McLing is happy to welcome Hermann Keupdjio [kə́pʒʲò], who is joining McGill Linguistics this January as a postdoctoral researcher under the supervision of Prof. James Crippen. Hermann recently graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Ph.D in Linguistics. His research program spotlights the following research areas: (i) theoretical syntax (the mechanics of Move & Agree in relation to A’-movement and A’-agreement); (ii) syntax at the interfaces –– Syntax-Phonology/Phonetics interface (tonal reflexes of A’-movement and their acoustic correlates); Syntax-Semantics interface (Exhaustivity marking, pluralities and pronouns denotation) and Syntax-Pragmatics interface (Polar questions and response particles) ––; and (iii) syntactic variation (Bamileke dialect variation).
In the context of his postdoctoral research activities at McGill, Hermann will be investigating aspects of information structure and allomorphy (stem variation) in Tlingit, and will also be developing Tlingit language learning materials. Hermann is a Bamileke Medumba speaker-linguist (Grassfield Bantu), but has also conducted research on Nata (Eastern Bantu). When he is not doing linguistics, Hermann is either cooking some African culinary delights or is doing kickboxing.
Welcome Hermann!