, Schweiz
2018. Regional variation in Lousiana Creole: Colonialism, slavery and migration. Language and Borders. University of Bristol, UK.
2017. Agreement in Louisiana Creole: Quantitative sociolinguistics in a diachronic corpus. Cambridge Language Sciences Annual Symposium. University of Cambridge, UK.
2015. The Louisiana Creole language at a crossroads. 7th Annual Louisiana Studies Conference. Northwestern State University, Natchitoches, Louisiane.
2014. Doing a virtual ethnography in an online language revitalisation community. BAAL-CUP Seminar: Approaches to Identity in Language. Anglia Ruskin University, UK.
2013. Learners of Louisiana Creole: Language and identity. ULAB 2013. University of York, UK.

Invited talks, guest lectures, keynotes (non-peer-reviewed)

2024. From Creole to Kouri-Vini. Lunchtime Lagniappe. Capitol Park Museum, Louisiana State Museum. Baton Rouge, Louisiane.
2024.  Between Créolité and Indigineity:  Social movements for reviving French and Creole in Louisiana. Multidimensional Dialogues of the Americas Research Network, CRASSH, University of Cambridge, UK.
2023. (Un)structured variation in Vietnamese Pidgin French (Tây Bồi). Westminster Forum for Language and Linguistics Research Seminar, University of Westminster, UK.
2023. The Taensa Trick:  On the first hoax grammar in modern linguistics. Humanities Society, Wolfson College, UK.
2023. Parl apré ça! Conversation on Créolité and Gullah Geechee Orthography Workshop. Panelist. Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, College of Charleston, USA.
2023. with Hannah Davidson. Working with Creole data: A comparison between Mauritian and Louisiana Creole. Workshop on Ecologies of Creole Multilingualism. University of Oxford, UK.
2023.  Lexifier and non-lexifier contact in Louisiana Creole. Workshop on Ecologies of Creole Multilingualism. University of Oxford, UK.
2023.  Comment éstimer le nombre de locuteurs du français et du créole en Louisiane ? Méthodes statistiques. 'Le sommet pour nos langages', Bayou Culture Collaborative French Working Group, Musée de Baton-Rouge-Ouest, Louisiane.
2023. The birth, life, death, and rebirth of a language: The life cycle of Louisiana Creole. Keynote, Central Kentucky Linguistics Conference. University of Kentucky, USA.
2023. The linguistics of French and Creole in (post-)colonial Louisiana: Ethnolinguistic repertoires and Jim Crow segregation. Guest lecture for ‘HIST 22 Civil Rights in the United States in the 20th Century’. Dartmouth College, USA. 
2022. Dilin canlandırılmasında internetin rolü nedir? / What is the role of the internet in language revitalization? Endangered Languages Network TADNET Tehlike Altındaki Diller Ağı, Türkiye.
2021. Aspects of Louisiana Creole grammar. St John's Linguistic Society. St John's College, University of Cambridge, UK.
2021. Language tutorial on Louisiana Creole. Plenary. LAGB 2021. Online.
2020. Revisiting contact-induced change in creole languages. Cambridge University Linguistic Society. University of Cambridge, UK.
2020. Decreolization: A 'special case' of language change?  Department of Language and Linguistics Seminar. University of Essex, UK.
2020. From dictionaries to Duolingo: Revitalizing endangered languages in the new decade. BA Seminar, Language Endangerment. University of Cologne, Germany.
2019. Racial segregation and language variation in Francophone Louisiana. Anglia Ruskin-Cambridge Romance Linguistics Seminars. University of Cambridge, UK.
2019. Using conceptual metaphor theory, politeness and pragmatics for constructed languages. MA Seminar, Languages of Science Fiction. Centre for Science Fiction and Fantasy, Anglia Ruskin University, UK.
2019. Décréolisation en créole louisianais / Decreolization in Louisiana Creole. Journée d'étude 'French and Creole in Louisiana'. Tulane University, USA.
2019. What can endangered creoles tell us about language change? Cambridge Endangered Languages and Cultures Group. University of Cambridge, UK.
2018. African American English contact features in the Louisiana Creole Verb Phrase. SyntaxLab. University of Cambridge, UK.
2018. with Li Nguyen. Unstable bilingual communities in contrast: Vietnamese in Canberra, Creole in Louisiana. Bilingual Codeswitching Reading Group. University of Cambridge, UK.
2017. An endangered French-lexifier creole in contact with French and English: Preliminary field observations on contact-induced change. Anglia Ruskin-Cambridge Romance Linguistics Seminars. Anglia Ruskin University, UK.
2017. Nokèn bèl langaj k apé gòn: Kréyòl dan Lalwizyann. NUNU Arts and Culture Collective. Arnaudville, Louisiana, USA.
2016. Theoretical and methodological issues in the study of contact and change in an endangered creole. Multilingualism: Empowering Individuals, Transforming Societies. University of Cambridge, UK.
2016. Contact and change in an endangered creole language: Towards a diachronic corpus analysis. AHRC DTP End-of-Year Cohort Event. University of Cambridge, UK.
2015. What's the difference between -면 (-myen) and -다면 (-tamyen)? On saying 'if' in Korean and what it tells us about human thought. General Korean Studies Special Lecture. Pegasus Society for Korean Studies, UK.
2014. How do you save a dying language? An introduction to language revitalization. Peterhouse Graduate Symposium. University of Cambridge, UK.

