PhD Candidate Angelika Kiss Successfully Completes Thesis Defense - Congratulations, Doctor!

On Thursday, June 20th, 2024, Angelika Kiss of the Department of Linguistics completed her last step toward officially becoming Dr. Kiss! Congratulations!

Completing her thesis defense of Form-meaning relations in non-canonical questions, Dr. Kiss impressed her committee consisting of Professors Guillaume Thomas, Laura Colantoni, and Keir Moulton, as well as her supervisor, Professor Michela Ippolito. Also in attendance at the defense was Fatima Hamlaoui, who performed internal/external reviews.

Dr. Kiss' Thesis Defense Reception, featuring Guillaume Thomas, Fatima Hamlaoui, Michela Ippolito, Angelika Kiss, Hans-Martin Gaertner, Keir Moulton (L-R)

Dr. Michela Ippolito and Dr. Angelika Kiss

The Department of Linguistics congratulate her on the successful completion of her dissertation, and are excited to see her future works.

Tahohtharátye Joe Brant Completes Dissertation at the University of Victoria

Congratulations Tahohtharátye Joe Brant!

He has earned a PhD from the University of Victoria, completing his dissertation, Tó: nya'teká:yen tsi Entewà:ronke', in Language Revitalization and Change, available at the University of Victoria website. 

Tahohtharátye is cross-appointed in the Centre for Indigenous Studies, and we are proud to have him on our faculty.

Learn more about him here, and read about his work at WSCLAon the WHITL blog.

Congratulations once more!

Emilia Melara Successfully Defends their PhD Thesis! Congratulations, Doctor!

On May 27th, PhD Candidate Emilia Melara became the Linguistic Department's newest PhD! 

Completing their Final Oral Examination in linguistics, this moment followed years of an extensive research project on syntactic properties of Mauritian Creole. 

Their supervisor Elizabeth Cowper, along with the rest of the committee (Susana Bejar, Diane Massam, Keir Moulton), are so proud of Melara's work and excited to see what they do next. 

We didn't find a new picture, but check out the last time Emilia earned a linguistics degree!

Congratulations, Emilia!

Katharina defends PhD - In person!

We are delighted to be back to in-person dissertation defenses and Katharina Pabst did us proud (on 26 July 2022) with her presentation and lively Q&A about sociolinguistic description and documentation:

Putting “the Other Maine” on the Map: 

Language Variation, Local Affiliation, and Co-occurrence in Aroostook County English

We had a little reception featuring cupcakes, ayuh!

And alcohol for sanitizing...

 

Congratulations, Julien!

(Screenshot courtesy of Naomi Nagy.)

Julien Carrier defended his doctoral dissertation, "Ergativity on the move", on Monday, November 23. The committee consisted of Alana Johns (supervisor), Arsalan Kahnemuyipour, Naomi Nagy, Sali A. Tagliamonte, Derek Denis, Diane Massam, and external examiner David Adger (Queen Mary University of London). Congratulations, Dr. Carrier!

Congratulations, Erin!

Erin Hall defended her doctoral dissertation, "Child participation in linguistic changes in progress in Ontario English", on Friday, July 24. The committee consisted of Ana Teresa Pérez-Leroux (supervisor), J. K. Chambers, Alexei Kochetov, Derek Denis, Yves Roberge, and external examiner Jennifer Smith (University of Glasgow). Congratulations, Dr. Hall!

Erin will be leaving us shortly for the eastern outskirts of Los Angeles in order to take up a well-deserved new role as a tenure-track faculty member in linguistics and speech pathology at California State University, San Bernardino. Best of luck, Erin, and keep in touch!

Congratulations, Yining!

Congratulations to Yining Nie (MA 2015), who defended her Ph.D. thesis, "Licensing arguments", at New York University this week. Her committee included Alec Marantz (chair), Stephanie Harves, Gary Thoms, Richard Kayne, and external examiner Laura Kalin (Princeton University). Congratulations, Dr. Nie!

Congratulations, Majed!

Majed Al-Solami defended his doctoral dissertation, "Vowel elision, epenthesis, and metrical systems in Bedouin Arabic dialects", on Friday, April 24. The committee consisted of Keren Rice (supervisor), Elan Dresher, Yoonjung Kang, Alexei Kochetov, Abdel-Khalig Ali, and external examiner Stuart Davis (Indiana University). Congratulations, Dr. Al-Solami!

Congratulations, Ross!

Ross Godfrey defended his doctoral dissertation, "Morphemes without morphs: A theory of syntactic arrangements and phonological processes", on Friday, March 27. The committee consisted of Keren Rice (supervisor), Elizabeth Cowper, Peter Jurgec, Susana Béjar, Daniel Currie Hall (St. Mary's University), and external examiner Jochen Trommer (Universität Leipzig). Congratulations, Dr. Godfrey!

Congratulations, Shannon!

Shannon Mooney (MA 2012) has recently defended her Ph.D. dissertation at Georgetown University, "Child acquisition of sociolinguistic variation," under the supervision of Jennifer Nycz. Congratulations, Dr. Mooney!

Congratulations, Patrick!

