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I am a linguist specialising in verbal semantics and pragmatics, with particular interests in the expression of tense, aspect, and mood/modality in Bantu languages, from both language-internal and typological perspectives.  I am currently working as an Academy of Finland researcher in my (2019–2026) project “Accommodating Linguistic Diversity in Conversation: Modal Expressions and Multilingualism in South Africa“. My home base is the University of Helsinki, and my research base is South Africa. The project explores how semantic and pragmatic variations are handled in multilingual discourse, and the implications for contact-related language change.  I am also interested in African language ecologies and their implications for language policy, especially in education.

A field linguist at heart, I have carried out fieldwork in Namibia, Zambia, and South Africa, and have also worked extensively with African linguists and speakers of African and other minority languages in the U.S. and Europe.

My dissertation dealt with the expression of tense and aspect in Totela, a highly endangered Bantu language of Zambia and Namibia.

My teaching experience includes courses on field methods (including a specialized course dealing with methodologies for eliciting semantic information), syntax and semantics, African linguistics, and general linguistics. See my CV for more details.

Since 2022, I have been Editor-in-Chief (together with Jonna Katto) of the Nordic Journal of African Studies. Before that, I served as a subject editor at the journal for four years.

Contact me at first name dot last name at helsinki dot fi.

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