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Hanne EckhoffView profile

Associate Professor

• Historical Slavonic Linguistics
• Old Church Slavonic
• History of Russian
• +3 more

Dr Hanne Eckhoff is an Associate Professor in Russian Linguistics and Comparative Slavonic Philology at the University of Oxford's Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages. Her research focuses on historical Slavonic linguistics, particularly Old Church Slavonic and the history of Russian. She leads the Tromsø Old Russian and OCS Treebank (TOROT) project, emphasizing computational methods and corpus-based analysis. Her research interests include verbal aspect, information structure phenomena, and syntactic evolution in Slavic languages. She has contributed to large-scale digital corpus initiatives, advancing computational tools for historical language study. Dr Eckhoff’s work bridges traditional linguistic analysis with modern computational techniques, producing resources like syntactic treebanks and alignment tools for early Slavic texts. Her publications explore topics such as differential object marking, verb morphology, and diachronic syntax patterns. She maintains an active role in academic discourse, advocating for the continued relevance of Slavic linguistics and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration through digital humanities projects.

Asia PietraszkoView profile

Assistant Professor

• Syntax
• Morphology
• Bantu Languages
• +3 more

Asia Pietraszko is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Rochester, where she directs the Field Syntax Lab. She holds a PhD from the University of Chicago's Linguistics Department. Her research focuses on syntax and morphology, particularly verbal morphosyntax in Bantu languages like Ndebele and Swahili. She investigates clausal architecture, selection processes, and head movement, with notable work on periphrasis, A-movement, and the syntax-phonology interface. Her recent NSF award (BCS 2214933) supports her research. She has taught courses at the University of Rochester, University of Connecticut, and the University of Chicago, including advanced syntax, field methods, and syntactic theory. Her work has been published in top journals like Linguistic Inquiry , Natural Language and Linguistic Theory , and Glossa . Pietraszko frequently presents at conferences such as NELS, WCCFL, and the Linguistic Society of America meetings. Her research explores topics like backward control, cyclic selection, and the relationship between head displacement and periphrasis. She collaborates extensively with Karlos Arregi on projects involving morphosyntactic phenomena in Bantu and other languages.

Gözde MercanView profile

Assistant Professor

• Turkish Language Teaching and Pedagogy
• Second Language Acquisition
• Psycholinguistics of Bilingualism
• +4 more

Gözde Mercan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto (St. George campus), specializing in Turkish Language and Linguistics. Her research focuses on psycholinguistics, second language acquisition, and Turkish morpho-syntax, particularly examining how learners and heritage speakers process Turkish sentence structures and loanwords. PhD in Cognitive Science (Linguistics major, Psychology minor), Middle East Technical University MPhil in Linguistics, University of Paris III – Sorbonne Nouvelle BA in English Language and Literature, Bilkent University Her work investigates L2 learners' real-time comprehension of ambiguous Turkish sentences, word-order preferences in multilingual speakers, and the interplay between classroom teaching and psycholinguistic research. She organizes international workshops like 'Research-Based Practices in the Teaching of Turkish as L2' and explores Turkish language use in Canadian multilingual contexts. SSHRC Insight Development Grant (2023-2024): L2 ambiguity resolution SSHRC Institutional Grant (2024): Possessive NP corpus analysis Jackman Humanities Institute SiR Program (2023): Loanword mental lexicons Dean’s Merit Award (2021) Mercan contributes to Turkish language pedagogy through courses covering all proficiency levels and cultural aspects like literature, media, and cinema. She actively participates in academic committees including the American Association of Teachers of Turkic Languages and the Canadian Society for Turkish Studies, while collaborating with U of T's Global Languages Initiative and Data Science Institute.

Vera Lee-SchoenfeldView profile

Associate Professor

• Theoretical Linguistics
• German Syntax
• Syntax-Phonology-Pragmatics Interface
• +4 more

Vera Lee-Schoenfeld is an Associate Professor of Linguistics and Director of the UGA Exchange with the University of Hannover at the University of Georgia. She holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of California, Santa Cruz (2005), and degrees in TESOL and French Language Education. Her research focuses on theoretical linguistics, particularly German syntax, syntax-phonology-pragmatics interface, and language acquisition. She has authored/co-authored influential books including Beyond Coherence: The Syntax of Opacity in German (2007) and Language Matters (2010), and edited the Oxford volume Parameters of Predicate Fronting (2021). Dr. Lee-Schoenfeld's recent work explores German syntax phenomena such as predicate fronting, double accusative constructions, and binding theory. She integrates syntactic analysis with phonological and pragmatic factors, contributing to cross-linguistic syntactic theory. Her pedagogical innovations include the Discovery Method for syntax teaching, published in Language (2024). She is a recipient of the 2019 Richard B. Russell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, reflecting her commitment to both research and education. Teaching roles: Courses include LING 3150W, LING 3160W, and graduate-level syntax courses. Research collaborations: Extensive co-authorship with scholars like Gabriele Diewald, Nick Twiner, and Jean Costa-Silva. International engagement: Oversees the UGA-Hannover exchange program, fostering Germanic linguistics research partnerships. Her advising includes doctoral candidates such as Jean Costa-Silva (PhD) and Devon Fischer, with ongoing mentorship in syntax and language acquisition. Research interests span Germanic languages, constructional syntax, and language pedagogy, reflecting her dual focus on theoretical innovation and practical educational application.

