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Doug is the only current member of the UBC Linguistics Department who has been there longer than me. He is also the person who is directly responsible for saving the Department from dissolution after it shrunk to a tiny rump of four-and-a-half faculty members, and under whose steady hand it subsequently grew to a point […]

I have been a fan of Doug’s inspiring research since my PhD student days, and many years later, I had the opportunity to meet him in 2017 at the CreteLing Summer School. Doug and his wife, Ann-Marie, are some of the kindest, most genuine people I’ve had the pleasure of knowing, and I’ve truly enjoyed […]

Doug, I am grateful for your encouragement and friendliness, and your example as a scholar of the highest caliber in several overlapping areas that form the focus of my research interests. Bruce

Doug, I can't believe you're finally retiring (for now?). You showed me the magic and logic of phonological theory and supervised both of my theses, for which I am eternally grateful. The breadth and depth of what I learned from you still informs my work. Your patient and critical but kind approach is my model […]

Hi Doug, Congratulations on making the next big transition! I remember meeting you for the first time in Sept. 1993 — I was an incoming PhD student, and you were facilitating the graduate phonology seminar – the one in which we read the draft manuscripts of McCarthy & Prince, and Prince & Smolensky (1993). For […]

I get to support my family doing a job I love, thanks to Doug's help, and I'm just one of so many people he's taught and mentored over the years. I'm honoured to be part of his sprawling academic tree. Happy retirement, Doug! You done made Calgary proud 🙂

Dear Prof. Pulleyblank, It was through your support that I gained admission to conduct part of my doctoral research at the University of British Columbia (UBC) while studying at the University of Hong Kong. When I arrived in Vancouver to commence my studies, I had only dreamed of a 'book-long' study period filled with official […]

Papy you are the best Papy in the entire universe and beyond

Snippets of my memories, with Doug I have known Doug for more than forty years. Therefore, I decided not to write about a single incident, because there are just too many. Some are funny, others are quite serious. Chronologically, Doug and I were both undergraduates at the University of Ibadan, in 1976. He was in […]

Wishing you all the best in this new phase of your life. I want to share a short story about what a profound effect you had on my thinking on reduplication. I was fortunate to be a post-doc at UBC when your were developing an analysis of Yoruba reduplication in the late 1990’s. I'm not […]

Being my dad, we got to see a side that your students may not have known. A regular day entails you reading and marking papers till way past midnight and then back at it before sunrise. This has been a normal thing through your career. Marking papers, marking papers, marking papers. And if you’re travelling…. […]

Dear Doug, It was a privilege to learn about how to do science from you. At a very basic level, you helped me see that a simple approach, along with endless persistence, would yield an interesting result. The real lesson here was that this pattern was fully generalizable. Thank you for every countless hour you […]

Dear Doug, Just a short note of appreciation to thank you for everything you have done for me. Our paths have not crossed very often in recent years, but you left a profound impression on me, as my teacher and thesis director. You showed me what to strive for as a teacher, as a scholar […]

Doug, I wish you all the best for your retirement! I’ve admired your work and your approach to phonology since I was a graduate student. Although we would see each other at conferences, the African Linguistics School was where I got to spend the most time with you: sharing meals and outings, debating phonology, and […]

I met Professor Doug Pulleyblank at the African Linguistics School (ALS 4) in 2016, held at the Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny in Yamoussoukro, Côte d'Ivoire in 2016. His simplicity, willingness to impart knowledge at all times (even when walking on the way), and friendliness won my admiration. I really enjoyed the emergent approach to […]

Dear Doug, It is truly difficult to find the right words to express my heartfelt gratitude and best wishes to you on your retirement. Your unwavering support, advice, and constant encouragement have been nothing short of extraordinary. From my arrival at UBC in September 2017 until now, your kindness, understanding, and positive influence have stood […]

Congrats Doug! Now off to many adventures. I’d say something like stay busy but I know you will. Maybe we can even play Tennis one of these years.

My dearest Douglas, From the moment I first laid eyes on you, I have loved you. I love your humor, your wit, your infectious laughter. I love your presence—how it grounds me, lifts me, fills our world with warmth. I cherish how you hike, climb, ski, and bike with me—how we move through life side […]

In 1988 my wife and I began an SIL field assignment in Congo (Brazzaville) with the Babole people in the Likouala Region (the language was Di-bole, the people, Ba-bole). While living in the village of Dzeke, or perhaps the regional capital of Impfondo, I had gotten a copy of, and read, Doug Pulleyblank’s (1986) book […]

Doug, I’m delighted to have the opportunity to congratulate you on your very well deserved retirement! Félicitations!! It’s hard to imagine you retiring since you’ve always been a part of linguistics, or at least a part of my linguistics journey. As a graduate student, you were a mythical linguistics giant to me, with your research […]

I first met Doug as a sessional lecturer at UBC in 1999. Initially, I found him somewhat intimidating because he tended to ask challenging questions that targeted the core of a problem. Being on the job market then, I was kind of sensitive to that kind of thing. As I developed professionally however, and interacted […]

Congratulations on retirement–may it open up your life for whatever feeds your soul. I owe you great thanks for all you did to help (daughter) Indiana and me when we arrived at UBC from Japan as the vanguard for the family in the summer of 2002. You fed us, let us crash for a day […]

I was a graduate student of Doug's in the late 1990s. (In fact I was the only grad student in my cohort, so some grad `seminars' with Doug were one-on-one.) I remember Will Thompson, another grad student at the time, mentioning Doug's unique way of holding such a seminar: give a problem that no one […]

I first met Doug at the beginning of our first year at MIT. Well, not quite, actually. Doug was still in Africa with Anne-Marie and their daughter Cato and they only arrived a bit later on. Meanwhile, there were some very non linguistic based speculations about the origin of his family name. When they finally […]

I think the first time I met Doug was when I was in graduate school at UCLA in the mid-80s when Doug was teaching at USC. UCLA and USC had a combined phonology group which met periodically, sometimes in the homes of the faculty. It was great to meet someone who also worked on the […]