Spike Gildea

Spike Gildea is a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Oregon’s College of Arts and Sciences. His research focuses on descriptive and documentary linguistics, historical syntax, and phonology, with extensive work on Cariban languages of South America. He has advised numerous graduate students and contributed to collaborative projects like the NSF-funded Werikyana language documentation initiative.

Education:

• Ph.D., Linguistics, University of Oregon (1992)
• M.A., Linguistics (Applied Linguistics), University of Oregon (1989)
• B.A., English Literature (cum laude), University of Oregon (1983)
• Peace Corps/Nepal TEFL Training (1983)

Research: Gildea’s work spans Cariban language documentation, historical syntax reconstruction, and typological studies. He collaborates on projects like Trumai and Movima internal reconstruction and diachronic construction grammar. His recent articles explore pluractional markers, antipassive constructions, and copula systems in Amazonian languages.

Grants & Advising: Gildea has secured NSF funding and advised over 15 graduate students, including those studying Trumai, Matses, and Kokama-Kokamilla. His mentorship spans multiple language families and revitalization efforts.

Labs/Teams: Active in collaborative language documentation initiatives and interdisciplinary research on indigenous methodologies in language revitalization.