Research


Languages (fieldwork)

African languages:
  • Kru languages (Vata, Dida, Gbadi..),
  • Gur (Nawdem),
  • Mande (Bambara),
  • Kwa (Abe(y))
  • Grassfield Bantu (Nweh, Ncufie, Bafanji)
  • West Atlantic (Wolof, Fulani)
  • Bantu (Ndendeule, Siswati)
  • Nilotic (Maasai, Dholuo)
Austronesian

Malagasy, Javanese, Samoan, Tongan

Creole languages

Haitian, Sranan, Saramaccan.

Formal Linguistics
  • Syntactic theory
  • Morpho-syntax – Morphology as Syntax
  • Comparative syntax
  • Syntax/Phonology interface

Publications


Books

  • 2013. An introduction to syntactic analysis and theory (with Dominique Sportiche and Ed Stabler). John Wiley & Sons.
  • 2000. Verbal complexes (with Anna Szabolcsi). MIT Press.
  • 2003. The syntax of specifiers and heads: Collected essays of Hilda J. Koopman. Routledge.
  • 1984. The Syntax of Verbs: From verb movement rules in the Kru languages to Universal Grammar. Foris Publications. Dordrecht. (out of print)

Edited books

  • 1983. Current Approaches to African Linguistics (with J. Kaye, D. Sportiche and A. Dugas). Foris Publications, Dordrecht.
  • Hilda Koopman with Murat Kural Aspects of the Grammar of Ncufie, UCLA working papers vol 14.  link

Articles

Unpublished papers

Selected Handouts of Talks


TerraLing and SSWL


The SSWL database is one of the datasets in terraling.  Other datasets include Conjunction and Disjunction (project pages can be found here and here), Anaphora, and Cinque’s Universal 20 database.

If you are interested in joining the community, please sign up for our terraling google group  at terraling@lists.ucla.edu. This site is used to send out letters to the community with updates of recent developments.

We also have monthly community meetings on zoom during the year (email me if you are interested in participating), and a Discord channel for discussion (email me for an invitation to Discord!).

Introductory materials on TerraLing, the history of the project, and SSWL.
Supporting Materials/questionnaire(s) for property development.
  • Navigating TerraLing explains how to access and navigate the site. We are in the process of changing the user interface: this document will be updated (probably in feb 2021),
  • Nov 2020: Here is a list of contents of SSWL properties under development.
  •  A general description (from 2019) and an overview of the current content in SSWL can be found here 
  • Questionnaire: For a (draft of a) guided questionnaire on how to elicit data and develop a coding schema and SSWL type database of Adjectival Properties in the World’s Languages, check Adjectival Questionnaire. If you are interested in helping it develop it further, please contact me!
For further development

Together with Cristina Guardiano we have started developing property definitions for existential constructions, where ultimately we are interested in the form and distribution of (non modified) indefinite subjects (and variation in existential constructions), and how this compares to definite subjects.

The following documents are linked from within the database.

If you are interested in the question how to go about developing a coding schema for Terraling/SSWL, read the following document about negative existentials.

For handouts on some Research results please contact me (or here.)

Terraling Workshops (2021- 2020)


TerraLing Workshop- 2021

Dates: 21–23 October 2021, 9–12 PT / 12–15 ET / 18–21 CET

The 2021 TerraLing Workshop was a venue for work-in-progress that uses the TerraLing platform for crosslinguistic research, as well as projects that will use TerraLing but are still in the planning stages. The workshop took place online. Everyone who is interested in getting involved in collaborative, crosslinguistic work using TerraLing or is curious about doing so, was invited to join.

Thematic sessions

The workshop was divided into three thematic sessions, corresponding to different groups of people working on different projects using the TerraLing platform:

  • Group 1: Quantification and plurality (21 Oct)
  • Group 2: Passive-like constructions (22 Oct)
  • Group 3: Clausal embedding and intentional constructions (23 Oct)

Program

The thematic sessions were a combination of short presentations of ongoing TerraLing projects and preliminary results, discussions of questionnaires for TerraLing that are still under development, and invited talks by researchers who are not currently involved in the TerraLing project, but have done crucial crosslinguistic work on the respective topic.

TerraLing Workshop- 2020

Dates: 18-19 September 2020.  9–12 PT / 12–15 ET / 18–21 CET

This workshop aimed to get researchers interested in the Terraling database, to familiarize them with the technology (so that they can carry out their own projects), and to pave the road for future projects making use of the database, thus also supporting further international community building.

The Terraling database (http://terraling.com/) is a collaborative research tool for theoretically guided cross-linguistic research: It is an open-access, open-ended database where linguists can both pose data questions to others and answer such questions for their native languages.

The workshop involved introductions to different aspects of the database, a `hands-on trial session for participants, short presentations of projects that have been carried out via the database and a discussion (including all participants) of potential future research projects building on the database. (See below for the full program.)

Program (all times are given in Central European Summer Time, which will mean, e.g., -6 hours for New York City/East Coast, -9 hours for Los Angeles/West Coast …)

September 18

6 pm – 6.20 pm: Introduction to the database (Hilda Koopman, UCLA)

6.20 pm – 6.40 pm: A guided tour through the database (Nina Haslinger, University of Göttingen)

6.40 pm – 7.10 pm: Try-out session (all participants, using break-out rooms)

7.10 pm – 7.30 pm: Discussion (all participants)

7.30 pm – 7.40 pm: Break

7.40 pm – 8.25 pm: Terraling and fieldwork (Ryan Bochnak, UBC)

8.25 pm – 9 pm: Networking discussion (all participants)

September 19

6 pm-6.30 pm: Project presentation: SSWL Some (interim) results from on bare Ns and “articles“. (with Cristina Guardiano, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia)

6.30 pm-7 pm: Project presentation: Conjunction and disjunction (Nina Haslinger, University of Göttingen & Viola Schmitt, University of Graz)

7 pm-7.30 pm: Project presentation: Universal 20 (Guglielmo Cinque, Ca’ Foscari University, Venice)

7.30 pm – 7.40 pm: Break

7.40 pm – 8.30 pm: Property development and property writing

(includes a session on syntax, a session on semantics and a Q & A session, will involve all participants)

8.30 pm – 9 pm: Networking discussion (all participants)

MaS2 Workshop June10-11 2022


The Morphology as Syntax2 (MaS2) workshop took place online on June 10-11 2022. For the program and slides/handouts/ (videos still need to be posted!) check out our webpage  here:

Thanks to all participants for a very stimulating and inspiring workshop.  Looking forward to the third MaS workshop to be held at UQAM!