I am a formal semanticist and fieldworker, with interfacing interests in pragmatics, typology, syntax and cognitive science.

My primary interests lie in exploring how human beings compute complexity in meaning and structure, using formal mathematical and logical tools. I am most interested in formulating rigorous theoretical models that can handle empirical diversity. My specific research topics so far have included modality (epistemic and deontic), evidentiality (nominal and propositional), questions (wh-, polar, biased, embedded, concealed) and question particles, discourse particles, lexical semantics of verbs/verb roots/the semantics of affixation (morpho-semantics interface), embedding and complementation, disjunction, and negative polarity items. I am also very interested in how typology and semantics interact and inform us about underlying universals in human linguistic systems.

My main empirical focus is South Asian languages, especially on indigenous, endangered and underresourced languages in the South Asian linguistic area. Recent joint work has also focused on Romanian, Oromo, and Cantonese. Most of my data is gathered through semantic fieldwork on site or through virtual native speaker interviews and surveys.
Since Fall 2022-present, I have been in the field (Meghalaya, northern Bengal, etc) studying modality and complementation in Khasi, (Chungli) Ao, Adi, Lepcha, Meiteilon, Assamese, Nepali, funded by the NSF.

I was recently awarded the National Science Foundation CAREER grant for my 2022-2027 research project Theory, Fieldwork, and Typology: A Semantic/Pragmatic Triad in Underrepresented Linguistic Systems, within the NSF Division Of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences.
[dept. news]

I run a semantics fieldwork lab at the University of Minnesota, called the Fieldwork Integrates Theory & Typology (FITT) lab, with undergraduate and graduate students.
Apart from the Institute of Linguistics, I am also a member of the graduate faculty in the Center for Cognitive Sciences at the University of Minnesota.

I am also actively interested in misinformation and disinformation research and how such digitized information packets interface with linguistic processing, computation of meaning online and causal connections with belief systems. I have been awarded a Grant-in-Aid award from the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) at UMN for my joint project with colleagues in Educational Psychology (CEHD) titled An experimental investigation of the linguistic properties of clickbait.

Prior to joining UMN, I received a Ph.D. in Linguistics with a Certificate in Cognitive Science from Rutgers University (2017), and was a Lecturer at the Department of Linguistics at Harvard University (2018 and 2019).

Recent:

• *2 new publications!*:
  -- Verb roots encode outcomes: argument structure and morphosemantics of reversal and restitution (Linguistics and Philosophy)
  
-- Force shift: A case study of Cantonese ho2 particle clusters (with Jess Law and Haoze Li, Natural Language Semantics)

• Manuscripts under review:
  -- Counterexpectational wh-questions with miratives , to appear in The Oxford Handbook of Non-Canonical Questions , edited by Regine Eckhardt, George Walkden, Nicole Dehe; Oxford University Press.
  -- Snapshot of a Linguistic Area: a Comprehensive Overview of the Taxonomy of South Asian Languages (with Dustin Laufenberg and Nirnimesh Bhattacharjee)
  -- Modals of prohibition and obligation: semantics, complementation, typology (with Arka Banerjee, at Natural Language and Linguistic Theory)
  
• Recent talks:
  Upcoming: Invited talk at Converging on Causal Ontology Analyses (COCOA) (May 2025)
  Upcoming: Invited Colloquium talk at University of Chicago (April 2025)
  Upcoming: Invited talk at PhLiP 9, Tarrytown, NY (November 2024)
  Upcoming: Talk at Tense, Aspect, Modality conference, INALCO, Paris (October 2024)
  Invited talk at the Morphology Circle at Penn State (September 2024)
  Keynote invited talk at POQAL conference, University of Amsterdam (April 2024)
  Colloquium invited talk at the Philosophy of Language, Logic, Information series, Ruhr Universität, Germany (Jan 2024)
  Invited talk at Fest for Gennaro Chierchia's 70th, University of Milano Bicocca, Milan, Italy (June 2023)
  

I organized (F)ASAL-11 at the University of Minnesota, March 26th-March 28th, 2021:
Formal Approaches to South Asian Languages conference

A dear friend and fellow semanticist passed away recently, I made a website to celebrate his works and his life:
Rahul Balusu, in memoriam

Research

Journal Articles, Book Chapters, Under Review

• 2024. Verb roots encode outcomes: argument structure and morphosemantics of reversal and restitution
  Linguistics and Philosophy


• 2024. Force shift: A case study of Cantonese ho2 particle clusters
  with Jess Law and Haoze Li
  Natural Language Semantics


• Under review. Snapshot of a Linguistic Area: a Comprehensive Overview of the Taxonomy of South Asian Languages
  with Dustin Laufenberg and Nirnimesh Bhattacharjee


• Under review. Modals of prohibition and obligation: semantics, complementation, typology
  with Arka Banerjee
  Natural Language and Linguistic Theory


• 2022. Evidentiality: unifying nominal and propositional domains
  Invited chapter in Daniel Altshuler (ed.), Linguistics Meets Philosophy, Cambridge University Press


• 2020. The semantics of evidentials in questions
  Journal of Semantics, Volume 37, Issue 3, August 2020, pages 367–423.


