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:
-- Verb roots encode outcomes: argument structure and morphosemantics of reversal and restitution (Linguistics and Philosophy)
-- 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)
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
Linguistics and Philosophy
with Jess Law and Haoze Li
Natural Language Semantics
with Dustin Laufenberg and Nirnimesh Bhattacharjee
with Arka Banerjee
Natural Language and Linguistic Theory
Invited chapter in Daniel Altshuler (ed.), Linguistics Meets Philosophy, Cambridge University Press
Journal of Semantics, Volume 37, Issue 3, August 2020, pages 367–423.
Glossa. 3(1): 106. pages 1--39.
with Bidisha Bhattacharjee, Madhumanti Datta and Yangchen Roy
Indian Linguistics 77 (1-2). 79--102.
Proceedings Papers
with Arka Banerjee
Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung (SuB) 25
with Shannon Bryant
Proceedings of Semantics and Linguistic Theory (SALT) 30
with Teodora Mihoc and Anamaria Falaus
Proceedings of Semantics and Linguistic Theory (SALT) 29
with Jess Law and Haoze Li
Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung (SuB) 22
Proceedings of ConSOLE XXIV
Ms., Rutgers University
Masters' thesis, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Invited Talks
Deontic necessity and non-finiteness meet empirical diversity
What information do verb roots encode?: the view from morpho-semantics
Counterexpectational Polar Questions, with miratives
Modals of obligation and prohibition: semantics, complementation, typology
Presupposition defeasing questions
Epistemic indefinite restrictors as discourse particles: conjectural & recall questions
Argument structure and morphosemantics: un- and re-
Epistemic indefinite restrictors as discourse particles: conjectural & recall questions
Workshop delivered at the Center for Linguistics, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Mind and Language Series in Los Angeles, School of Philosophy, University of Southern California
nominal and propositional evidentiality
Formal Approaches to South Asian Languages (FASAL) 10
Organized by Ohio State University, Department of Linguistics.
Semantics of African, Asian, and Austronesian Languages (TripleA6)
Organized by MIT Linguistics.
Clause Typing & the Syntax-to-Discourse Relation
in Head-Final Languages Workshop
University of Konstanz, Germany.
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
with Arka Banerjee
talk at Sinn und Bedeutung 25, University College London.
with Shannon Bryant
talk at SALT 30, Cornell University. slides
poster at SALT 30, Cornell University.
with Dora Mihoc and Anamaria Falaus
talk at SALT 29, UCLA.
with Jon Ander Mendia
talk at the LSA 2019 Annual Meet, NYC. slides
FASAL 8, Wichita State University
with Haoze Li and Jess Law
talk, Sinn und Bedeutung 22, ZAS Berlin
poster, NELS 48, University of Iceland
with Haoze Li and Jess Law
talk, NELS 48, University of Iceland
poster, PLC 41, University of Pennsylvania
talk, Formal Approaches to South Asian Languages (FASAL)-7, MIT
talk, Semantics of African, Asian and Austronesian Languages (TripleA)-3, University of Tubingen
talk, ConSOLE XXIV, University of York
poster, 2nd UCL Graduate Conference in Linguistics, University College London
poster, Formal Approaches to South-Asian Languages (FASAL)-5, Yale
MACSIM, University of Maryland.
talk, Formal Approaches to South-Asian Languages (FASAL)-3, USC
talk, South Asian Languages: Theory, Typology, and Diachrony, Yale
talk, South Asian Languages Analysis Roundtable (SALA)-29, CIIL Mysore
talk, Students' Conference of Linguistics in India (SCONLI)-5, University of Hyderabad
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).
*(designed by me as part of the NSF CAREER pedagogical component)
Field Methods in Linguistics
University of Minnesota | Fall 2024
*(course proposed and designed by me)
Syntactic Theory II
Research paper workshop for graduate and undergraduate students
University of Minnesota | Spring 2024
*(designed by me as part of the NSF CAREER pedagogical component)
Syntactic Theory I
University of Minnesota | Fall 2023
University of Minnesota | Spring 2023
*(course proposed and designed by me)
University of Minnesota | Spring 2022
Introduction to Linguistics for graduate students
University of Minnesota | Fall 2021
*(course proposed and designed by me)
Introduction to Linguistics for Honors students
University of Minnesota | Spring 2021
University of Minnesota | Fall 2020
University of Minnesota | Spring 2020 syllabus
University of Minnesota | Fall 2019 - Spring 2020
Harvard University | Spring 2018
University of Minnesota | Fall 2019 syllabus
Harvard University | Spring 2019
(co-taught with Gennaro Chierchia) syllabus
Harvard University | Fall 2018
Harvard University | Fall 2018 - Spring 2019
Harvard University | Spring 2018, Spring 2019
Rutgers University | Fall 2014, Spring 2015
Rutgers University | Fall 2017
Rutgers University | Fall 2017
Princeton University | Fall 2017
(preceptor for Christiane Fellbaum)
Rutgers University | Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Summer 2014