Research Interests
Iroquoian, Caddoan, and Gaelic languages; language description and documentation; historical and comparative linguistics of the greater Mississippi region; polysynthesis; morphophonology; language revitalisation and community-oriented scholarship.
PhD Project: Information Structure in Sáhniš
For my dissertation, I will be describing the morphosyntactic and intonational realisation of information structure in Sáhniš, a Caddoan language of the Chaniks branch also known as Arikara. Although this language is exceedingly well documented, it remains highly underdescribed. This thesis will build on the archival material in presenting the first full-length description of information structure in any Caddoan language. It is hoped that this work will prove useful in the creation of materials for advanced learners and fluent speakers.
Outside of this project, I am primarily engaged in historical-comparative work between the Iroquoian and Caddoan families. I also have secondary research interests in Gaelic, Lowland Totonac, and the typology of polysynthetic languages. I am also invested in language revitalisation efforts and endangered language community-oriented scholarship.
