Brandon Kieffer

I am PhD student studying Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh. I am primarily a phonologist, and work predominantly on Bantu languages, doing work in historical linguistics, phonetics, morphology, and morpho-syntax. I am currently living in Edinburgh, Scotland, but am originally from the Minneapolis suburbs in the US. 

My current work is focused on the historical phonology of a phenomenon found in most Bantu languages known as Bantu Spirantization. I am focusing on the phenomenon's origins, manifestation in modern Bantu languages, the evolutionary paths in took in various branches, and how it was spread throughout Bantu. I am especially interested in what Bantu Spirantization  can tell us about Bantu taxonomy, and it's utility as a taxonomic diagnostic. 

I did my M.A. in Linguistics and my B.A. in Linguistics and Global Studies at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. My Master's was on the morpho-phonology of Kinyarwanda.  I was looking at Vowel Hiatus Resolution and Glide Clusters in Kinyarwanda, working with a native speaker.

I am interested in how theoretical models for synchronic phonology handle diachronic material, and how models of diachronic phonology incorporate innovations in synchronic phonological theory. I am a fan of both Optimality Theory and the Life Cycle for Phonological Processes, and am interested in the mechanics and repercussions for both.