SeMantis Lab

Dr. Pilar Chamorro, Director

Pilar Chamorro's research focuses on the semantic and pragmatic contribution of temporal, aspectual, and modal expressions across languages. She is also interested in the semantics of plurals, the mass/count distinction, and quantification. She is also involved in the documentation and preservation of endangered languages of Brazil.

Dr. Vera Lee-Schoenfeld

Vera Lee-Schoenfeld investigates the syntax-phonology-pragmatics interface in the context of verb phrase fronting as well as dative vs. accusative case, passivization, and binding in double-object constructions.

Dr. Steven Foley

Dr. Foley is interested in the subconscious strategies comprehenders use to process words and sentences as well as the formal representation of these diverse patterns, and theories linking grammatical competence to performance phenomena.

Seaira Lett, PhD candidate, Coordinator

Seaira’s research interests include language documentation and indigenous languages of Latin America. Her focus is on the morphosyntax of Chuj, a Mayan language spoken primarily in Guatemala. She currently collects data with a community of speakers in the US. 

Ulbossyn Parmanova, PhD student

Ulbossyn’s primary research focuses on sociophonetics and structural changes in the Kazakh language. Currently, she is investigating and collecting data on two projects: the plurality of nouns in spoken speech and the wh-movement in modern Kazakh sentences. Her other interests include corpus studies and documenting contact-induced changes and variation.

Zhen Wang, PhD student

Zhen’s research interests are in formal semantics, minimalist syntax, and the syntax–semantics interface. His work in semantics focuses on presuppositions, scope ambiguities, and event semantics.

Ian Turner, MA graduate

Ian has a strong interest in Spanish linguistics, semiotics, and philosophy. He is interested in the structural underpinnings of language as well as the relationship between phonetics and natural language processing.

Jill McLendon, BA graduate

Jill is interested in the syntax of the verbal domain, currently investigating particle verbs in English and German. Other major interests include psycholinguistics and corpus methods, and she's hoping to learn more about bringing experimental psycholinguistic methods into the field.

Britton Hare, undergraduate student

Britton is interested in the semantics of understudied languages, the formal semantics of pluractionality, and L2 semantics. His current research examines strategies of encoding pluractionality in Navajo. His other interests include L2 language assessment, documentation, and morphology.

Susanna Lawrence, undergraduate student

Casen Stiber, undergraduate student

Casen is primarily interested in the morpho-semantics of indigenous languages of the Americas. His current research focuses on number marking and agreement in Nawat, an indigenous language of El Salvador. He is also interested in philosophical approaches to semiotics and pragmatics.

Allen Stone, undergraduate student

Allen has an interest in gender sociolinguistics and language revitalization. Additionally, they intend to research semantic differences in the language used by neurodivergent and neurotypical individuals.