Vera Lee-Schoenfeld

Vera Lee-Schoenfeld is primarily a theoretical linguist with a research focus on German syntax. Her early work on constructions involving possessor datives and binding (the distribution of reflexive and non-reflexive pronouns) in sentences with embedded infinitive clauses and other clause-like phrases was published in her book Beyond Coherence: The Syntax of Opacity in German (2007). Covering more general topics in linguistics, her second book is titled Language Matters: A Guide to Everyday Questions about Language, Second edition (2010) and is co-authored with Donna Jo Napoli from Swarthmore College. In more recent work, Dr. Lee-Schoenfeld has been investigating the syntax-phonology-pragmatics interface, which resulted in the Oxford University Press volume Parameters of Predicate Fronting: Explorations of V(P)-initial Clauses (2021), as well as other syntactic phenomena, including dative vs. accusative case, passivization, and binding in double-object constructions. 

Prof. Lee-Schoenfeld, who was named a recipient of the 2019 Richard B. Russel Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, also has an interest in language acquisition and pedagogy, holding degrees in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and French Language Education.