Alice Gaby

Research:

My research interests lie in three intersecting domains: semantic and structural typology; the relationship between language, culture and cognition; and the documentation and analysis of endangered languages, especially those of the Australian continent. It explores questions like:

1) How much (and what) is common to all human languages (and why)?

2) How much (and why) do languages differ from one another?

3) To what extent do the differences and similarities between languages reflect and/or shape how we think about the world?

Much of my research builds upon collaborations with speakers of Paman languages (e.g. Kuuk Thaayorre) spoken in and around the community of Pormpuraaw (Cape York Peninsula, Australia). The knowledge they have shared has impressed on me the importance of language documentation, especially in contexts of language obsolescence. It has also given me an appreciation of how linguistic analysis can be enriched by acknowledging that grammatical structures are part of a larger communicative system, encompassing multiple languages, registers and modalities.

This website hosts a list of publications by year, as well as a list of publications by topic area. You can find more information about the OzSpace project here.

Current research interests include: