Lydia Newkirk
Lecturer: Yale University
Unifying theory and fieldwork in semantics
African languages
I work to use theoretically-motivated fieldwork techniques to better explore understudied languages, especially in the Bantu ffamily and elsewhere in Africa.
Through close and deep study in un(der)studied languages, my work improves our understanding of languages like Kinande and Lubukusu, as well as using the insights gained in that study to help us understand Language generally, including more well-studied languages.
Modality, logophoricity, and prolepsis
My research interests focus on bringing data from understudied languages to bear on formal theory. This means doing careful and in-depth field research on understudied languages with aims towards both understanding these languages better, but also taking the lessons from broadening those horizons to better our understanding of languages like English.