Tyler Peterson

Tyler Peterson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Arizona State University (ASU). His research focuses on the documentation, revitalization, and maintenance of endangered Indigenous languages, particularly in the Americas and Oceania. He holds an affiliation with the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes at ASU and previously served as a visiting lecturer at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. His expertise lies at the intersection of linguistics, semantics/pragmatics, and applied language technology.

Education: PhD in Linguistics from the University of British Columbia (dissertation on Gitksan language under Lisa Matthewson). Research interests include the role of everyday technology in language preservation, theoretical semantics of evidentiality and mirativity, and syntactic phenomena in Indigenous languages like Tsimshianic and Cook Islands Māori.

Publications span theoretical linguistics and applied Indigenous language studies, with notable work on epistemic modality in Gitksan, mirativity cross-linguistically, and child language acquisition of syntactic structures. His interdisciplinary approach integrates computational methods with community-driven language revitalization efforts.

Grants and collaborations involve Indigenous communities and institutions in developing language resources. Current projects explore culturally grounded models for assessing language vitality and leveraging digital tools for language education.