• 2018. Evidentials are syntax-sensitive: the view from Bangla
  Glossa. 3(1): 106. pages 1--39.


• 2016. Bangla Negative Polarity Items: A Detailed Study
  with Bidisha Bhattacharjee, Madhumanti Datta and Yangchen Roy
  Indian Linguistics 77 (1-2). 79--102.

Proceedings Papers

• 2021. What gerund complements tell us about deontic necessity modals
  with Arka Banerjee
  Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung (SuB) 25


• 2021. Situation types in complementation: Oromo attitude predication
  with Shannon Bryant
  Proceedings of Semantics and Linguistic Theory (SALT) 30


• 2019. Epistemic modals, deduction, and factivity: New insights from the epistemic future
  with Teodora Mihoc and Anamaria Falaus
  Proceedings of Semantics and Linguistic Theory (SALT) 29


• 2018. Questioning speech acts
  with Jess Law and Haoze Li
  Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung (SuB) 22


• 2016. Uttering evidentials without evidence
  Proceedings of ConSOLE XXIV


• 2014. The Syntax of Q in Manipuri Wh-Questions
  Ms., Rutgers University


• 2011. Participials, 'Wala', Unaccusativity and Unergativity in Dhundari
  Masters' thesis, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Invited Talks

• Upcoming: Invited talk at Converging on Causal Ontology Analyses (COCOA) (May 2025)


• Upcoming: Colloquium talk at University of Chicago (April 2025)


• Upcoming: Talk at PhLiP 9, Tarrytown, NY (November 2024)
  Deontic necessity and non-finiteness meet empirical diversity


• September 2024: Talk at the Morphology Circle at Penn State University
  What information do verb roots encode?: the view from morpho-semantics


• April 2024: Keynote talk at POQAL conference, University of Amsterdam
  Counterexpectational Polar Questions, with miratives


• Jan 2024: Colloquium talk at the Philosophy of Language, Logic, Information, Ruhr Universität, Bochum
  Modals of obligation and prohibition: semantics, complementation, typology


• June 2023: Fest for Gennaro Chierchia's 70th birthday, University of Milano Bicocca, Milan, Italy
  Presupposition defeasing questions


• May 2023: RULing 2023, Rutgers University


• April, 2023: Colloquium talk at Washington University in St. Louis.


• November 2022, Colloquium talk at Georgetown University.


• August 2022. Mini-course taught virtually at Jawaharlal Nehru University, titled Embedding and Complementation in the Modal Domain


• April, 2022. at Yale University: Language Diversity in South Asia
  Epistemic indefinite restrictors as discourse particles: conjectural & recall questions


• April, 2022. at Princeton University: Princeton Symposium on Syntactic Theory: PSST
  Argument structure and morphosemantics: un- and re-


• January, 2022. Research Colloquium, University of Konstanz
  Epistemic indefinite restrictors as discourse particles: conjectural & recall questions


• September, 2020. Modality: Patterns, Theories, Logic       handout       lecture-recordings@JNU
  Workshop delivered at the Center for Linguistics, Jawaharlal Nehru University.


• August, 2020. Connecting perception, inference, and temporality: nominal and propositional evidentiality
  Mind and Language Series in Los Angeles, School of Philosophy, University of Southern California


• March 2020. Connecting perception, inference, and temporality:       slides
  nominal and propositional evidentiality
  Formal Approaches to South Asian Languages (FASAL) 10
  Organized by Ohio State University, Department of Linguistics.


• May 2019. Questions with and about disjunction
  Semantics of African, Asian, and Austronesian Languages (TripleA6)
  Organized by MIT Linguistics.


• May 2018. Where is Perspective-Sensitivity Headed?
  Clause Typing & the Syntax-to-Discourse Relation
  in Head-Final Languages Workshop
  University of Konstanz, Germany.


• November 2016. Evidentials in Biased Questions
  NYU Semantics Group meeting.

Dissertation

2017. Evidentiality and Questions: Bangla at the Interfaces       RUCore       LingBuzz

Broadly speaking, two themes are intertwined in this dissertation: (i) perspective-sensitive elements such as evidentials and epistemic modals across different speech acts; (ii) embedded and unembedded disjunction and alternative questions. Both themes are explored from the lens of the syntax-semantics interface.

Refereed Presentations

• October 2024. Talk at Tense, Aspect, Modality conference, INALCO, Paris


• January, 2023. Poster presented at NELS 53 at Göttingen (poster: Obligation, prohibition, non-finite complementation)


• September, 2020. What gerunds tell us about deontic necessity
  with Arka Banerjee
  talk at Sinn und Bedeutung 25, University College London.


