Thu, 08/28/2008 - 2:32pm — lisamatt

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Educational Background

Ph.D., University of British Columbia, 1996
Determiner Systems and Quantificational Strategies: Evidence from Salish
(Co-winner of the Prize for Outstanding Dissertation in Language, Logic and Computation, European Association for Logic, Language and Information / FoLLI)

Areas of Interest

I am interested in cross-linguistic variation in the semantics and pragmatics, and what variation (or the lack of it) tells us about Universal Grammar. I have been doing fieldwork on St'át'imcets (Lillooet Salish) since 1992, and since 2010 I have been doing fieldwork on Gitksan (Tsimshianic). I have worked on a range of areas in semantics and the syntax/semantics interface, including determiners, quantifiers, adverbs, tense, aspect, modals, evidentials, mood, discourse particles and presuppositions. I am also interested in the methodology of semantic fieldwork, and in native language preservation and oral history. I am involved in community language preservation initiatives, including contributing to the First Voices website for Northern St'át'imcets.

Visit our website for storyboards for semantic elicitation! Totem Field Storyboards

Current Research Grants

Topics in Gitxsan (Jacobs Research Fund)

Cross-Linguistic Expressions of Modality (SSHRC; Co-Investigator: Hotze Rullmann), 2011-2014

Picturing Possibility: Storyboard Elicitations and the Expression of Modality in First Nations Languages

Selected Publications and Talks

Matthewson, Lisa 2012. How to Get By if Your Language Lacks Generalized Quantifiers. Talk given at Formal Linguistics and the Measurement of Grammatical Complexity, University of Washington, Seattle.

Matthewson, Lisa 2012. A Fieldworker's Guide to the Semantics of Noun Phrases. Talk given at Amazonicas 4, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Peru, Lima.

Burton, Strang and Lisa Matthewson 2012. Storyboards in the Elicitation of Modality Judgments. Poster presented at the LSA Special Session on Semantic Fieldwork Methodology.

Gutiérrze, Analía and Lisa Matthewson in press. Evidential Determiners: Best (Sensory) Evidence. To appear in Proceedings of SULA 6.

Matthewson, Lisa in press. Gitksan Modals. To appear in International Journal of American Linguistics.

Matthewson, Lisa in press. On the (Non-)Future Orientation of Modals. To appear in Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 16.

Matthewson, Lisa in press. When Fieldwork Meets Theory: Evidence About Evidentials. To appear in Proceedings of Linguistic Evidence, ed. Britta Stolterfoht and Sam Featherston.

Matthewson, Lisa 2011. On How (Not) to Uncover Cross-Linguistic Variation. Paper presented at NELS 42, University of Toronto.

Burton, Strang and Lisa Matthewson 2011. Totem Field Storyboards. Paper presented at the 46th International Conference on Salish and Neighbouring Languages, University of British Columbia.

Matthewson, Lisa 2011. Modality and the Future in Gitxsan. Paper presented at the Workshop on Structure and Constituency in Languages of the Americas 16, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Matthewson, Lisa 2010. Evidential Restrictions on Epistemic Modals. Paper presented at the Workshop on Epistemic Indefinites, University of Göttingen, June 2010.

Matthewson, 2010. Cross-linguistic Variation in Modality Systems: The Role of Mood. Semantics and Pragmatics 3, Article 9, 1-74.

Matthewson, Lisa to 2010. On Apparently Non-Modal Evidentials. Empirical Issues in Syntax and Semantics, ed. Olivier Bonami & Patricia Cabredo Hofherr, http://www.cssp.cnrs.fr/eiss8/, 333-357.

Davis, Henry, Meagan Louie, Lisa Matthewson, Ileana Paul, Amélia Reis Silva and Tyler Peterson 2010. Perfective Aspect and Actuality Entailments: A Cross-Linguistic Approach. The Proceedings of SULA 5: The Semantics of Under-Represented Languages in the Americas. Amherst, MA: GLSA.

Koch, Karsten and Lisa Matthewson 2009. The Lexical Category Debate in Salish and its Relevance for Tagalog. Theoretical Linguistics 35:125-147.

Davis, Henry and Lisa Matthewson 2009. Issues in Salish Syntax and Semantics. Language and Linguistics Compass 3/4: 1097-1166.

Matthewson, Lisa 2009. An Unfamiliar Proportional Quantifier. In Quantification, Definiteness, and Nominalization ed. Anastasia Giannakidou and Monika Rathert. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 23-52.

Davis, Henry, Lisa Matthewson and Hotze Rullmann 2009. A Unified Modal Semantics for Out-of-control in St'at'imcets. Cross-Linguistics Semantics of Tense, Aspect and Modality, ed. Lotte Hogeweg, Helen de Hoop and Andrey Malchukov. Oxford: John Benjamins.

Matthewson, Lisa 2008. Pronouns, Presuppositions, and Semantic Variation Proceedings of SALT XVIII, 527-550.

von Fintel, Kai and Lisa Matthewson 2008. Universals in Semantics. The Linguistic Review 25(1-2):139-201.

Rullmann, Hotze, Lisa Matthewson and Henry Davis 2008. Modals as Distributive Indefinites. Natural Language Semantics 16:317-357.

Matthewson, Lisa, Hotze Rullmann and Henry Davis 2007. Evidentials as Epistemic Modals: Evidence from St'at'imcets. The Linguistic Variation Yearbook 7.

