Research Overview
My research focuses on how units like words and phrases combine to form sentences (syntax) and the relationship between syntax and the sounds of language as they pertain to those units (prosody). One core aspect of my research is to address discrepancies between the grouping of words within the hierarchical structure of a sentence and the the linear order in which words are pronounced. The existence of such discrepancies in the mapping between structure and sound is a widespread property of human language; understanding the rules that govern them is part of the mission of understanding linguistic systems and human cognition.
For example, extensive research on diverse languages has revealed that the verb and object form a grammatical unit to the exclusion of the subject. In the vast majority of languages, it is also the case that the verb and object are pronounced next to each other, as in (S)ubject-(O)bject-(V)erb languages, e.g. Korean, and SVO languages, e.g. English. A minority of human languages have a dominant word order in which the subject intervenes between the verb and the object. Crucially, even in VSO languages like the ones I study, it is clear that the verb and the object form a unit to the exclusion of the subject, based on syntactic criteria other than the linear order of elements. Thus, VSO languages illustrate a mismatch between syntactic constituency (verb + object) and linear strings (verb subject object). Mismatches like these reveal the need for mapping theories that transform hierarchically organized syntactic structure into linearly ordered phonological content.
I am also interested in V1 languages (or languages for which the verb precedes the subject and object in the default order, i.e. VSO and VOS) more generally. While V1 languages represent a minority of human languages (10-15%), they are spoken all over the globe. Despite not having a common origin, V1 languages share a number of properties and one of my long-term goals is to explain causal relationships between characteristics shared by V1 languages.
A third theme that emerges from my research is the desire to bring syntax, prosody, and their attendant methodologies into deeper conversation. Even when my explicanda are purely syntactic, I develop prosodically-informed analyses. Likewise, I bring syntactic evidence to bear on problems related to intonational and tonal phenomena. This facet of my research necessarily entails developing new methodologies for the study of formal syntax; my approach lays the groundwork for a future of better integration across the subfields of formal linguistics.
My research is based on language data collected in collaboration with native speakers of understudied, minoritized languages, primarily from the Polynesian (Oceania), Mayan (Guatemala and Mexico) and Otomanguean (Mexico) language families. Most of the languages I study are facing extinction as speakers shift from indigenous to colonial languages. I am committed to ethical engagement with individuals and their speech communities, which includes conscientious data management and regular consultation with community stakeholders. In Albany, I work closely with the Copala Triqui diaspora community of the Capital District.
For example, extensive research on diverse languages has revealed that the verb and object form a grammatical unit to the exclusion of the subject. In the vast majority of languages, it is also the case that the verb and object are pronounced next to each other, as in (S)ubject-(O)bject-(V)erb languages, e.g. Korean, and SVO languages, e.g. English. A minority of human languages have a dominant word order in which the subject intervenes between the verb and the object. Crucially, even in VSO languages like the ones I study, it is clear that the verb and the object form a unit to the exclusion of the subject, based on syntactic criteria other than the linear order of elements. Thus, VSO languages illustrate a mismatch between syntactic constituency (verb + object) and linear strings (verb subject object). Mismatches like these reveal the need for mapping theories that transform hierarchically organized syntactic structure into linearly ordered phonological content.
I am also interested in V1 languages (or languages for which the verb precedes the subject and object in the default order, i.e. VSO and VOS) more generally. While V1 languages represent a minority of human languages (10-15%), they are spoken all over the globe. Despite not having a common origin, V1 languages share a number of properties and one of my long-term goals is to explain causal relationships between characteristics shared by V1 languages.
A third theme that emerges from my research is the desire to bring syntax, prosody, and their attendant methodologies into deeper conversation. Even when my explicanda are purely syntactic, I develop prosodically-informed analyses. Likewise, I bring syntactic evidence to bear on problems related to intonational and tonal phenomena. This facet of my research necessarily entails developing new methodologies for the study of formal syntax; my approach lays the groundwork for a future of better integration across the subfields of formal linguistics.
My research is based on language data collected in collaboration with native speakers of understudied, minoritized languages, primarily from the Polynesian (Oceania), Mayan (Guatemala and Mexico) and Otomanguean (Mexico) language families. Most of the languages I study are facing extinction as speakers shift from indigenous to colonial languages. I am committed to ethical engagement with individuals and their speech communities, which includes conscientious data management and regular consultation with community stakeholders. In Albany, I work closely with the Copala Triqui diaspora community of the Capital District.