Na'ama Pat-El is a Professor in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, affiliated with the College of Liberal Arts and the Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures Graduate Studies Committee (MELC GSC). She holds a Ph.D. (2008) in Semitic Philology from Harvard University, preceded by studies at Hebrew University under Gideon Goldenberg and Harvard under John Huehnergard. Education: Ph.D., 2008, Harvard University (Semitic Philology) B.A. and M.A., Hebrew University of Jerusalem Her research focuses on Comparative Semitic Linguistics, Historical Linguistics, Syntax, and Language Contact , with a particular emphasis on syntactic change and morphological evolution. She investigates phenomena such as the development of verbal paradigms, plural morphemes, and copulae across Semitic languages, including Akkadian, Hebrew, and Aramaic. Recent publications address topics like the nondevelopment of third-person nominative pronouns in Semitic perfect/stative paradigms, the diachronic shift of East Semitic subordination markers into West Semitic indicative markers, and the reevaluation of Hebrew 'sign' terminology through epigraphic and comparative evidence. Her work also challenges assumptions about paired body part gender assignment in Semitic languages. Selected Publications (2025–2020) explore: Proto-Semitic verbal morphology Historical syntax in Akkadian and Neo-Assyrian Plural-gender mismatches in Hebrew Substrate influences in Levantine Arabic Biblical text linguistics
Prof. Dr. Frank Kammerzell is a Professor at the Department of Archaeology and Cultural History of Northeast Africa within Humboldt University of Berlin since May 2003. His academic career includes habilitation at the University of Göttingen (1999) and extensive research collaborations with Hebrew University of Jerusalem and University of Vienna. His educational background encompasses Medieval and Modern History (major 1980), Egyptology (major), Coptic Studies, General and Indo-European Linguistics, and Assyriology. He earned his Dr. phil. from Göttingen with a dissertation on 'Studies on the Language and History of the Carians in Egypt' (1990) and completed habilitation with 'Language contact and language change in ancient Egypt' (1999). Kammerzell's research spans Egyptian phonology, morphology, syntax, lexis, language history, diachronic typology, language contact, writing systems, and Carian history in Egypt. His work integrates linguistic analysis with archaeological contexts, examining language evolution through contact and typological shifts. Notable projects include studies on Egyptian-Akkadian typological developments and classifiers in ancient Egypt. His publications since 2000 demonstrate sustained focus on Egyptian linguistic structures, writing systems, and cross-linguistic influences. Key themes include verb classifiers, glossing rules for Ancient Egyptian, and lexical semantics-pragmatics interfaces, bridging Egyptology with broader linguistic theory. Graduate Scholarship from the State of Lower Saxony (Doctoral Scholarship) 1987-1989 Kammerzell has led significant research projects funded by the DFG, Fritz Thyssen Foundation, and Volkswagen Foundation. His collaborative work with institutions in Jerusalem and Göttingen highlights international partnerships. While specific advisees aren't listed, his editorial roles suggest mentorship in academic publishing. He co-founded research groups on multilingualism and script systems, contributing to journals like Lingua Aegyptia and Ägypten und Levante , underscoring team-based archaeological-linguistic research.
Dr. Timothy Gordon Barnes is a Departmental Lecturer in Classical Philology (Latin) at the University of Oxford and a Supernumerary Fellow of Wolfson College. He holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University. His research focuses on Early Greek and Latin literature, Indo-European linguistics, and languages of the Ancient Mediterranean. He teaches courses such as Plautus and Early Latin Inscriptions, Advanced Indo-European Phonology, and Introduction to Historical and Comparative Linguistics. His recent publications explore topics like Albanian evidence for Proto-Indo-European linguistics, Anatolian legal language parallels, and Vedic-Indo-European comparative studies. Barnes’ work bridges philological analysis with interdisciplinary approaches to ancient texts. His research keywords include Archaic Greek Literature and Indo-European Linguistics. He actively contributes to academic discourse through peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes. While no formal advising roles or grants are listed, his academic profile reflects sustained engagement with historical linguistic methodologies and cross-cultural textual analysis. He is affiliated with Wolfson College and the Department of Classical Philology at Oxford. His work can be tracked via ORCID: 0000-0002-3481-7196 .
