Rate My Professor Dallin Oaks

Dallin D. Oaks serves as Professor of English Linguistics at Brigham Young University, where he has been a faculty member in the Linguistics department since 1990. He progressed from Assistant Professor of English (1990–1997) and Associate Professor of English (1997–2001) to Associate Professor of English Linguistics (2001–2021) before attaining his current rank in 2021. Earlier in his career, Oaks taught English as a Second Language at Davis School District high school and junior high as well as Utah Technical College Skills Center from 1985 to 1987. He also held half-time instructor positions in linguistics and English composition at Purdue University from 1987 to 1990. Oaks holds a B.A. in English Teaching from Brigham Young University (1984), an M.A. in Linguistics with an applied linguistics emphasis from the University of Utah (1986), and a Ph.D. in English (English linguistics) from Purdue University (1990), with a dissertation titled Enablers of Grammatical Ambiguity.

In English linguistics, Oaks' research focuses on historical linguistics, structure of English, linguistic applications, ambiguity, prescriptivism, semantics and pragmatics, humor, metaphors, onomastics, and Latter-day Saint linguistic topics. He teaches courses including traditional grammar and usage, history of the English language, early modern English, structure of English, and Old English. Major publications include Structural Ambiguity in English: An Applied Grammatical Inventory (two volumes, Continuum, 2010), An Introductory English Grammar, fifth edition (co-authored with Norman C. Stageberg, Harcourt, 2000), Linguistics at Work: A Reader of Applications (editor, Harcourt, 1998), and Perspectives on Latter-day Saint Names and Naming: Names, Identity, and Belief (co-edited with Paul Baltes and Kent Minson, Routledge, 2023). Peer-reviewed articles have appeared in Lingua, Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, Southern Journal of Linguistics, Science, Religion & Culture, and others. Awards include Brigham Young University Professional Development Research Grants (1998, 2008, 2016), BYU Summer Research Grants (1992, 1994–1998), and honorary membership in the Golden Key National Honor Society (1994).