Maria Kouneli

Maria Kouneli is an Assistant Professor of Linguistics at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, joining in 2023. Previously, she served as an Assistant Professor (Juniorprofessorin) of Linguistics at the University of Leipzig. Her research focuses on theoretical syntax and morphology, with a specialization in Kalenjin languages (Southern Nilotic) spoken in Kenya. Key research interests include syntax-morphology interfaces, agreement phenomena, vowel harmony, and nominal classification systems.

Her academic journey includes a PhD in Linguistics from New York University (2019), where her dissertation examined the syntax of number and modification in Kipsigis. She has conducted extensive fieldwork on underserved languages, contributing to both syntactic theory and descriptive linguistics. Notable recent works include studies on vowel harmony mechanisms and agreement patterns in Kipsigis, published in Natural Language & Linguistic Theory.

Dr. Kouneli has been invited to present at prominent venues such as the 42nd West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL) at UC Berkeley (April 2024). Her publications span topics like complementation structures, ergativity, and syntactic limits on phonological processes. Office hours are held at 73 Easton Ave, Office 203, with contact via maria.kouneli@rutgers.edu.