I’m a Postdoctoral Associate in Syntax in the Linguistics Department at Georgetown University. I have a PhD in Linguistics from the University of Maryland, where I was
advised by Masha Polinsky and Dave Embick.

Very broadly, I’m interested in exploring what the combinatorial limits of natural language tell us about its general properties. My research is primarily in syntax and its interfaces with form and meaning, with an empirical focus on Slavic and Mayan languages.

My dissertation engages with the following questions: What are the basic building blocks of syntax and how do they map onto lexical categories, as traditionally construed? Does structure-building look the same above and below the ‘word’ level? Do locality effects in the syntax and at the interfaces have a common origin?

Topics I’ve worked on include mixed categories (participles and nominalizations), locality in syntax and at the interfaces, ellipsis, tense/aspect systems, allomorphy, raising, and issues in the extended projection of noun phrases (case, the NP/DP debate).