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About
About
I am a linguist with a focus on historical linguistics and languages of Africa. I received my Ph.D. in Linguistics from UC Berkeley in 2018, and am currently a lecturer in the Program in Linguistics at Princeton University.
Contact: j.merrill at princeton dot edu
Interests
Interests
My principal interest is in historical and comparative linguistics, focusing on linguistic reconstruction within the Niger-Congo language family, as well as phonology and morphology from a historical perspective. Within Niger-Congo, I work mainly on the reconstruction and internal classification of Northern Atlantic languages, and on topics related to noun classification and consonant mutation.
My other primary interest is language documentation. I have carried out fieldwork on the Sereer, Noon, Kobiana, and Wolof languages in Senegal and the US. I have produced, and continue to work on lexical and grammatical documentary resources for these languages. Within Bantu, I have worked first-hand with speakers of Herero (Namibia: R30) and Lulamogi (Uganda: JE16).
Papers & chapters
Papers & chapters
Tone-driven vowel epenthesis in Wamey (with Nik Rolle)
Tone-driven vowel epenthesis in Wamey (with Nik Rolle)
(2023) Phonology 39-1, 113-158 | link
Voiceless rhotic / retroflex consonants as an areal feature of the Atlantic languages
Voiceless rhotic / retroflex consonants as an areal feature of the Atlantic languages
(2022) Language in Africa 3-2, 37-58 | pdf
The gender system of Noon (with Viktoria Apel)
The gender system of Noon (with Viktoria Apel)
(2021) STUF 74(2), 347-368 | link | pdf
The Evolution of Consonant Mutation and Noun Class Marking in Wolof
The Evolution of Consonant Mutation and Noun Class Marking in Wolof
(2021) Diachronica 38:1, 64-110 | pdf
Analysis of D’Avezac’s 17th century Sereer wordlist
Analysis of D’Avezac’s 17th century Sereer wordlist
(2019) Africana Linguistica 25, 89-154 | pdf
Niger-Congo linguistic features and typology (with Larry Hyman et al.)
Niger-Congo linguistic features and typology (with Larry Hyman et al.)
(2019) The Cambridge Handbook of African Linguistics. H. Ekkehard Wolff (Ed.), 191-245
The Historical Origin of Consonant Mutation in the Atlantic Languages
The Historical Origin of Consonant Mutation in the Atlantic Languages
(2018) Ph.D. dissertation | link
Morphology, Irregularity and Bantu Frication: The case of Lulamogi (with Larry Hyman)
Morphology, Irregularity and Bantu Frication: The case of Lulamogi (with Larry Hyman)
(2015) "Actualités des Néogrammariens", Memoires of the Société de Linguistique de Paris, 139-157 | link
Presentations
Presentations
Atlantic groups as primary branches of Niger-Congo
Atlantic groups as primary branches of Niger-Congo
(2021) Westermann Workshop, Humboldt University, Berlin | slides
sound correspondences and lexical cognates | pdf
noun class cognates | pdf
swadesh lists | xlsx
Tone-driven vowel epenthesis is possible: Evidence from Wamey (with Nik Rolle)
Tone-driven vowel epenthesis is possible: Evidence from Wamey (with Nik Rolle)
(2020) AMP, UCSC | slides
Exchange Rules in Kobiana Consonant Mutation
Exchange Rules in Kobiana Consonant Mutation
(2019) LSA annual meeting, New York City | poster
Evidence from Atlantic for a recently grammaticalized classifier system in early Niger-Congo
Evidence from Atlantic for a recently grammaticalized classifier system in early Niger-Congo
(2018) Gender across Niger-Congo workshop, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin | slides
Changing Motivations for Consonant Mutation in Atlantic
Changing Motivations for Consonant Mutation in Atlantic
(2018) LMU-UCB workshop on loss of functional motivation | slides
Consonant Mutation and Initial Prominence: The Historical Loss of Lexical Contrastiveness
Consonant Mutation and Initial Prominence: The Historical Loss of Lexical Contrastiveness
(2016) LSA annual meeting, Washington D.C. | slides
The Use of Gedney Surveys in African Historical Linguistics
The Use of Gedney Surveys in African Historical Linguistics
(2015) WOCAL 8, Kyoto | slides
Contraction in Lalane Noon Verbal Paradigms (with Nico Baier)
Contraction in Lalane Noon Verbal Paradigms (with Nico Baier)
(2015) Colloque Sénélangues, Dakar | handout
Bantu Spirantization is a Reflex of Vowel Spirantization (with Matthew Faytak)
Bantu Spirantization is a Reflex of Vowel Spirantization (with Matthew Faytak)
(2015) ACAL 46, Eugene, Oregon | slides
Nasalization as a Repair for Voiced Obstruent Codas in Noon
Nasalization as a Repair for Voiced Obstruent Codas in Noon
(2015) LSA annual meeting, Portland, Oregon | slides | paper draft | pdf
The glottal stop in Sereer: a new type of marginal contrast
The glottal stop in Sereer: a new type of marginal contrast
CLS 50, April 10, 2014 | handout
Language resources
Language resources
Sereer
Sereer
Lexicon (download to use hyperlinks) | pdf
Catalog of CVC verb roots | xlsx
Verb paradigm | pdf
Noon
Noon
Audio recordings and fieldnotes | California Language Archive
Lexicon (download to use hyperlinks) | pdf
Kobiana
Kobiana
Audio recordings and fieldnotes | California Language Archive
Lexicon (download to use hyperlinks) | pdf
Proto-Bainunk-Kobiana-Kasanga reconstructions | pdf
Wolof
Wolof
List of nouns containing a historical noun class prefix | pdf
Lexical entries segmented phonemically and morphologically (based on Diouf 2003) | xlsx
Fula
Fula
Catalog of CVCC verb roots | xlsx
Sign in Ndooroong, Senegal: (a) ƭat Jiloor 'road to Djilor'
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