My research focuses on the sound patterns of human language (i.e. phonology), especially as they interact with word structure (i.e. morphology) and sentence structure (i.e. syntax). Individual topics include grammatical tone, the interaction of tone/pitch and segments, vowel harmony, prosodic constituency, paradigm uniformity effects, allomorphy, and clitic alignment — see my Research page for more. A major component of this work involves careful typological and descriptive work on African languages, especially those of the Niger-Congo language family stretching across the continent. Crucial to these efforts is in situ data collection and collaboration with communities in Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

For a complete list of publications, see my CV. And feel free to contact me!

Recent news

• Apr 2024 — I have officially accepted a position as an Assistant Professor in the Program in Linguistics at Princeton University, starting July 2024!

• Apr 2024 — On behalf of my group, I am giving a talk “A report on Limba, a Niger-Congo isolate of Sierra Leone” (online) at ACAL55. [handout] [video]

• Feb 2024 — Talk at OCP21, Leipzig, DE, “Tonal exchange rules in Khoekhoe: The role of defective nodes and prosodic subcategorization” [handout]