• August, 2020. Situation Types in Complementation: Oromo Attitude Predication
  with Shannon Bryant
  talk at SALT 30, Cornell University.         slides


• August, 2020. Unifying perception across nominal and propositional domains
  poster at SALT 30, Cornell University.


• May, 2019. Epistemic modals, deduction, and factivity
  with Dora Mihoc and Anamaria Falaus
  talk at SALT 29, UCLA.


• Jan, 2019. Domain Restrictions in Bangla Concealed Questions
  with Jon Ander Mendia
  talk at the LSA 2019 Annual Meet, NYC.         slides


• 2018. Embedded Alternatives and Alternative Questions
  FASAL 8, Wichita State University


• 2017. Questioning speech acts
  with Haoze Li and Jess Law
  talk, Sinn und Bedeutung 22, ZAS Berlin


• 2017. Evidentials come in two shapes
  poster, NELS 48, University of Iceland


• 2017. Questioning speech acts
  with Haoze Li and Jess Law
  talk, NELS 48, University of Iceland


• 2017. Evidentials in Biased Questions
  poster, PLC 41, University of Pennsylvania


• 2017. Evidentiality, Bias, and Questions
  talk, Formal Approaches to South Asian Languages (FASAL)-7, MIT


• 2016. To Flip or Not to Flip: Evidentials in Interrogatives
  talk, Semantics of African, Asian and Austronesian Languages (TripleA)-3, University of Tubingen


• 2016. Accessing non-accessible content: The case of the Bangla 'nishchoi'
  talk, ConSOLE XXIV, University of York


• 2015. One Modal can Affect the Presupposition of Another
  poster, 2nd UCL Graduate Conference in Linguistics, University College London


• 2015. The syntax of question particles in Manipuri Wh-questions
  poster, Formal Approaches to South-Asian Languages (FASAL)-5, Yale


• 2013. Bangla biased questions with 'naki'
  MACSIM, University of Maryland.


• 2013. The semantics of epistemic bias in Bangla 'naki' questions
  talk, Formal Approaches to South-Asian Languages (FASAL)-3, USC


• 2012. Restricted Null Object parameter and V-stranding VPE in Bangla
  talk, South Asian Languages: Theory, Typology, and Diachrony, Yale


• 2011. Reduplication in Bangla
  talk, South Asian Languages Analysis Roundtable (SALA)-29, CIIL Mysore


• 2011. Grammatical Aspect and Reduplication in Bangla
  talk, Students' Conference of Linguistics in India (SCONLI)-5, University of Hyderabad


• 2010. A Comparative Study of Bangla and Assamese Classifier Systems
  with Madri Kakoti
  talk, Students' Conference of Linguistics in India (SCONLI)-4, University of Mumbai

Teaching

I teach courses on a diverse array of topics: semantics (grad and advanced undergrad), syntax (different levels of grad and undergrad), cognitive-science-based intro to linguistics (undergrad) and regular intro (grad and undergrad), field methods (grad and undergrad over 2 semesters), research writing and experience (grad and undergrad).


• The Human Mind and Human Languages*
  *(designed by me as part of the NSF CAREER pedagogical component)
  Field Methods in Linguistics
  University of Minnesota | Fall 2024


• Advanced Semantics*
  *(course proposed and designed by me)
  Syntactic Theory II
  Research paper workshop for graduate and undergraduate students
  University of Minnesota | Spring 2024


• The Human Mind and Human Languages*
  *(designed by me as part of the NSF CAREER pedagogical component)
  Syntactic Theory I
  University of Minnesota | Fall 2023


• Syntactic Theory II
  University of Minnesota | Spring 2023


• Advanced semantics*
  *(course proposed and designed by me)
  University of Minnesota | Spring 2022


• Syntax I
  Introduction to Linguistics for graduate students
  University of Minnesota | Fall 2021


• Advanced semantics*
  *(course proposed and designed by me)
  Introduction to Linguistics for Honors students
  University of Minnesota | Spring 2021


• Syntactic Theory I
  University of Minnesota | Fall 2020


• Topics in Linguistics: Introduction to Questions
  University of Minnesota | Spring 2020       syllabus


• Field Methods {I, II}
  University of Minnesota | Fall 2019 - Spring 2020
  Harvard University | Spring 2018


• Syntax I
  University of Minnesota | Fall 2019       syllabus


• Seminar on Questions
  Harvard University | Spring 2019
  (co-taught with Gennaro Chierchia)       syllabus


• Semantic Theory I
  Harvard University | Fall 2018


• Undergraduate Thesis-Writing Seminar {I, II}
  Harvard University | Fall 2018 - Spring 2019


• 101: The Science of Language
  Harvard University | Spring 2018, Spring 2019
  Rutgers University | Fall 2014, Spring 2015


• Linguistics of Sign Languages
  Rutgers University | Fall 2017


• Selected Topics in Linguistics
  Rutgers University | Fall 2017


• 201: Introduction to Linguistic Theory
  Princeton University | Fall 2017
  (preceptor for Christiane Fellbaum)
  Rutgers University | Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Summer 2014