Maria Teresa Espinal

Maria Teresa Espinal is a Full Professor of Linguistics at Autonomous University of Barcelona since 1999. She is affiliated with the Faculty of Arts and the Department of Catalan Philology, and a member of UAB’s Center for Theoretical Linguistics (CLT). She has held leadership roles including Vice Rector for Research (1994-98), CLT Secretary (2006-07), and CLT Director (2007-10). Her postdoctoral research includes stays at UC Berkeley, Stanford, Utrecht University, and Université Paris 7-CNRS, with invited professorships at UNAM (Mexico) and UNICAMP (Brazil).

• Bachelor’s in Hispanic Philology (UAB, 1978)
• MA in Linguistics (University College London, 1981)
• PhD in Theoretical Linguistics (UAB, 1985)

Her research focuses on syntax/semantics and semantics/pragmatics interfaces, particularly in Romance languages (Catalan and Spanish). She explores phenomena like negation, negative concord, idiomatic constructions, bare nominals, and expletive elements. Her work combines formal linguistic theory with experimental methodologies.

Her 15 most recent publications (2022-2025) span syntax-semantic interfaces, negation, Romance language comparison, and experimental linguistics. Key themes include Catalan/Spanish negation patterns, diachronic changes in discourse markers, and cross-linguistic analysis of definite/indefinite expressions.

• Narcís Monturiol medal (Catalan government, 2020)
• ICREA Academia Award (twice, 2016 and 2010)

She has led nationally-funded Excellence Network on Meaning and Grammar and served on multiple national/international research evaluation panels. Her editorial work includes co-editing volumes on negation, linguistic interfaces, and experimental data's role in linguistic theory.