About
I am a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Linguistics Department at the University of Rochester. My research interests include semantics, pragmatics, morphology, and language documentation.
In my research, I investigate semantic and pragmatic concepts such as deixis, reference, and information structure, and how these linguistic properties are represented in the grammar of a language, often through morphological and syntactic means. To conduct my research, I study things like nominal and verbal morphology, demonstratives, definite articles, and pronouns. I prefer to make use of primary data obtained in collaboration with fluent speakers of languages while at the same time grounding my investigations in formal linguistic theory. I am also a founding member of the Chin Languages Research Project at Indiana University in Bloomington. Learn more about that project here
At the University of Rochester, I have taught courses on language and culture, morphology, introductory linguistics, and fieldwork methods. My current research focuses on the distribution of two sets of pronouns in Falam Chin.
I can be contacted at jwamsley(at)ur(dot)rochester(dot)edu.