My specialization in
linguistics is theoretical syntax, semantics, and their interface. The overarching goal of my research is to help uncover principles that govern the mapping
between linguistic form and meaning, more specifically, how humans come to
compute the intended meaning of an utterance on the basis of its form.
To this end, I have been exploring
linguistic topics such as
the category of Adjective, Binding, Case, Internally-Headed
Relative Clauses and Event Structure (e.g.,
my dissertation),
E-type Anaphora, Free Choice, Complementation vs. Modification,
Tense/Aspect/Mood/Evidentiality, Noun Phrase Internal Structure,
Copular Sentences, Focus, Definiteness, and Affective
Demonstratives.
I
have secondary interests in language acquisition and have developed several experiments on the acquisition of the syntax/semantics of Standard American English and African American English. In
addition, I have growing interests in grammaticalization and heritage language
maintenance.
Why do I research?
(short video interview)