David PesetskyView profile

Professor

• Syntax
• Linguistic Theory
• Syntax-Morphology Interface
• +4 more

David Pesetsky is the Ferrari P. Ward Professor of Modern Languages and Linguistics and Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellow at MIT's Department of Linguistics and Philosophy. His research focuses on syntax, particularly its interfaces with morphology and semantics, and explores syntactic universals through music syntax. He has contributed significantly to theoretical syntax, including work on phrasal movement, case theory, and Russian morphology. His work challenges empirical and theoretical assumptions in linguistics, such as reassessments of linguistic exceptionalism claims in languages like Pirahã. Pesetsky has engaged in interdisciplinary studies linking language and music, proposing the Identity Thesis that syntactic principles unify both domains. His pedagogical contributions include writings on reading instruction informed by psychological science. Key awards include the Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellowship recognizing excellence in undergraduate teaching. His publications span monographs, edited volumes, and over 50 peer-reviewed articles, with recent work addressing ellipsis, pied-piping, and recursive structures. Pesetsky actively participates in academic discourse through invited talks at institutions like the Linguistic Society of America and NELS conferences.

HATİCE COŞKUNView profile

Researcher

• Turkish Linguistics
• Historical Linguistics
• Ottoman Literature
• +3 more

Dr. Hatice Coşkun is a Researcher at Bingöl University's Faculty of Theology, Department of Turkish Islamic Literature. She holds a PhD in Turkology from Goethe University Frankfurt (2011) and has held academic positions at Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakıf University (2013-2015) and Yalova University's Turkish Language Center (2020-2021). Her research focuses on Turkish syntax, historical linguistics, and Ottoman literary studies. Education: PhD: Turkology, Goethe University Frankfurt (2011) Master's: Turkology, Goethe University Frankfurt (2006) Bachelor's: Turkish Language Education, Marmara University (2000) Research Interests: Turkish complement clauses, evidentiality, Ottoman poetry analysis, syntax-semantics interface, and language teaching methodologies. Her work bridges theoretical linguistics with historical text analysis, particularly in Turkic and Islamic literary traditions. Recent Contributions: Her 2019 study on complement clause obligatoriness and 2012 analysis of negation in Turkish syntax are pivotal in syntactic typology. She also edited major works on Ottoman manuscripts and contributed to the Dictionnaire Turc-Français . Awards: GradEast Summer School Scholarship (2009) Frankfurt Graduate School Doctorate Fellowship (2007-2010) Labs/Teams: Actively involved in editorial boards of historical manuscripts (e.g., Türkiyat Mecmuası ) and maintains international collaborations in Turkic linguistics.

• Historical Linguistics
• Comparative Linguistics
• Romance Languages
• +3 more

Prof. Maria Kitova-Vasileva holds the rank of Professor at New Bulgarian University's Department of Romance and German Studies. She teaches courses in historical linguistics and comparative language studies. With dual doctorates (1983 PhD and 2002 DSc), her career spans over five decades, including academic leadership roles and international collaborations. She specializes in Spanish historical linguistics, comparative Romance language studies, and epistemic modality systems. Education: PhD (1983) and DSc (2002) in Philology from Sofia University International affiliations: International Association for Spanish Language History, International Association of Spanish Language Educators Editorial roles: Chief editor of Filologia (1994-1999), Coleccion Linguistica (2001) Her research focuses on modal categories, temporal reference systems, and the historical development of Romance languages. Over 50+ publications include monographs on Spanish verb systems and edited volumes on linguistic theory. She has lectured at universities in Madrid, Stockholm, Salamanca, and Lugo.

