Yolanda Rivera, Ph.D.

Academic Degree:

PhD, University of California at Davis (1994)

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Areas of Expertise:

Phonology, Syntax, Language Typology, Creole Studies

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About: 

Yolanda Rivera was born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. She completed her BA at the University of Puerto Rico in Mayagüez, her master’s degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and her Ph.D. at the University of California-Davis. She has taught at different universities in the US and currently teaches at the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras in the English Department’s Ph.D. program in Creole languages and literature. Her main areas of research include Creole languages, suprasegmental systems, and the Phonology-Syntax connection. Other areas of inquiry that she has explored include the use of intelligent systems for computer assisted language learning (CALL) and historical linguistics. Her plans include creating web-based corpora for different Creole languages, such as Papiamentu and Saramaccan. Besides her academic pursuits, she enjoys writing poetry, reading on rainy days, and running.