Ronald Kim is an Associate Professor of Linguistics in the Department of Older Germanic Languages within the Faculty of English at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland. Born and raised in New Jersey, USA, he completed his undergraduate studies at Princeton University in 1996 before earning his Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania in 2002. After a postdoctoral fellowship at Cornell University, he taught at several US institutions including Penn, Temple, and Swarthmore before joining Adam Mickiewicz University in 2009 as a Visiting Professor, eventually securing his current position as Associate Professor. Kim's academic credentials include an AB in Astrophysical Sciences from Princeton University (1996), a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania (2002), and a D. Litt. in English Linguistics from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (2015). His research spans multiple areas of historical linguistics with particular focus on Indo-European languages including Tocharian, Iranian, Balto-Slavic, Greek, Celtic, and Anatolian, as well as Semitic languages like Aramaic. His work encompasses sociolinguistics, language variation, language contact phenomena, dialect geography, phonology (particularly autosegmental, nonlinear, and prosodic approaches), morphology, and pidgin and creole linguistics with emphasis on English-based contact languages of the Pacific. Analysis of Kim's recent publications reveals a clear trajectory in his scholarly work, with increasing focus on Iranian languages, particularly Ossetic, while maintaining strong connections to broader Indo-European studies. His work demonstrates sophisticated integration of comparative linguistic methods with computational approaches to language evolution, particularly evident in his contributions to phylogenetic studies of Indo-European languages. There's also a consistent thread of interest in suppletion phenomena across multiple language families. His research often bridges theoretical linguistic concerns with historical and geographical contexts, particularly the linguistic landscape of Central Asia and the Silk Road region. Erasmus+ teaching exchange, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, January 2020 Heiwa Nakajima Foundation fellowship, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo, Spring 2017 AMU research travel grant, Department of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania, September 2013 Junior Research Grant, Swarthmore College, Spring 2007 Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Humanities, Cornell University, 2002-03 University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertation Fellowship, 2001-02 William Penn Graduate Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania, 1996-2000 Adam Mickiewicz University rector's prize for publications, 2019 Kim serves in multiple editorial capacities, including General Editor of Indo-European Linguistics (with Joseph F. Eska) and Chatreššar: International Journal for Indo-European, Semitic, and Cuneiform Languages (with Petr Zemánek). He also sits on the Editorial Board of Brill's Studies in Indo-European Languages & Linguistics, the Editorial Advisory Board of Lingua Posnaniensis, and serves as a Board of Reviewer for Tocharian and Indo-European Studies and the Academic Journal of Modern Philology. His research has been supported by numerous grants including projects on Ossetic Historical Grammar funded by the National Science Centre Poland (2020-23), The Historical Morphology of the Old Armenian Verb funded by the Czech Science Foundation (2017-19), and participation in the Indo-European Cognate Relationships project at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (2015-). Kim maintains an active international presence through frequent conference participation and invited lectures at major institutions worldwide including University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, Harvard University, Kyoto University, and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. His scholarly network spans multiple continents, reflecting the international nature of Indo-European linguistic research.
Yona Sabar is a Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He holds a PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from Yale University (1970) and a BA in Hebrew and Arabic from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1963). His research focuses on Semitic languages, Jewish studies, and the linguistic and cultural preservation of Kurdish Jewish communities. Education: PhD, Yale (1970); BA, Hebrew University (1963) Affiliation: UCLA Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures Teaching: Undergraduate and graduate courses in Hebrew, Neo-Aramaic, Syriac, Judeo-Arabic, and Biblical Aramaic Sabar’s work examines Neo-Aramaic dialects, biblical translations, folklore, and multilingualism among Kurdish Jews. His publications include dictionaries, critical editions of religious texts, and comparative linguistic studies. His recent articles (2017–2002) address topics like cultural transmission in Kurdish Jewish communities, dialectal evolution, and endangered languages. Key trends include Aramaic-Hebrew interaction, liturgical translation, and ethnographic documentation of oral traditions.
