I work with Dän K'í communities (Northern Tutchone, ISO:ttm) in the Yukon Territory, Canada.
Northern Tutchone curriculum development In collaboration with Kwanlin Dün First Nation, the Yukon Native Language Centre (YNLC), and Vicki Sear, I am developing curriculum for the Indigenous Languages Proficiency Program, a partnership program between Simon Fraser University and YNLC that is designed to build speaker and language teacher capacity for communities.
INGL200: Introduction to Grammar in an Indigenous Language (Northern Tutchone). Topics included will be morphological and sentential structures not currently documented for this language. I co-taught the first iteration of this course at YNLC in March 2024 with an Elder, and again in January 2025.
INGL335: Special Topics (Elicitations). A focus on elicitation skill-building to support beginner learners advance into more intermediate, individualized learning. I taught the first iteration of this course at YNLC in March 2025.
Blending Indigenous and postsecondary ways of teaching/learning In collaboration with a community language instructor at YNLC, I am currently writing a methodology article on the blending of Indigenous and colonial/western assessment methods in higher education. We both have experience with using 'traditional' postsecondary pedagogies in Indigenous learning contexts and using Indigenous methodologies in postsecondary contexts. Together, we aim to demonstrate how Indigenous ways of learning/teaching align with evidence-based theories of learning in western contexts–ultimately a support of the validity of Indigenous methodologies and pedagogies. We are presenting at the Conference for Postsecondary Learning and Teaching at University of Calgary in April 2025.
Early Childhood Education Books With the First Nation of Na-cho Nyäk Dun and other collaborators, we are publishing 5 early childhood education books to be distributed to pre-schools. These books are printed and available to communities as of April 2025.
Northern Tutchone alphabet In collaboration with Kwanlin Dün First Nation, Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation, White River First Nation, Selkirk First Nation, and the First Nation of Na-cho Nyäk Dun, we are rethinking what community-oriented alphabet resources might look like. Our focus is on identifying what kinds of resources do community members use, what resources support autonomy and motivation around one's language journey, and using that research to design more active and engaging resources around the alphabet. Vicki Sear and I hold workshops on alphabet support/resources:
upcoming, Summer 2025 @ White River FN
May 2024 @ Na-Cho Nyak Dun FN
December 2023 @ Kwanlin Dun FN (online)
August 2023 @ Little Salmon Carmacks FN
Robert Munsch Translation Project Since 2022, I have helped transcribe and edit five Robert Munsch books into Northern Tutchone. These books are currently in the design phase, and then off to the publisher! Alongside the corresponding recording of an elder telling the story, these books are for community members and language learners.
Dissertation I investigate how light verbs contribute to event structure across three, typologically different languages: English, Hindi-Urdu, and Korean. I first show that light verbs across the three languages vary in their structural position and function. English light verbs take and give remain low in the structure, in VP, while the Hindi-Urdu light verb le 'take' occupies an intermediary (Inner) Aspect head just below the head that introduces the external argument, vP. The Korean light verb peli sits even higher in the structure, in an aspect head above vP. This structural variation is reflected in the effect that the light verbs have on the lexical aspect of the predicate. Light verbs in all three languages make the event telic, regardless of the type of event the light verb combines with. In summary, this dissertation provides a brief typological overview of the syntactic function and semantic role of light verbs, providing new insights into how light verbs contribute to event structure.
Voice typology Butt & Ramchand (2005) propose that different `Light Verbs' (LVs) in Hindi-Urdu sit in different syntactic heads, roughly correlating to Voice and v. These structural positions reflect the semantic effects that LVs have on the event. Sana Kidwai and I are investigating the structural and semantic properties of two Urdu LVs, jaa 'go' and paR 'fall,' first showing that they are in Voice (=Init, Ramchand, 2008), then showing that while they have similar properties to the non-active Voice head in classic passives, they differ enough to warrant a separate Voice head with slightly different functionalities and selection properties. Our project (i) highlights variation in LV structural positions and properties, and (ii) reveals variation in Voice head functionality beyond Kratzer's (1996) original 'Active' and 'Non-active' typology.
Kidwai, Sana and Frances Sobolak. 2024. Urdu Light Verbs reveal Voice head variation. (f)ASAL-13 Proceedings. [view here]
Sobolak, Frances. 2023. The event structure of light verbs. PhD dissertation. Cornell University. Ithaca, NY. [view here]
Sobolak, Frances. 2021. "Salish Denominals: ‘Full’ and Light Verb Interpretations of have". Proceedings of ICSNL 56. pp. 410–426. [view here]
Sobolak, Frances. 2020. "Parallels between passive allomorphy and object agreement in Montana Salish". Proceedings ICSNL 55. pp 314–325. [view here]
April 2025. with Anne Mease. Blending Indigenous and postsecondary forms of assessment. Conference on Postsecondary Learning and Teaching. Calgary, Alberta.
February 2025. Language Revitalization with Yukon First Nations. LINGTalk. Purdue University. West Lafayette, IN.
October 2024. Language Revitalization with Yukon First Nations. Purdue University. West Lafayette, IN.
April 2023. with Sana Kidwai. 'Urdu light verbs reveal Voice head variation.' (f)ASAL-13. Ann Arbor, MI. [handout]
October 2022. Complex predicates via Incorporation in Korean light verb constructions. Syntax & Morphology Circle at Stanford University. Palo Alto, CA.
September 2022. Light verbs, Case, and Voice head functionality. Syntax & Semantics Circle at University of California, Berkeley. Berkeley, CA.
May 2022. Light verbs, selectional requirements, and Incorporation. 8th Annual Symposium on Language Research at University of California, Davis. Davis, CA (online).
May 2021. Salish denominals: Light and 'Full' verb interpretation. Cornell University Linguistics Research Workshop. Ithaca, NY (online).
January 2021. Parallels between object agreement and passive in Selis. Linguistic Society of America Annual Meeting. San Francisco, CA (online).
October 2020. Investigating Salish denominal constructions. UBC Salish Working Group. Vancouver, BC (online).
May 2020. Asymmetrical agreement in Selis. Cornell University Linguistics Research Workshop. Ithaca, NY.
January 2020. Montana Salish epenthesis and consonant class division. Society for the Study of Indigenous Languages Annual Meeting. New Orleans, LA.
Purdue University is built upon the traditional homelands of the Bodéwadmik (Potawatomi), Lenape (Delaware), Myaamia (Miami), and Shawnee People.
The Indigenous presence here, where I live and work, precede the establishment of Purdue University, Indiana State, and the United States of America.