The UCLA Linguistics Department will re-open for normal business operations (M-F 8am-12pm, 1pm-5pm) effective September 20, 2021. Please refer to the UCLA COVID-19 protocols (covid-19@ucla.edu) when coming to campus and visiting the Department. Everyone is required to wear masks indoors, strongly encouraged to wear masks outdoors, and monitor symptoms (UCLA affiliates must complete the daily symptom survey).
Research
The empirical focus of my research is the syntax and semantics of the archaic Indo-European languages, in particular Latin, Greek, Sanskrit and the Anatolian languages. Recent work includes a monograph on second-position clitics in Ancient Greek and an article on differential object marking in Lycian.
My research is driven by two broad goals. First, I aim to show that we can dramatically improve the current descriptions of these languages by incorporating the methods and insights from theoretical linguistics. These improved descriptions in turn make clearer the nature of language change for the very simple reason that we acquire a more precise account of what actually changed. The second goal of this research program is to demonstrate the need for any theory of natural language to incorporate diachrony.