Eleanor Coghill is Professor of Semitic Languages in the Department of Linguistics and Philology at Uppsala University. Her academic profile centers on the linguistic analysis and documentation of Neo-Aramaic dialects, particularly those from Northeastern Iraq. Her research interests encompass: Historical development of Neo-Aramaic dialects Morphological and syntactic structures in Semitic languages Language contact phenomena between Neo-Aramaic and Arabic Grammaticalization processes in endangered languages Documentation of rapidly disappearing linguistic varieties Professor Coghill's scholarly output reveals a consistent trajectory of detailed linguistic analysis combined with fieldwork-based documentation. Her recent publications (2022-2025) demonstrate continued engagement with cutting-edge research in Neo-Aramaic linguistics, with particular emphasis on morphological borrowing, dialectal variation, and grammatical features across different Neo-Aramaic varieties. She has made significant contributions to major reference works in Semitic linguistics, including chapters in 'The Semitic Languages' (Routledge, 2019) and co-editing the comprehensive 'Interconnected Traditions: Semitic Languages, Literatures, Cultures — A Festschrift for Geoffrey Khan' (2025). Her 2016 monograph 'The Rise and Fall of Ergativity in Aramaic: Cycles of Alignment Change' published by Oxford University Press represents a major theoretical contribution to historical linguistics.
Dr. Ahmad Alqassas is a Professor at Georgetown University's Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, with a joint affiliation in Linguistics. He holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics from Indiana University-Bloomington. His research explores comparative syntax, Arabic linguistics, and the semantics-pragmatics interface, with a focus on negation, polarity sensitivity, and morphosyntax across Arabic dialects. His research interests center on computational principles underlying grammatical categories including negation, tense/aspect, and coordination structures, with applications in language acquisition and political discourse. Recent publications demonstrate sustained focus on micro-variation in Arabic negation systems and heritage language acquisition. Dr. Alqassas teaches advanced courses in syntax, Arabic linguistic analysis, sociolinguistics, and Semitic language structures. His pedagogical work addresses challenges in teaching Arabic emphatic consonants and heritage learners.
Metin BAĞRIAÇIK is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Linguistics at Bogazici University, Istanbul. He serves as a 2nd-class academic advisor and Erasmus (Outgoing) Coordinator. His research focuses on morphosyntactic micro-variation, historical morphology-syntax, and language contact phenomena between Greek and Turkish dialects in Asia Minor. His educational background includes a PhD in Linguistics from Ghent University (2018), an MA in Linguistics from University of Patras (2010), and a BA in Foreign Language Education from Bogazici University (2007). His primary research areas include: Morphosyntactic micro-variation in endangered dialects Historical syntax of Greek dialects Language contact between Turkish and Greek Cartographic syntax of complement clauses Phrasal compounding structures His publication trends reveal a strong focus on Asia Minor Greek dialects (particularly Pharasiot and Cappadocian), examining how Turkish contact has shaped syntactic structures like relative clauses, complementizers, and discourse particles. His work combines micro-comparative analysis with diachronic reconstruction to document endangered linguistic varieties. As principal investigator, he has led multiple significant research projects including: A 3-year BAP grant (2021-present) on micro-comparative analysis of complement clauses in Asia Minor Greek dialects A 3-year FWO postdoctoral grant (2018-2021) on relative clauses in Asia Minor Greek A 4-year FWO doctoral grant (2013-2017) documenting the critically endangered Pharasiot Greek dialect He has also contributed as researcher to HERA-funded projects on multilingualism in ancient Europe and EU-funded projects on Asia Minor Greek dialects. Professor BAĞRIAÇIK teaches undergraduate courses including Language Typology, Phonology and Morphology of Modern Turkish, Language Contact, and Field Methods, along with graduate seminars on Language Contact in Asia Minor and Formal Approaches to Language Change.
