Jess Law

Jess Law is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She holds a PhD from Rutgers University and an MPhil and BA from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research focuses on the intersection of semantics and pragmatics, particularly through experimental approaches to language meaning.

• Education:
  • PhD in Linguistics, Rutgers University
  • MPhil and BA in Linguistics, Chinese University of Hong Kong

Her work explores key questions in linguistic theory, including the compositional nature of pragmatics in languages with overt discourse particles (e.g., Cantonese, Mandarin), passive constructions in transitive verbs, and the licensing of non-canonical subjects in generic sentences. She employs experimental methods to study the discourse potential of bare noun phrases and focus intervention effects in Mandarin questions.

You can contact Jess at jesslaw@ucsc.edu.