I am a Professor of Linguistics and Director of the Linguistics Program in the Department of Anthropology. My research interests lie in a variety of areas of linguistics, and I have done research in phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics. My doctoral dissertation, based on original fieldwork, focused on the aspectual system of Skwxwú7mesh, a Central Salish language spoken in British Columbia, Canada (and related to the Séliš-Ql̓ispé language spoken here in Montana). My interests include language description and analysis (in particular, Indigenous languages of North America and (more recently) underdocumented Bantu languages of East Africa), issues in language documentation and revitalization, data collection and research methodologies in linguistic fieldwork, dialect variation (especially Montana English), tense and aspect systems, valency-in/decreasing morphology, among others. I have experience conducting fieldwork with speakers of Salish languages, Algonquian languages, and East Ruvu Bantu languages of Tanzania. I am particularly interested in dispelling myths about language and promoting an appreciation of linguistic diversity.

Research interests:

• LING 375: Linguistic Ecology & Language Endangerment (Writing Across the Curriculum; GenEd Group X Cultural & International Diversity)
• LING 470: Linguistic Analysis
• LING 472/572: Syntax
• LING 475/575: Linguistic Field Methods
  • Spring 2021: Lani (Trans New Guinea; Papua)
  • Spring 2019: Kirundi (Bantu; Burundi)
  • Spring 2017: Javanese (Austronesian; Indonesia)
  • Spring 2015: Tajik (Indo-Iranian; Tajikistan)
  • Spring 2013: Gã (Kwa; Ghana)
  • Spring 2011: Georgian (Kartvelian; Georgia)
  • Spring 2009: Blackfoot (Algonquian; US/Canada)
• LING 484/584: North American Indigenous Languages and Linguistics (Writing in the Disciplines for Anthropology major and Linguistics major)
• LING 570: Tense and Aspect Systems (a.k.a. Temporal/Aspectual Systems)
• LING 570: Issues in Language Documenation