Christopher M. Hammerly

Christopher M. Hammerly

Assistant Professor

University of British Columbia

About

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of British Columbia and Director of the Experimental Linguistics and Fieldwork Lab (ELF-Lab). I am a descendent of the White Earth Nation in Minnesota, and much of my work focuses on understanding and documenting my ancestral language Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe). I use a variety of methods to understand the cognitive representations and processes underpinning human knowledge of syntax (sentence structure) and morphology (word structure), including formal theories, fieldwork, computational models, and experimental tasks. I am particularly interested in the nature of the basic units of morphosyntax (person, number, and noun classification), how these units participate in long-distance dependencies such as movement and agreement, and how the work of linguists can be applied to create curricula and technologies for language revitalization.

Interests

  • Syntax & Morphology
  • Psycholinguistics
  • Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe)

Education

  • PhD in Linguistics, 2020

    UMass Amherst

  • BA in Linguistics, 2014

    University of Minnesota

  • BS in Psychology, 2014

    University of Minnesota

Recent Publications

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A set-based semantics for obviation and animacy

This paper provides a general analysis of the semantics of person, broadly construed, through a case study of Ojibwe (Central …

A set-based representation of person features: Consequences for AGREE

This brief paper summarizes a new account of how person-animacy hierachy (PAH) effects and probe relativization should be modeled in …

A verb raising analysis of the Ojibwe VOS/VSO alternation: Lessons for feature copying and movement

This paper explores patterns of agreement and word order in the Central Algonquian language Border Lakes Ojibwe. This variety of Ojibwe …

Recent Posts

Original posts regarding the open letter to the LSA

Since I have switched over my website, I received a request to make my previous blog posts regarding the open letter to the LSA from Summer 2020. Here is both my initial post entitled “Thoughts on the open letter to the LSA” from July 8th, 2020, followed by a second post entitled “A response to a journalist” from July 27th, 2020.

New Website

Welcome to my new website! Things are still being worked on, but here is the start. I hope to put up more about the projects I am working on, perhaps a few blog posts, and some older talks and papers.

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