Michel DeGraff

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Michel DeGraff

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| image = Michel Degraff at MIT.jpg

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| caption = Michel DeGraff at MIT-Haiti Symposium in 2010

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1963}}

| birth_place = Haiti

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| fields = Linguistics

| workplaces = Massachusetts Institute of Technology

| alma_mater = City College of New York (BS)
University of Pennsylvania (PhD)

| thesis_title = Creole grammars and acquisition of syntax: The case of Haitian

| thesis_url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/303994125

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| website = {{URL|http://web.mit.edu/linguistics/people/faculty/degraff/index.html|Official site}}

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Michel Anne Frederic DeGraff{{cite web|url=http://lenouvelliste.com/lenouvelliste/article/138941/les-33-academiciens-du-creole-haitien-investis-dans-leur-fonction |title=Les 33 académiciens du créole haïtien investis dans leur fonction |editor=Mercéus, Bertrand |date=4 December 2014 |publisher=Le NOuvelliste |accessdate=22 June 2016}} {{in lang|fr}} (born 1963) is a Haitian creolist and a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His scholarship focuses on Creole studies and the role of language and linguistics for decolonization and liberation. He has advocated for the recognition of Haitian Creole as a full-fledged language.

Early life and education

DeGraff was born in Haiti in 1963.{{Cite web|url=http://web.mit.edu/lsa2005/people/bios/degraff.html|title=2005 LSA Institute - People - Michel DeGraff|website=web.mit.edu}} He grew up in a middle-class family and attended a school where the instruction was in French. He felt that French was a hindrance at school, as not speaking it well caused complexes of inferiority among otherwise bright children. He believes that he spoke one and a half languages, with Haitian Creole being the "half", when in fact the language that all children spoke well by default was Creole. He recalls that French, although imposed at home and at school, was never used for jokes or on the soccer field.

DeGraff moved to New York in 1982 and enrolled in City College of New York, where he studied computer science.{{cite web|last1=Dizikes|first1=Peter|title=A Champion of Creole|date=12 May 2011 |url=http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2011/profile-degraff-0512|publisher=MIT|accessdate=5 January 2015}} He developed an interest in linguistics during an internship at Bell Labs in New Jersey in 1985, as a Summer Intern at AT&T Bell Laboratories' Linguistics and Artificial Intelligence department. In 1992, he earned a PhD in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania, with a dissertation on the role of language acquisition in the formation of the syntax of Haitian Creole.{{cite thesis|type=PhD thesis|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/303994125 | title= Creole grammars and acquisition of syntax: The case of Haitian | last=DeGraff | first=Michel Anne Frederic | publisher=University of Pennsylvania| date=1992|id={{ProQuest|303994125}} }}

Academic career

DeGraff is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He previously served on the board of the Journal of Haitian Studies.{{cite journal|last1=Zéphir|first1=Flore |authorlink=Flore Zéphir |title=Creolist Michel Degraff: A profile of Commitment, Advocacy, Excellence and Hope|journal=Journal of Haitian Studies|date=Fall 2012|volume=18|issue=2|page=268}} He is also a founding member of the Haitian Creole Academy.{{Cite web|title = Michel DeGraff named charter member of the Haitian Creole Academy|url = http://whamit.mit.edu/2014/12/15/michel-degraff-becomes-member-of-the-haitian-creole-academy/|website = Whamit!|date = 15 December 2014|accessdate = 2015-11-02}}

In the fall of 2012, he received a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to introduce online Creole language materials in the teaching of STEM in Haiti. He believes that Haitian children should be taught in their native language at all levels of instruction, contrary to the tradition of teaching them in French.{{cite web|last1=Ulysse|first1=Katia|title=Michel Degraff: Our Word is Our Bond|url=http://www.voicesfromhaiti.com/inner-views/michel-degraff-mit-linguistics-professor-our-word-is-our-bond/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111121052744/http://www.voicesfromhaiti.com/inner-views/michel-degraff-mit-linguistics-professor-our-word-is-our-bond/|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 21, 2011|website=Voices from Haïti|date=11 August 2011|accessdate=17 March 2015}} DeGraff believes that instruction in French, a foreign language for most Haitian children, hinders their creativity and their ability to excel.

In 2022, DeGraff was elected as a fellow of the Linguistic Society of America.{{cite news|title=Professor Michel DeGraff named a fellow of the Linguistics Society of America|work=MIT News|date=October 13, 2022|last=Lanier|first=Alison|url=https://news.mit.edu/2022/michel-degraff-linguistics-society-america-fellow-1013|access-date=July 17, 2024}}