T e a c h i n g 

C V 

H a u s a 
P a g e 

R e s e a r c h 
S t u d e n t s 

H o m e 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Linguistics and English Language Department
 

Current Research

Publications

Conference Papers
 
 

I am a co-founder and member of the Sussex Meaning and Grammar research group. I am primarily a syntactician, although I also have a keen interest in linguistic meaning and in the relationship between meaning and grammar. My research is both descriptive and theoretical in nature, and I am currently involved in a number of joint projects, both nationally and internationally, which combine descriptive, theoretical, comparative and typological approaches.

From a theoretical perspective, I received my education as a linguist within the context of a mainstream Chomskyan framework, and I continue to explore the predictions of the Minimalist model in my research. Alongside my continued interest in formal syntax, my time at Sussex, spent working and teaching within a cognitive science context, has provoked my interest in cognitive linguistics, an approach which seeks to explain the properties of human language not on the basis of specialised linguistic knowledge, but on the basis of generalised cognitive processes.

My descriptive work is centred on the syntax of Hausa and related Chadic and Afroasiatic languages. Although Hausa is a major world language, and one of the most thoroughly researched of the sub-Saharan African languages, many aspects of the language remain relatively unexplored.