Me and my interests

I'm a Lecturer in the Department of Linguistics and English Language at the University of Manchester in Manchester, UK. I have BA and MA degrees in Spanish, Portuguese, and Linguistics from Indiana University. I have a PhD (2007) in Linguistics from Stanford University.

My Erdös number is at most 6 (probably lower if multiple-authored papers count; see my co-author, John Beavers' Erdös page).

My interests are in the crosslinguistic study of the lexical semantics/morphosyntax interface and in the interface between lexical and compositional semantics. I am also a field linguist with interests in (endangered) language documentation. Some topics of interest to me are (see this page for my downloadable papers and handouts on these topics):

• the semantics of word-formation operations
• the semantic significance of morphological syncretism
• event complexity and lexicalization
• typological variation in, and the semantics of, syntactic categoryhood
• the typology and theory of grammatical alignment systems
• aspect and aspectual typology
• Misumalpan morphosyntax (synchronic and diachronic)
• language documentation and endangerment (see Emmon Bach's thoughts on endangered languages and the linguist)

Languages

Languages of particular interest to me:

• The Misumalpan languages, especially Ulwa (aka Southern Sumu).
• Tongan
• Spanish, Portuguese, pidgins and creoles

Other stuff

When I'm not doing linguistics, I enjoy keeping up on current events, learning about Latin American history and politics, hiking, travelling, and spending time with my partner, Melissa Koontz-Garboden.

A pair of shoes I'd like to own.