Huy Phan
Huy Phan is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Linguistics. He received his A.A. in English at Cypress College and his B.A. in Linguistics at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). Huy is also an alumnus of the McNair Scholars program at CSULB. His interdisciplinary research in documentary linguistics, linguistic anthropology, and ethnomusicology aims to provide an extensive documentation and revitalization of many cultural aspects of the Tây people—a marginalized and understudied community living in the Mekong Delta area. His B.A. thesis provided the first in-depth phonological description of a variety of the Tây Vietnamese dialect spoken in the Bến Tre province. This serves as the basis for future comparative studies in other provinces to provide a comprehensive documentation of the larger, areal Tây dialect of the Mekong Delta. Additionally, his current project focuses on the endangered Tây oral literature genre of hò. This project documents hò performances across the Delta while also providing community-centered activities to promote, revalorize, and revitalize the art form within the larger Southern Vietnamese society. Outside of research, Huy is passionate in mentoring and assisting his fellow first-generation, immigrant students of colors in achieving academic success.