words live rock linguists mass media case missed following excerpts taken current april may 1992 issue lingua franca p 5 heard unusual career trajectories favorite robert leonard started professional life lead singer fifties retread group sha na na photos show sullenly handsome guy saran wrap tight gold lam e pompadour like fallen souffl e ended guessed theoretical linguist specialization swahili leonard simply realized would rather fiftyyear old linguistics professor fiftyyear old rocker us would dispute sentiment prosaic data bob leonard ph awarded columbia u thesis title semantic system deixis standard swahili teaching hofstra u long island