Language revitalization materials

2022. with Gabriella Marsh. Louisiana Creole: An Endangered Language. Short animated film produced for Cambridge Creative Encounters 2022. 

2021. with Adrien Guillory-Chatman and Jonathan Mayers in collaboration with Google Arts & Culture. Woolaroo. Louisiana Creole implementation. App for Android and iOS.  

2018. Louisiana Creole Orthography Tool (version 0.1). Javascript web application. 

2016. Louisiana Creole Keyboard Layout (version 1). Microsoft Windows.

with N. A. Wendte, Herbert Wiltz. 2017. Ti Liv Kréyòl: A Louisiana Creole Primer (First edition). Public domain e-book.

(Consultant linguist) Landry, Christophe, Cliford St. Laurent, Michael Gisclair. 2016. A Guide to Louisiana Creole Orthography. Louisiana Historical and Cultural Vistas.

(Consultant linguist) Various authors. 2014. Louisiana Creole Dictionary. Online 

Media coverage, etc.

2024. Article in LDD featured in 'Louisiana Creolophones encourage Creoles to learn their heritage language' (The Black Wall Street Times, Quinn Foster).

2024. Featured with my friend Colin Gravois in 'Students in England hear Creole language spoken here' (News Examiner-Enterprise: The Newspaper for St. James Parish, Pam Folse).

2024. Featured in 'The Renaissance of Kouri-Vini' / 'Rénésans de kouri-vini' (Le Louisianais, Clif St. Laurent) 

2023. Featured in  'The endangered languages that are fighting back' (BBC Ideas, Preston Street Films).

2023. Interviewed in 'Kouri-Vini: The return of the United States' lost language' (BBC Travel, Tracey Teo).

2021. Woolaroo app for Louisiana Creole featured in various places including The Louisiana Weekly,  The Acadiana Advocate, Biz New Orleans, and on TV stations KSLA12 and WWLTV 'Great Day Louisiana'.

2019. Research on Parisot's grammar hoax featured in 'Tongue Twisters' (Slate, Laura Spinney).

2019. Interviewed with Bettina Beinhoff in 'Cambridge language conference marks Game of Thrones lingo' (BBC News). See also 'Game of Thrones: experts in Dothraki language come to Cambridge' (Cambridge Independent). 

2019. Interviewed in Louisiana Creole in the documentary 'Révolution Louisianaise' (Télé-Louisiane, Nicholas Lanier).

2017. Guest on Louisiana French talk show 'Ci et Ça' (Acadiana Open Channel).

2015. Interviewed with Marta Krzemińska. 'What happened when I tried to learn Toki Pona in 48 Hours' (The Guardian, Ellie Violet Bramley).