Beccy Lewis

I am a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. I received by PhD from the University of Connecticut in 2024. I completed my BA and MPhil degrees in Linguistics at The University of York and The University of Cambridge respectively, before moving to Connecticut. 

As an academic, my research interests broadly include syntax, morphology and generative typology, particularly within the nominal domain. I have worked predominantly on associative plurals cross-linguistically, but am interested in heterogeneous plurals (similative plurals, approximative plurals)  more generally. I have been particularly interested in languages that use regular, additive plural morphology (e.g., English /-z/) as (or as part of) the associative plural, and show in my dissertation that this homophony is tied to syntactic constraints on locality and differences in (amount of) nominal functional structure cross-linguistically. You can find more information about the findings of my dissertation and some supplementary materials here.

I am currently transitioning out of academia. I am keen to use my skills in research and writing in higher education in whatever role comes next.

When I'm not thinking about linguistics, you can find me reading books or making/upcycling furniture out of wood.