author
John U. Wolff
A longtime Cornell linguist, he is best known for making Indonesian and Philippine languages more accessible to students and scholars. His work ranges from practical language-learning books to major reference studies in Austronesian linguistics.
1 Audiobook
A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan
by John U. Wolff
About the author
Born in Berlin in 1932, he later studied at Cornell University and earned a PhD in linguistics from Yale. He went on to teach at Cornell, where he became Professor Emeritus of Linguistics and Asian Studies and also served as director of the Southeast Asia Program.
His scholarship focuses on Austronesian and Southeast Asian languages, especially Indonesian and Cebuano. Alongside research in historical linguistics and lexicography, he wrote widely used teaching materials such as Beginning Indonesian through Self-Instruction and produced major reference works including A Dictionary of Cebuano Visayan.
What makes his work stand out is its mix of depth and usefulness: serious scholarship shaped for real learners. For readers interested in language, culture, and the history of Southeast Asia, his books open doors to both everyday speech and the larger story behind it.