Main profile

Thomas

Conners

Associate Research Scientist

Interests: 

Syntax

Field Linguistics, Corpus Linguistics, Language Documentation and Description, Typology

Projects: 

CASL Summer

Units: 

CASL

Degree(s): 

PhD, 2008, Linguistics, Yale University
MPhil, 2002, Linguistics, Yale University
MA, 2000, Linguistics, Yale University
BA, 1999, Linguistics, Yale University

Graduation Year: 

2008

Contact: 

tconners@umd.edu

3012268955

Role(s): 

Faculty

About: 

My research has broadly attended to language description, documentation, typology, and the analysis of underlying lingustic systems.  Within that general framework, I view language as both a cognitive and social system.  My approach to language work has been empirical, that is, has taken theory to be in the service of accurate description rather than the converse.  I let empirical evidence drive analyses of language structure and use; this empirical approach has led to a strong interest in corpus, and from there elements of computational linguistics. 

Areally, I have been focused on Austronesian languages, more specifically the languages of Western Indonesia.  Having spent over 10 years working and conducting field work in Indonesia, my work has been been focused on and informed by engagement with languages of Indonesian and the braoder Southeast Asian linguistic area -- particularly Javanese and Jakarta Indonesian.   I have also worked on South Asian languages including Punjabi, Bangla, and Urdu.

Collaborators: 

Claudia Brugman
Anne David
Amalia Gnadesikan
Nikki Adams