About
I am currently a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Linguistics Department at the University of Rochester. My research interests (broadly) include semantics, pragmatics, morphology, and language documentation.
Specifically my research investigates 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.