I am a Ph.D. student in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Illinois and Lecturer of Linguistics at the University of California, Riverside. I am originally from California. My interest in Linguistics comes from an interest in learning languages. I study theoretical linguistics while maintaining a strong base in typology, and work toward a general understanding of how language works, or more specifically how language can work. My research centers around the relationship between Morphosyntax and Semantics. I have research interests in Syntax, Semantics, Morphology, Typology, Historical Linguistics, Psycholinguistics and Language Acquisition. With any extra time, I enjoy studying languages even if I don’t become fluent. Learning to think, even a little, in a language other than English is a very rewarding experience. In my opinion, this is also crucial for being prepared to do linguistic analysis in diverse languages.

When I can, I enjoy traveling; I have spent time in Europe and South America, among other places. I am a certified scuba diver, and I enjoy diving or snorkeling anywhere from Ecuador to Iceland. When I’m on campus but taking time away from academia, I enjoy playing Ultimate Frisbee.

For my dissertation, I am working on Pseudocoordination including typological, historical and formal syntactic analyses. While also considering other similar phenomena cross-linguistically, my goal is to investigate the nature of the relationship between form and meaning, which does not appear to be isomorphic. Instead, structural relationships likely exist at an underlying level of structure, while surface forms are due to linearization. For this project I am working with Dr. Abbas Benmamoun, Dr. Hans Henrich Hock, Dr. James Hye Suk Yoon, and Dr. José Ignacio Hualde.

I also have ongoing research on Age Effects in Language Acquisition, with advisor Dr. Tania Ionin and undergraduate research assistants.