Linguistics
Elected 1987
Aramaic inscriptions of the Roman-period Near East (especially Nabataen & Syriac); associated historical, religious & legal studies; early development of the Arabic script; Ugaritic, Hebrew & Syriac philology & literature
West African history: oral traditions, chronicles, and medieval Arabic inscriptions; the interaction of Islamic and other cultural heritages in the region
Classical Arabic literature, literary translation, literary history, history of ideas.