Bio

I am a PhD candidate in the Ohio State University Linguisitcs Department where I research morphology. My focus is the morphology-semantics interface(s) in abstractive, Word-and-Paradigm-style systems. I integrate two methodologies, formal modeling, using the calculus of constructions, and elicitation-based fieldwork.

I utilize additional methodologies, especially in the fieldwork setting, but formal theory and elicitation techniques are areas where I focus on applying innovations. For instance, I believe it is important to develop a theory of test validity in the elicitation space.

To further that effort, I take inspiration from the literature on construct validity, aligning linguistic elicitation with Lee Cronbach’s notion of correlational investigation, which emphasizes tests and diagnostics, such as diagnosing an illness. Intuitively, this differs from experimentation as it is intended to expose differences within populations. In my linguistic research, the population is possible grammars, rather than human minds or bodies. Experimentation focuses on finding averages across populations, which is likely more pressing for someone looking at typological universals than a researcher looking at the particular properties of an individuated grammar. Though as Cronbach points out, both experimental and correlational approaches are necessary, and part of a complete disciplinary approach.

My dissertation research studies the properties of Wao Terero lexical suffix constructions. Wao Terero is a linguistic isolate spoken by an unknown number of speakers in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Lexical suffixes are suffixes that have concrete, noun-like meanings. They contribute to noun-noun compound-like meanings in nominal constructions. When used with other parts of speech, they often function as classifiers. This does not exhaust their uses by any means but describes a salient dichotomy. An exciting aspect of the system is that the suffixes occur on most parts of speech. In these diverse contexts they maintain their descriptive content, e.g. ‘ball’, ‘stone’, etc. Due to the fact that essential aspects of form and meaning remain constant, the system allows for comparisons of the differing roles of the affixes across categories. I can leverage this to investigate the contributions of construction types and dynamic semantic interactions, which vary. This aids my theoretical research on the interface between lexical semantics, dynamics semantics, construction types, and morphological forms.

In addition to my current work, I have an interest in languages in the Algonquian and Quechuan families. I have had a long involvement with the digital humanities, contributing technical skills to a number of documentation projects that have resulted in valuable resources for both researchers and the communities involved. I have also worked on teams that seeks to create tools for linguistic description and annotation that utilize NLP and machine learning techniques.