Most of my research is based on fieldwork data. You can read about some of the languages and projects I'm working on below.

Magahi

Magahi (ISO: mag) is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken in the Indian state of Bihar. Since 2023, I have been working with Magahi speakers based in the US, as well as remotely working with some speakers based in India. My research on Magahi has primarily focused on the syntax and semantics/pragmatics of definite noun phrases. In particular, I'm interested in the definite suffix -wā.

Determiner Spreading

In noun phrases containing -wā, adjectives are usually marked with the suffix -kā/-ki. Magahi is a numeral classifier language, and interestingly adjectives marked with -kā/-ki can additionally be marked with a classifier. Usually -kā/-ki are described as only occurring with adjectives in definite noun phrases, but they can occur in indefinite noun phrases (again with classifiers) too. I analyze this as a type of determiner spreading similar to well-known examples in Greek. You can see my most recent handout on determiner spreading here.

Anti-uniqeness and Non-honorificity in Definite Marking (with Jiayuan Chen)

Magahi has a definite suffix -wā, but also allows definite bare nouns. A loose generalization is that bare nouns are used for unique definites and -wā is used for familiar definites. For example, -wā is not used with globally unique entities like the sun. Besides this anti-uniqueness effect, -wā also comes with a non-honorific interpretation. We analyze -wā definites as indexed definites, and show that anti-uniqueness and non-honorificity are pragmatic effects commonly associated with indexed definites. You can see our most recent slides on Magahi -wā here.

Kazakh

Kazakh (ISO: kaz) is a Turkic language primarily spoken in Kazakhstan. My interest in Kazakh began during my time studying Russian in Central Asia as part of UCLA's Russian Flagship Program, and in the summer of 2025 I went back to Kazakhstan with some other Rutgers students for a fieldwork trip led by Adam McCollum. My current interests in Kazakh involve say-complementation and case copying reciprocals.

Say Complementation (with Ariela Ye)

Kazakh embedded clauses are often introduced by dep, which is a converbial form of the verb deu "to say". Interestingly, while dep has a converb use, the dep that introduces embedded clauses can also behave like a true complementizer. For example, while deu does not admit non-human subjects as a speech verb, dep can introduce an embedded clause under a matrix clause with a non-human subject. With certain predicates related to speech, however, dep still behaves like a verb rather than a complementizer. You can check out our LSA proceedings paper on dep here.

Case Copying Reciprocals (with Merlin Balkhash)

Kazakh reciprocals are formed from bir — the numeral one. One way to form Kazakh reciprocals is by doubling bir, adding an agreement suffix matching the person of the antecedent, and adding the appropriate case marker for the position of the reciprocal in the clause. But Kazakh reciprocals can also be formed from two separate instances of bir, each with their own agreement suffix. One then takes the case marker the reciprocal argument is expected to get, and the other matches the antecedent in case. You can check out our most recent handout on Kazakh reciprocals here.

Banjara

Banjara (ISO: lmn) is a Western Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Banjara, a traditionally nomadic group of people in India. My work on Banjara began in a Spring 2026 field methods class taught at Rutgers by Ryan Walter Smith, and a group of us have continued to work on Banjara. Within Banjara, my primary interest is the use of multi-functional quantifier particles.

Additive Morphemes

In Banjara, the morpheme -i can be interpreted as additive "also" or as scalar "even", among other uses. Interestingly, when -i is used with numerals, you get a maximal reading. For how you can derive this maximal use in a way consistent with deriving the "also" and "even" uses, see my MACSIM poster here (but note while the poster is on the same phenomenon, the data used in the poster is from Marathi, not Banjara).

Disjunctive Morphemes (with Ryan Walter Smith)

In Banjara, the morpheme ko can mark disjuncts to form a disjunction. Besides the disjunctive use, ko can combine with wh-items to form indefinites, among other uses. Our current project is figuring out what a unified semantics for the many uses of ko looks like.