Martina Wiltschko

Martina Wiltschko is an Honorary Affiliate Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of British Columbia, Faculty of Arts. She is currently on leave and holds a research position with ICREA at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF).

Educational Background: Wiltschko earned her PhD and MA from the University of Vienna, where her dissertation focused on 'IDs in Syntax and Discourse: An analysis of Extraposition in German' under supervisors Edwin Williams and Wolfgang U. Dressler. Her graduate training emphasized theoretical linguistics with specialization in syntactic theory and interface issues (syntax-morphology, syntax-semantics, and syntax-pragmatics).

Research Interests: Her work centers on syntax, grammatical categories, and linguistic fieldwork. She developed the 'universal spine hypothesis' for discovering functional categories and is extending this to discourse markers in her monograph 'Interactional Structure. Towards a formal typology of discourse markers.' Her research integrates fieldwork on Upriver Halkomelem (Salish), Blackfoot (Algonquian), and Ktunaxa (Kutenai) with theoretical linguistics.

Publications: Wiltschko's extensive publication record (2014-2018) demonstrates consistent focus on syntactic variation, response particles, and formal typology across Germanic, Salish, Algonquian, and Sino-Tibetan languages. Her 15 most recent articles reflect methodological innovation in field linguistics and theoretical modeling.

Additional Activities: She contributes to departmental strengths in fieldwork-theory integration and maintains profiles on Google Scholar, ResearchGate, and Academia.edu related to her Syntax of Speech Acts project.