I am an Assistant Professor in the Program in Linguistics at Princeton University. My research is on the abstract grammatical systems of spoken language, specifically how to model the patterns of individual grammars comprehensively but also restrictively. I focus primarily on phonology (sounds and sound patterns), but this work spans the interfaces with morphology and syntax (word and sentence structure) as well as phonetics (the physical manifestation of language).

Empirical topics include grammatical tone, tonal sound change, the interaction of pitch and segments, vowel harmony, and allomorphy, while theoretical topics include autosegmental phonology and representation, multiple exponence, subcategorization, prosodic recursion, and the architecture of the syntax-phonology interface. For links to my publications and presentations, see my CV.

A major component of this work involves careful descriptive and areal-typological work on African languages, especially those of the Niger-Congo language family stretching across the continent. Crucial to these efforts is in situ fieldwork and data collection, and I have been able to collaborate with speakers of various Nigerian languages and most recently the Wara Wara Limba community of Sierra Leone.

Recent

• May 2026 — Plenary at ACAL57, “Tone diachrony beyond tonogenesis: Reconstructing the tone melodies of Proto-Edoid (Niger-Congo)” [slides]

• May 2026 — Talk at Bantoid3, “The MPaNCA Project: Findings in the noun class morphomics of Bantoid” [handout]

• May 2026 — Discussion at PɸF 2026 Register and Tonal Representation [slides]

• Apr 2026 — Talk at McGill (collaboration with Andrew Nevins), “Deriving the ‘underivable’ː Southern Min Chinese tone sandhi through boundary tones” [slides]