Alan M. Perlman
Alan Perlman is one of a very small number of professional speechwriters who are also academically-trained linguists. He received his bachelor's degree from Brown University (1964) and his master's (1969) and doctoral (1973) degrees from The University of Chicago. All three are in linguistics (the scientific study of language), with an emphasis on the history, grammar, sounds, meanings, and usage of English. For twelve years, he taught linguistics and English composition at various colleges and universities, most recently at Wayne State University in Detroit. He was active in setting up Wayne's graduate program in writing, and he taught a graduate seminar in the structure and analysis of written language.
Dr. Perlman began his business-communications career as a technical writer and editor at Michigan Bell. He moved on to Burroughs Corporation, where he wrote speeches, annual reports, feature articles, video scripts, and other high-level management communications. He then spent more than seven years on the Corporate Public Relations Staff at General Motors headquarters in Detroit, where he did speeches, articles, book chapters, and other writing assignments for the CEO and other top executives. From 1991-2002, he had similar responsibilities as Director, Executive Communications, at Kraft Foods in Northfield, IL.
The author of numerous articles both scholarly and professional, Dr. Perlman has frequently contributed to Speechwriter's Newsletter. Excerpts from his work have appeared many times in The Executive Speaker, and five of his speeches have appeared in Vital Speeches of the Day. His articles have also been published in The Toastmaster, the magazine of Toastmasters International.
Alan remains a teacher as well as a communicator. He has taught Ragan Communications workshops in speechwriting, as well as numerous seminars in business writing and oral presentation. His first book, WRITE CHOICES: New Options for Effective Communication, was published in 1989. In it, he shares the insights of twenty years of experience in the study, the teaching, and the day-to-day effective use of written communication. His second book, It Gives Me Great Pleasure...A Guide to Writing Ceremonial Speeches, was published in 1993 by Ragan Communications. His third, Writing Great Speeches: Professional Techniques You Can Use, was published in 1997 by Allyn and Bacon, a subsidiary of Simon and Schuster. A fourth book, Perfect Phrases for Executive Presentations, came out in 2003.
Since 1979, Dr. Perlman has worked as a forensic linguist, sharing his expertise with attorneys, corporations, and private individuals. In his legal consulting practice, he applies the principles of linguistics – and the insights from his many years of analyzing style, both as an academic and as a professional writer – to the resolution of legal issues involving authorship, copyright, and language interpretation.