Rebecca Paterson

Rebecca Paterson

Associate Research Scholar

Princeton University

Certified Linguistics Consultant

SIL Africa Area

I study how grammatical structures are used by speakers today and how these grammatical structures may have developed over time. In these ways, I aim to inform how we understand the capacity, diversity, and beauty of language.

I use tools from language documentation and linguistics to create corpora of oral stories. These corpora are then used to demonstrate the natural grammatical patterns used within the community. Using a collaborative process, I marshal these oral stories from recording through to transcription and translation.

My research interests include African languages, morphosyntax, language description and documentation, diachronic morphosyntax, and discourse grammar. I am particularly interested in the morphosyntax of the Kainji languages of Nigeria and how they can inform our understanding of the Niger‑Congo language family more broadly.

Interests

  • Language description and documentation
  • Morphosyntax
  • Kainji languages
  • Diachronic syntax
  • Discourse grammar

Education

  • Ph.D. in Linguistics, 2019

    University of Oregon

  • M.A. in Linguistics, 2007

    University of North Dakota

  • B.Sc., 2001

    Cairn University

Latest collaboration with Rebecca