Hamid OualiView profile

Professor

• Syntactic Theory
• Arabic Syntax
• Berber Syntax
• +1 more

Hamid Ouali is Professor of Linguistics at UW-Milwaukee's College of Letters & Science, specializing in syntactic theory within the Minimalist Program framework. His research comparatively analyzes Arabic and Berber languages to understand universal grammatical principles. Primary research examines agreement systems, tense-aspect morphology, negation patterns, and syntactic interfaces in Semitic languages. His work contributes to understanding parametric variation across Arabic dialects and Berber languages. Professor Ouali teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in syntax, Arabic linguistics, and general linguistic theory. He maintains active research collaborations focusing on micro-comparative syntax across North African languages.

• Modality in Language
• Tense and Aspect
• Cross-linguistic Linguistics
• +3 more

Anne Mucha is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Edinburgh, affiliated with the Linguistics and English Language department within the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences. Her research focuses on modality, tense, aspect, and cross-linguistic semantic analysis, with a particular emphasis on African and Germanic languages. She employs experimental methods and fieldwork-based approaches in her investigations. Her work explores topics such as modal flavor distinctions in German necessity modals, cross-linguistic datasets of modal elements, and temporal interpretation in Hausa and Igbo. She has conducted extensive studies on non-canonical control structures, sequence of tense phenomena, and the interaction between negation and modality in languages like Hausa, Thai, and Kîîtharaka. Mucha’s research integrates formal semantics with empirical methods, including experimental syntax and corpus-driven analyses. Her publications span theoretical linguistics, typological studies, and applied fieldwork methodologies. She has contributed to volumes on multilingual elicitation techniques, language documentation, and the syntax-semantics interface. Her recent work emphasizes the decomposition of modal meanings and the cross-linguistic comparison of tense-aspect systems. Mucha holds a Master’s degree from the University of Potsdam (2011), where her thesis focused on the TAM system of Hausa. She has collaborated internationally, publishing in journals and conference proceedings such as TripleA and Semantics of African, Asian and Austronesian Languages .

Harold TorrenceView profile

Professor

• Comparative Syntax
• Morphology
• African Languages
• +3 more

Harold Torrence is a Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His research focuses on comparative syntax and morphology of African and Native American languages, with particular emphasis on endangered languages. He holds a Ph.D. from UCLA (2005) and is based in Campbell Hall. His work bridges theoretical linguistics and fieldwork, aiming to document understudied languages while advancing syntactic theory. Research projects include co-PI roles on NSF-funded initiatives training students in African fieldwork (e.g., Ghana-Togo Mountain languages like Avatime and Logba) and UC MEXUS-CONACYT grants investigating headless relative clauses in Mesoamerican languages (e.g., Iliatenco Me’phaa). These projects emphasize collaborative training of junior scholars and native linguists. His publications span syntactic analysis of Wolof, Krachi, and Mixtec languages, addressing topics like relative clauses, wh-questions, and clause structure. Recent work (2024) explores A’-movement in Avatime and indeterminate pronouns in Kaqchikel, reflecting ongoing engagement with typological and formal syntactic questions. Professional contributions include co-editing volumes like Africa’s Endangered Languages (2017) and organizing workshops on Mesoamerican syntax. He collaborates with institutions like CUNY Graduate Center and UCSD to advance interdisciplinary linguistic research.

• Computational Semantics
• Formal Semantics
• Natural Language Processing
• +3 more

Aaron Steven White is an Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Rochester, with secondary appointments in the Department of Computer Science and affiliation with the Goergen Institute for Data Science. He directs the Center for Language Sciences (CLS) and the Formal and Computational Semantics Lab (FACTS.lab). His research focuses on computational semantics, exploring syntactic and semantic relationships in natural language, particularly through projects like the MegaAttitude Project (analyzing clausal predicates) and the Decompositional Semantics Initiative (annotating corpus data for semantic parsers). He holds a PhD from the University of Maryland (2015) and was a postdoc at Johns Hopkins University (2015–2017). Research Interests: Formal semantics and computational models Syntax-semantics interface Natural language understanding systems Event structure decomposition Neuroimaging of linguistic processing Recent Work Trends: His publications emphasize computational models of clause selection , temporal interpretation in nonfinite clauses , and large-scale corpus annotation frameworks . Key contributions include the Universal Decompositional Semantics dataset and tools for cross-lingual information extraction. Lab & Affiliations: Leads CLS (an interdisciplinary language sciences hub) and FACTS.lab (specializing in formal semantics). Collaborates widely, including with Julian Grove on summer schools.

