I am fascinated by all we can learn about what languages are like and what makes them that way. I find we can learn some of the most surprising things by documenting languages as they are used spontaneously by their speakers, in natural contexts for a variety of purposes, and by considering each area of structure (phonetics, phonology, prosody, morphology, syntax, discourse) in the context of the others, as well as in their diachronic and areal contexts. My own work has focused especially on Mohawk, Cayuga, and Tuscarora (Iroquoian); Central Pomo (Pomoan); Barbareño Chumash (Chumashan); Central Alaskan Yup’ik (Eskimo-Aleut); Navajo (Athabaskan); and Kapampangan (Austronesian); as well as some work with Cree (Algonquian), Dakota/Lakhota and Tutelo (Siouan), and Selayarese (Austronesian).

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

2005. Beyond the core: Typological variation in the identification of participants. International Journal of Linguistics 71.4

2005. On the assumption of the sentence as the basic unit of syntactic structure. Linguistic Diversity and Language Theories. Zygmunt Frajzyngier, ed. Studies in Language Companion Series. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing. 169-183.

2003. Functional perspectives on syntactic change. Handbook of Historical Linguistics. Richard Janda and Brian Joseph, eds. Oxford: Blackwell’s. 552-572.

2001. Who shapes the record: The speaker and the linguist. Linguistic Fieldwork: Essays on the Practice of Empirical Linguistic Research. Paul Newman and Martha Ratliff, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 34-54

1999/2001. The Languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 773 pages.

CURRENT PROJECTS

• The effects of language contact on the development of grammar
• Relations among prosody, syntax, and discourse
• Mohawk grammar and dictionary
• Tuscarora grammar and dictionary
• Central Pomo grammar, dictionary, and texts

COURSES TAUGHT

• Linguistics 108/208: Morphology
• Linguistics 109/209: Syntax
• Linguistics 115/215: Historical and Comparative Linguistics
• Linguistics 121: Field Methods
• Linguistics 216: Grammar Writing
• Linguistics 223: Languages in Contact
• Linguistics 236: Advanced Language Change
• Linguistics 221A-B-C: Field Methods
• Linguistics 244A-B: Topics in Linguistic Areas
  - Recent seminar topic: North American Indian languages
• Linguistics 252A-B: Seminar in Morphology and Syntax
  - Recent seminar topic: Tense/Aspect/Modality