Dr Masoud Mohammadirad is a Researcher in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge, specializing in Iranian linguistics and language documentation. His work focuses on Kurdish and Gorani languages, particularly in areas such as language contact, morphology, and corpus linguistics. Education: PhD in Linguistics (2020), Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris III M.A. in General Linguistics (2013), Bu-Ali Sina University B.A. in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (2010), Sanandaj University Research Interests: Western Iranian languages (Hewrami, Laki, Kurdish dialects) Language contact phenomena in the Zagros region Historical linguistics and sound change Morphosyntactic typology Projects: ERC-funded project "Echoes of Vanishing Voices" (2021-2025) investigating minority language histories in West Asia Co-authoring A Grammar of Hewramî (forthcoming) Teaching: "Sounds and Words" (Li1) "Historical Linguistics" (Li11)
Hamid Ouali is Professor of Linguistics at UW-Milwaukee's College of Letters & Science, specializing in syntactic theory within the Minimalist Program framework. His research comparatively analyzes Arabic and Berber languages to understand universal grammatical principles. Primary research examines agreement systems, tense-aspect morphology, negation patterns, and syntactic interfaces in Semitic languages. His work contributes to understanding parametric variation across Arabic dialects and Berber languages. Professor Ouali teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in syntax, Arabic linguistics, and general linguistic theory. He maintains active research collaborations focusing on micro-comparative syntax across North African languages.
Dr. Phil Branigan is Associate Professor of Linguistics at Memorial University, specializing in syntactic theory with empirical focus on Algonquian languages, French, and comparative Germanic syntax. His research investigates parametric variation in morphosyntactic systems through frameworks of the Minimalist Program. Recent publications analyze head-movement operations across languages, complementizer agreement in Arabic dialects, numeral syntax, and semantic incorporation in Inuktitut. His work contributes to understanding cross-linguistic variation in syntactic derivation and feature inheritance. Language-specific expertise includes Innu-aimûn (Algonquian), Inuktitut, and Arabic dialects. Earlier research examined subject extraction constraints, A-movement phenomena, and double object constructions.
Riccardo Contini is Full Professor of Semitic Philology at the University of Naples "L'Orientale" , where he has held a permanent chair since January 2004. Previously he taught at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, the University of Rome "La Sapienza" and the Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, steadily advancing from Tenured Research Fellow to Full Professor. Education Laurea (M.A.) in Semitic Philology, University of Pisa & Scuola Normale Superiore, November 1978 Graduate study periods: UCLA (Los Angeles), Pontifical Biblical Institute (Rome), École Pratique des Hautes Études IVe Section (Paris) Research Interests Professor Contini’s work centres on the linguistic history of the Semitic-speaking Near East . Key foci include comparative Semitic morphosyntax , Hebrew linguistics , Aramaic and Arabic dialectology , and the Syriac linguistic and historiographical tradition . He also pursues ethnolinguistic fieldwork in Yemen and Oman, producing data on living Arabic and Aramaic varieties. Across his publications he repeatedly combines philological precision with broader historical questions, ranging from Persian-period Jewish communities to medieval Syriac chronicles and 19th-century travellers’ records of Arabian speech. Scientific Awards 2007 Tartufari Prize for Semitics, Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei – Italy’s most prestigious national recognition in the field. Editorial & Institutional Roles Chair, Center for Jewish Studies, University of Naples "L'Orientale" (since 2009) Editor, Testi del Vicino Oriente Antico series, Paideia Editrice (since 2006) Former Co-editor, Syriac section, History of Science , Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana (2000-2001) Member, Advisory Board, Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni (since 2009) Former editorial board member, Annali dell’Istituto Orientale di Napoli – sez. Orientale (2003-2009) Research Funding His investigations have been supported by competitive grants from the University of Naples "L'Orientale" and the Italian Ministry of University . Laboratory & Fieldwork Field trips to Yemen and Oman underpin his ethnolinguistic analyses of contemporary Arabic and Neo-Aramaic dialects, feeding comparative data into his historical-linguistic reconstructions.
