2017-2018: Faculty Research Development Fund (University of Auckland)
The goals of this project are twofold: the first is to provide the first empirical study of its kind on how modality is linguistically realized in Cook Islands Māori (CIM). This is a novel undertaking in CIM language and linguistic studies, and ideally we can both enrich the existing linguistic record of CIM and add detail to our relatively nascent understanding of the typology (the study cross-linguistic generalizations) of modality. The second goal seeks a theoretical explanation of the CIM facts by bringing this primary linguistic data to bear upon the predominant theories of modality. This will be done by implementing a formal semantic (logical) analysis of the primary language data that tests the several (often untested and competing) predictions that are made by the contemporary theoretical approaches to modality.
2017-2019: Christensen Fund (Co-PI; PI: Jason Brown, University of Auckland)
The aim of this project is to enrich understanding and appreciation of the Nasioi cultural group (Melanesian, eastern Papua New Guinea), to enrich understanding about how languages and different systems of knowledge work, while bringing critical attention to the struggle to preserve biocultural diversity on Bougainville. The ultimate aim is to encourage younger generations of Nasioi to engage their cultural/linguistic heritage and contribute to the preservation of culture and languages on Bougainville. The net result is a defense against the steady erosion of diversity by Western culture and the English language since the turn of the 20th century.
2016: The University of Paris (Diderot-Paris 7)
Link to the lecture series associated with this project
The aim of this project is to explain the linguistic and cognitive properties of utterances that reveal the ‘unprepared mind’ of the speaker. The world is a dynamic place, and the processing of new information is a function of every day life. However, new information that is not easily assimilated into a person's current situational awareness is often linguistically coded differently than that which can be adapted into this awareness. This coding, referred to in the linguistics literature as 'mirativity', is the linguistic reflex of what we commonly interpret as surprise. Exclamatives can be considered typical miratives: 'what perfect timing you have!' is a specific kind of construction and intonational pattern used by a speaker to register her surprise when faced with new information she was not mentally prepared for, such as the unexpected arrival of a friend at a party. What is known about surprise comes mainly from research programs in psychology and the cognitive sciences, where it claimed to be one of the core human emotions, along with happiness, sadness, anger, and fear. However, little is known about the role the language plays in the presentation of surprise. Likewise, mirativity is a linguistic universal: all languages have the means for coding surprise. There are numerous descriptions of mirativity in the linguistics literature, yet only recently a basic understanding of the common features that underpin mirativity is starting to emerge, and there exists no theoretical explanation mirativity as a linguistic phenomenon. Although this is primarily a linguistics project, it has a very strong interdisciplinary orientation to it, one that seeks to connect theories of both language and cognition, but also drawing upon the psychology of surprise. As such, the central goals of this project are twofold. One is to present the first empirical study and theoretical analysis dedicated to mirativity. The other is to create an interface that connects both research streams, such that the experimental and theoretical tools used to test the cognitive explanation of surprise can be used to test its linguistic realization. In turn, the linguistic study of mirativity can be brought to bear on how surprise is modelled in psychology and the cognitive sciences. The results of this project are now being synthesized in a book I'm currently working on for Cambridge University Press.
2016-17: Documenting Endangered Languages (NSF-NEH DEL BCS # 1601738)
This pilot project responds to the fact that there is not a current systematic assessment of the Native American languages of the United States. As such, the initial step is to create a model for grass-roots assessment that can be shared with tribal communities throughout the U.S. This project departs from traditional language documentation research in that it will lead to the documentation of language status, aiming to meet a national need. This aim will be achieved in collaboration with Native American community-based researchers in Arizona, Montana, and New Mexico. Working together with specialists in qualitative and quantitative data analysis and processing, a model of language vitality assessment will be developed and piloted creating a cohort of community researchers versed in research protocol, assessment design and implementation, data collection and management, data storage and use of assessment data for grant-writing. In doing this we broaden participation and empower the community language practioner.
"Evidentials and Extended Interrogatives"
“On Endangered Languages: Indigeneity, Community, and Creative Practice” Co-Principal Investigator.
"An Experimental Study of the Perception and Production of Speech Rhythm in Gitksan"; Principle Investigator
"Keeping the Talking Forests Alive: Documenting the Amazonian Oral Traditions"; Co-investigator
"Seeing Voices: Documenting the Gitksan Narrative"; Principle Applicant, with John Wynne (co-applicant)
"The Video Documentation of Gitksan Narratives: Legends, Life Stories and My Day"; P.I.
"Patterns of Agreement in Gitksan''; P.I.
"Ergative/Nominative Agreement Alternations in Gitksan''; P.I.
"Voltaj: Urban Street Music on the Balkan Peninsula''