Obituary: Michael Noonan

[Carol Genetti]

It is with great sadness that we report the unexpected death of Dr. Michael 
Noonan, Professor in the Department of English at the University of 
Wisconsin-Milwaukee, at his home on February 23rd, apparently of a brain 
aneurysm. Mickey (as he was fondly known) was a well-known contributor to 
functional and typological linguistics. Following publication of his 
Grammar of Lango, Mickey wrote extensively on the languages of Nepal and 
published numerous articles, grammars, dictionaries, and text-collections. 
He also worked for some time on Salish and on Irish, his heritage language.

In addition to his invaluable grammatical studies of previously undescribed 
languages, Mickey was a frequent contributor to the literature on syntactic 
typology, with notable co-edited collections on word order, voice, and 
formalism and functionalism, as well as articles on complementation (his 
paper in the Shopen volume has become part of the essential canon on this 
topic), converbal constructions, subjectless clauses, nominalization, and 
many other topics.

Mickey was an editor, with Bernard Comrie of Studies in Language. He was 
also the founding editor of Himalayan Linguistics; it was his vision to 
produce a web-based journal which is free and accessible to all, with a 
separate "Archive" section devoted to the publication of grammars, 
dictionaries, and texts. He was also the editor of the John Benjamins' 
Series Typological Studies in Language and, with Werner Abraham, of the 
Studies in Language Companion Series.

Mickey was strongly devoted to the communities with which he worked. He 
played for them an important role of teacher, sponsor, mentor, and friend. 
He had a deep interest in language preservation and worked with members of 
the communities to increase the awareness of the importance of their 
languages as well as to provide practical support of language maintenance 
efforts. Notable among his publication is a book of children's stories, the 
first work ever produced in the Chantyal language, distributed free to 
schools in three Chantyal speaking villages and to interested members of 
the ethnic organization of the Chantyal people.

Mickey was the supervisor of numerous doctoral students and was a devoted 
mentor to many other young and developing scholars. His contributions to 
their work were invaluable and he ceaselessly promoted the highest academic 
quality in the work of his students and others.

Mickey had a truly encyclopedic mind: he had a very wide range of knowledge 
in various areas such as history, economics, and biology, which he readily 
and joyfully shared with people on social occasions. He was also a great 
connoisseur of food and wine and took pleasure in his garden and in his 
table - both were rich and abundant! (The last wine he recommended to me 
was a Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio from the Trentino in Italy, so if you 
come across this, have a glass and think of him!)

Mickey will be remembered for his deep linguistic analyses, his lasting 
descriptive works, his constructive and insightful criticism, and his 
leadership in Himalayan linguistics and beyond. He will be greatly missed.

The family requests that those wishing to make a contribution in his name 
contact the Endangered Languages Fund 
(http://www.endangeredlanguagefund.org). People making contributions should 
write on their check: "In memory of Michael Noonan".

Carol Genetti