My research focuses on the sound patterns of human language (i.e. phonology), especially as they interact with word structure (i.e. morphology) and sentence structure (i.e. syntax). Individual topics include grammatical tone, the interaction of tone/pitch and segments, vowel harmony, prosodic constituency, paradigm uniformity effects, allomorphy, and clitic alignment — see my Research page for more. A major component of this work involves careful typological and descriptive work on African languages, especially those of the Niger-Congo language family stretching across the continent. Crucial to these efforts is in situ data collection and collaboration with communities in Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

For a complete list of publications, see my CV. And feel free to contact me!

Recent news

• Aug 2025 — I am giving a talk at AMP 2025 on “Exchange rules via subcategorizing floating material: Tonal flip-flop in Khoekhoe” [abstract] [slides]

• Aug 2025 — Andrew Nevins and I are delivering a poster at AMP 2025 on “Xiamen-Taiwanese tone sandhi: Natural and derivable via boundary tones” [abstract] [poster]

• Jun 2025 — My paper with Otelemate G. Harry (UWI) on unlocking the mysteries of tone spreading in Kalabari is out in PDA: ‘Why Spread?’ [link]