Brian HsuView profile

Assistant Professor

• Formal Syntax
• Phonology
• Word Order Variation
• +3 more

Brian Hsu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research focuses on formal syntax and phonology, particularly exploring sources of word-order variation, mental representation of optionality, and the syntax of functional projections. He employs both generative approaches and corpus-based methods in his work. Recent studies include analyses of Cherokee syntax, Mandarin classifiers, and Gradient Harmonic Grammar applications. Hsu has presented at major conferences such as the West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics and the North East Linguistic Society. His research interests also encompass head movement, prosodification effects, and the interaction between syntax and prosody. Notable contributions include his 2021 work on Coalescence , unifying bundling operations in syntax, and his 2022 analysis of gradient symbolic representations in Harmonic Grammar. His publications span journals like Language , Phonology , and Linguistic Inquiry , reflecting his expertise in syntactic theory, phonology, and language typology. Collaborations with scholars like Benjamin Frey and Caitlin Smith highlight interdisciplinary approaches to linguistic challenges.

Lisa ReedView profile

Professor

• Theoretical Linguistics
• Syntax
• Semantics
• +3 more

Dr. Lisa Reed is a Professor of French and Linguistics at the Department of French and Francophone Studies, Pennsylvania State University. She holds a Ph.D. in theoretical linguistics from the Université d’Ottawa (Canada). Her research focuses on syntax, semantics, and Romance languages, with a particular emphasis on French linguistic structures. During 2024-2025, she is on sabbatical leave. Education: Ph.D. in Theoretical Linguistics, Université d’Ottawa (Canada) Her research interests include theoretical linguistics, syntactic analysis, semantic interpretation, and the study of Romance languages. She has published extensively in journals such as Lingua , Natural Language & Linguistic Theory , and Studia Linguistica , with notable works like Strengthening the PRO Hypothesis and Formal Perspectives on Romance Linguistics . Her recent work explores control theory, exceptive constructions, and the syntax-semantics interface in French. Dr. Reed teaches courses such as French Linguistics (FR 316/502), French Phonology (FR 417), and French Syntax (FR 418). Professional Highlights: Author of multiple influential books and journal articles Recipient of grants supporting research in syntax and semantics Active contributor to international linguistics conferences Her work integrates formal linguistic theory with Romance language analysis, particularly addressing syntactic and semantic challenges in French. She has advised numerous graduate students in theoretical linguistics and syntax.

Christoph DemianView profile

Researcher

• Register Variation
• Slavic Linguistics
• Multilingual Settings
• +5 more

Christoph Demian is a researcher at Humboldt University of Berlin's Institute for Slavic Studies and Hungarian Studies, actively contributing to research project A03 titled "Slavic in a multilingual setting: Register and fused (hybrid) lects." His academic profile centers on linguistic analysis of Slavic languages with particular expertise in Russian and Czech register variation. Demian's research explores the intricate relationship between syntactic complexity and language registers through both corpus-based and experimental methodologies. His work challenges conventional assumptions about clausal subordination patterns across different language contexts, demonstrating that dependency-based complexity measures often reveal different register profiles than frequency-based approaches. He employs multidimensional analysis (MDA) to investigate how native speakers perceive and evaluate language use across various situational contexts. His recent publications (2021-2023) consistently focus on register variation in Slavic languages, with particular attention to how factors like spoken vs. written mode, formality of interlocutor address, and narrative vs. non-narrative contexts influence syntactic structures. Demian's research shows that spoken Russian subcorpora, especially oral public communication, exhibit higher frequencies of subordinating complementizers contrary to some traditional expectations about Russian language structure. Demian maintains an active collaborative network with scholars including Olga Buchmüller, Roland Meyer, and Luka Szucsich, regularly presenting at specialized linguistics venues such as Grammar and Corpora (GaC) and Linguistics Beyond And Within conferences. His methodological rigor includes systematic corpus sampling, careful dependency parsing validation (with approximately 94% parse correctness in Russian corpus work), and experimental designs that balance variables like interlocutor gender and formality.

• Linguistics
• Syntax
• Generative Grammar
• +4 more

Andreas Konietzko is a Professor at Humboldt University of Berlin, affiliated with the Institute of German Language and Linguistics within the Faculty of Linguistics and Literature. His research focuses on syntax, information structure, generative grammar, and discourse analysis, with an emphasis on German linguistics and neurolinguistics. He has contributed to studies on ellipsis, relative clauses, ATB movement, and the processing of language in neurological cases. His work combines theoretical linguistics with experimental approaches, exploring topics such as fragmentary clauses, common ground in discourse, and syntax-pragmatics interfaces. He has published widely in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes, including monographs like Bare Argument Ellipsis and Focus (2016). Recent research investigates PP extraction in German, focus constraints in sluicing, and the interaction of syntax with information structure. Dr. Konietzko’s research also addresses clinical linguistics, examining language processing in patients with brain lesions. Collaborations span experimental syntax, cognitive neuroscience, and computational linguistics. His email is andreas.konietzko@hu-berlin.de .