Jóhannsdóttir, Kristín and Lisa Matthewson 2007. Zero-marked Tense: The Case of Gitxsan. Proceedings of NELS 37.

Reis Silva, Amélia and Lisa Matthewson 2007. An Instantaneous Present Tense in Blackfoot. Semantics of Under-Represented Languages in the Americas 4. Amherst, MA: GLSA.

Matthewson, Lisa 2006. Temporal Semantics in a Supposedly Tenseless Language. Linguistics and Philosophy 29:673-713.

Matthewson, Lisa 2006. Presuppositions and Cross-linguistic Variation. Proceedings of NELS 26.

Matthewson, Lisa 2005. When I Was Small - I Wan Kwikws: A Grammatical Analysis of St'át'imcets Oral Narratives. Vancouver: UBC Press.

Bar-el, Leora, Henry Davis and Lisa Matthewson 2005. On Non-Culminating Accomplishments. Proceedings of the North Eastern Linguistics Society 35. Amherst, MA: GLSA.

Matthewson, Lisa 2005. On the Absence of Tense on Determiners. Lingua 115(12):1697-1735.

Schaeffer, Jeannette and Lisa Matthewson 2005. Grammar and Pragmatics in the Acquisition of Article Systems. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 23:53-101.

Gerdts, Donna and Lisa Matthewson (eds.) 2004. Studies in Salish Linguistics in Honor of M. Dale Kinkade. Missoula, Montana: University of Montana Press.

Matthewson, Lisa 2004. On the Methodology of Semantic Fieldwork. International Journal of American Linguistics 70:369-415.

Davis, Henry, Lisa Matthewson and Scott Shank 2004. Clefts vs. Nominal Predicates in Two Salish Languages. Studies in Salish Linguistics in Honor of M. Dale Kinkade, ed. Donna Gerdts and Lisa Matthewson, University of Montana Press.

Matthewson, Lisa 2004. On the Absence of Telic Accomplishments in St'át'imcets. Proceedings of WSCLA 10, UBC Working Papers in Linguistics.

Matthewson, Lisa 2003. How Natural is the Meta-Language? Comments on Durst's Paper. Theoretical Linguistics 29:263-274.

Matthewson, Lisa 2003. Quasi Objects in St'át'imcets: The (Semi)-Independence of Agreement and Case. Formal Approaches to Function: Papers in Honor of Eloise Jelinek, ed. Andrew Carnie, Heidi Harley and Mary Ann Willie. Oxford: Blackwell. 34 pages. (co-authored with Henry Davis).

Matthewson, Lisa 2002. A Cross-Linguistic Perspective on the Expression of Manner. Proceedings of SALT XI, ed. Rachel Hastings, Brendan Jackson and Zsofia Zvolenszky, Ithaca, NY: CLC Publications. 19 pages.

Matthewson, Lisa 2001. Quantification and the Nature of Cross-Linguistic Variation. Natural Language Semantics 9:145-189.

Matthewson, Lisa 2000. On Distributivity and Pluractionality. Proceedings of SALT X, ed. Brendan Jackson and Tanya Matthews, Ithaca, NY: CLC Publications. 17 pages.

Davis, Henry and Lisa Matthewson 1999. On the Functional Determination of Lexical Categories. Révue Québecoise de Linguistique 27:2.

Matthewson, Lisa 1999. On the Interpretation of Wide-Scope Indefinites. Natural Language Semantics 7:79-134.

Matthewson, Lisa 1998. Determiner Systems and Quantificational Strategies: Evidence from Salish. The Hague: Holland Academic Graphics.

Davis, Henry and Lisa Matthewson 1998. Definiteness, Finiteness, and the Entity/Event Distinction. Proceedings of the North East Linguistic Society 28, 95-109.

Matthewson, Lisa 1997. Parametric Variation in Determiner Systems: Salish vs. English. In Amaya Mendiko-Etxea and Myriam Uribe-Etxebarria (eds.), Theoretical Issues in the Morphology-Syntax Interface. 255-284.

Matthewson, Lisa 1997. The Semantics of Salish Determiners: A Parametric Account. Proceedings of the West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics 15, ed. Bruce Agbayani and Sze-Wing Tang, Stanford Linguistics Association, 353-368.

Davis, Henry, Sandra Lai and Lisa Matthewson 1997. Cedar Roots and Singing Detectives: Attributive Modification in Salish and English. Papers for the 32nd International Conference on Salish and Neighboring Languages.

Demirdache, Hamida and Lisa Matthewson 1996. On the Universality of Syntactic Categories. Proceedings of the North East Linguistic Society 25, 79-93.

Courses Recently Taught

Fall 2011: Ling 100, Introduction to Language and Linguistics
Fall 2011: Ling 530C, Had we but worlds enough and times: Everything you ever wanted to know about modality and tense (with Hotze Rullmann)
Spring 2011: Ling 525, Introduction to Formal Semantics
Fall 2010: Ling 327, Semantics
Spring 2010: Ling 530A, Everything you ever wanted to know about pragmatics continued (with Hotze Rullmann)
Fall 2009: Ling 100, Introduction to Language and Linguistics
Fall 2009: Ling 530B, Everything you ever wanted to know about pragmatics (with Hotze Rullmann)
Spring 2009: Ling 525, Introduction to Formal Semantics
Spring 2009: Ling 100, Introduction to Language and Linguistics
Fall 2008: Ling 327B, Introduction to Semantics