Under-represented languages

In recent years faculty members have conducted field work on languages as diverse as Tlingit, Navajo, Oto-Manguean languages, Bodic languages, Bantu languages, Dholuo, Somali, Batsbi, and Samoan.  Graduate students have worked on an even wider array of languages, and still others have been studied in field methods courses.  In this department, field work has been used as a tool for research in phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, psycholinguistics, documentation, historical linguistics, and language variation.  In addition, faculty as well as graduate students have been active in a variety of community-centered projects, including workshops for speakers of endangered languages and teachers of speakers of varieties of English, dictionaries, grammars and pedagogical materials.

Faculty

Faruk Akkus
fakkus@umass.edu
AkkusResearch interests: Interfaces of syntax with morphology and semantics, Varieties of Arabic, Turkish and Kurdish varieties
Michael Becker
michael@linguist.umass.edu
BeckerResearch interests:
Phonology, computational and experimental morphophonology, fieldwork, Semitic
Seth Cable
scable@linguist.umass.edu
Cable
Research interests:
Fieldwork, Semantics, Syntax, Na-Dene Languages
Lisa Green
lgreen@linguist.umass.edu
GreenResearch interests:
Syntax/Semantics with focus on African American English, syntactic variation, L1 Acquisition
Alice Harris (Emerita)
acharris@linguist.umass.edu
Harris
Research interests:
Historical Linguistics, Morphology, Languages of the Caucasus
John Kingston
jkingston@linguist.umass.edu
Kingston
Research interests:
Phonetics, Phonology, Psycholinguistics
Peggy Speas (Emerita)
pspeas@linguist.umass.edu
Speas
Research interests:
Syntax, Morphology, Na-Dene Languages
Kristine Yu
krisyu@linguist.umass.edu
YuResearch interests:
Prosody from the Speech Signal on Up, Phonetics, Phonology

Graduate students

Özge Bakay
obakay@umass.edu
OzgeResearch interests:
Sentence Processing, Prosody, Turkish and Laz
Year started:
2021
Peyton Deal
pdeal.umass.edu
OzgeResearch interests:
Phonology, Morphophonology, and Polynesian and North American languages
Year started:
2021
Alessa Farinella
afarinella@umass.edu
AlessaResearch interests: Prosody, language documentation, Indonesian & Javanese
Prosody, language documentation, Indonesian & Javanese
Year started:
2020
Kaden Holladay
kholladay@umass.edu
HolladayResearch interests:
Morpho-phonology, syntax-semantics interface, Yup’ik, Finnish
Year started:
2017
Shay Hucklebridge
shucklebridg@umass.edu
HucklebridgeResearch interests:
Semantics, Linguistic Fieldwork, and Language Revitalization/Documentation
Year started:
2017
Kimberly Johnson
kcjohnson@linguist.umass.edu
JohnsonResearch interests:
Syntax, semantics, fieldwork
Year started:
2016
Seoyoung Kim
seoyoungkimk@umass.edu
KimResearch interests:
Computational phonology, Fieldwork
Year started:
2019
Zahra Mirrazi
zmirrazirena@umass.edu
🙂Research interests:
Syntax, semantics
Year started:
2016
Ayana Whitmal
awhitmal@umass.edu
WhitmalResearch interests:
AAE, tense and aspect, contact relative clauses, Karuk agreement
Year started:
2019

Recent dissertations on endangered / understudied languages

Christopher Hammerly. 2020. Person-based Prominence in Ojibwe

Leland Kusmer. 2019. Optimal Linearization: Prosodic displacement in Khoekhoegowab and Beyond.

Elizabeth Bogal-Allbritten. 2016. Building Meaning in Navajo.

Suzi Lima, 2015. The Grammar of Individuation and Counting.

Andrew Robert McKenzie, 2012. The Role of Contextual Restriction in Reference-Tracking.

Amy Rose Deal, 2010. Topics In The Nez Perce Verb.

Other recent dissertations involving fieldwork

Noah Constant, 2014. Contrastive Topic: Meanings and Realizations

Emily Elfner. 2012. Syntax-Prosody Interactions in Irish.

Christopher M. Davis, 2011. Constraining Interpretation: Sentence Final Particles in Japanese.