Patrick Murphy defended his doctoral dissertation, "Listening to writers and riders: Partial contrast and the perception of Canadian raising," on Wednesday, August 28. On the committee were Phil Monahan (supervisor), J. K. Chambers, Jessamyn Schertz, Yoonjung Kang, Nathan Sanders, and external examiner Kathleen Currie Hall (University of British Columbia). Congratulations, Dr. Murphy!

Congratulations, Na-Young!

Na-Young Ryu defended her doctoral dissertation, "Effects of web-based auditory training on the perception of Korean sounds by Mandarin learners of Korean," on Wednesday, July 24. On the committee were Yoonjung Kang (supervisor), Philip Monahan, Jessamyn Schertz, Anabela Rato, Nathan Sanders, and external examiner Ocke-Schwen Bohn (Aarhus University). Congratulations, Dr. Ryu!

Na-Young is departing shortly to take up a position as an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Asian Studies at Pennsylvania State University. We'll miss you very much, Dr. Ryu, but we're also thrilled to get to send you off!

Congratulations, Joanna!

Keren, Nathan, Joanna, Peter, and Yoonjung. (Not pictured: Alexei and Maria.) (Photo by Jennifer McCallum.)

Joanna Chociej defended her doctoral dissertation, "Exceptional faithfulness and exceptional alternation: A case study of Polish vowel-zero alternations as deletion and epenthesis," on Friday, July 19. On the committee were Keren Rice (supervisor), Yoonjung Kang, Alexei Kochetov, Peter Jurgec, Nathan Sanders, and external examiner Maria Gouskova (New York University). Congratulations, Dr. Chociej!

Congratulations, Naomi!

Naomi Francis (MA 2014) defended her Ph.D. dissertation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, "Presuppositions in focus," on Tuesday, July 9, under the co-supervision of Kai von Fintel, Danny Fox, and Sabine Iatridou. Congratulations, Dr. Francis!

Congratulations, Tomohiro!

Tomohiro Yokoyama defended his doctoral dissertation, "The person case constraint: Unconditional interfaces and faultless derivations," on Tuesday, June 25. The committee consisted of Susana Béjar (supervisor), Elizabeth Cowper, Guillaume Thomas, Arsalan Kahnemuyipour, Nicholas LaCara, and external examiner Omer Preminger (University of Maryland). Congratulations, Dr. Yokoyama!

Congratulations, Julianne!

Alana, Diane, Julianne, Cristina, Susana, and Elizabeth. (Photo courtesy of Diane.)

Julianne Doner successfully defended her doctoral dissertation, "The EPP across languages," on Tuesday, June 18, 2019. The committee was made up of Diane Massam (supervisor), Susana Béjar, Cristina Cuervo, Elizabeth Cowper, Alana Johns, and external examiner Theresa Biberauer (University of Cambridge). Congratulations, Dr. Doner!

Congratulations, Becky!

Elsi, Keir, Susana, Daphna, Becky, Diane, Lauren, and Craig. (Photo courtesy of Becky.)

Becky Tollan successfully defended her doctoral dissertation, "Cross-linguistic effects of subjecthood, case, and transitivity in syntax and sentence processing," on Thursday, June 13. The committee consisted of Daphna Heller (supervisor), Diane Massam, Craig Chambers, Lauren Clemens (State University of New York at Albany), Susana Béjar, Keir Moulton, and external examiner Elsi Kaiser (University of Southern California). Congratulations, Dr. Tollan!

Becky is stepping straight into a tenure-track job in syntax and psycholinguistics at the University of Delaware. They are very fortunate indeed! All the best, Dr. Tollan, and do keep in touch!

Congratulations, Dan!

Dan Milway successfully defended his doctoral dissertation, "Explaining the resultative parameter," on Wednesday, April 24, 2019. On the committee were Elizabeth Cowper (supervisor), Michela Ippolito, Diane Massam, Susana Béjar, Nick LaCara, and external examiner Norbert Hornstein (University of Maryland). Congratulations, Dr. Milway!

Susana, Nick, Michela, Elizabeth, Dan, Diane, and Norbert. (Photo by Jennifer McCallum.)

Congratulations, Emily!

Emily Clare successfully defended her doctoral dissertation, "Dynamicity in speech perception," on Friday, December 7, 2018. The committee included Jessamyn Schertz (supervisor), Yoonjung Kang, Phil Monahan, Elizabeth Johnson, Nathan Sanders, and external examiner Meghan Clayards (McGill University). Congratulations, Dr. Clare!

Elizabeth, Nathan, Meghan, Emily, Jessamyn, Yoonjung, and Phil. (Photo by Jennifer McCallum.)

Congratulations, Iryna!

Iryna Osadcha successfully defended her doctoral dissertation, "Lexical stress in East Slavic: Variation in space and time," on Thursday, November 29, 2018. On the committee were Elan Dresher (supervisor), Peter Jurgec, Joseph Schallert, Aleksei Nazarov, Keren Rice, and external examiner Christina Bethin (Stony Brook University). Congratulations, Dr. Osadcha!

Christopher Spahr (Ph.D. 2015, now at Tulip Software), Iryna, and Elan;
Iryna, Angelika Kiss (Ph.D.), and Aleksei Nazarov (faculty);
Aleksei in front, and Iryna serenading us at her celebration!