About Me

Background

I am an Argentine-Australian born in Buenos Aires and raised in Melbourne. In 2012 I graduated with high distinction with a Bachelor of Arts (hons) in linguistics from Monash University. My thesis was titled Lexical reconstruction of Proto Papuan Tip.

Research

My research focuses on issues related to the expression of space in Marshallese, an Oceanic language spoken in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, as well as by a rapidly growing Marshallese migrant community in the United States.

Doctoral research

My thesis Atolls, Islands and Endless Suburbia: spatial reference in Marshallese is an exploration of Marshallese' grammar of space, both in synchrony and diachrony. I also examine how the expression of space varies with the physical environment and cultural practices of the linguistic community and the implications this has for the root of cross-linguistic diversity in systems of spatial reference.

Areas of interest

• Language documentation & description
• Anthropological linguistics
• Linguistic typology (inc. semantic typology)
• Oceanic languages
• Cognitive linguistics
• Historical linguistics

Languages

I am a fluent speaker of (Australian) English and (Rioplatense) Spanish. I am not fluent in Marshallese or French, but I try my best.