Welcome to my home page!

I am a researcher and teacher with a passion for African languages and linguistics, currently as Senior Lecturer at the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics. I want to understand what our human language ability is in the broadest sense, inspired by African languages. I believe this is best done through collaborative research. In my teaching and outreach I aim to spark enthusiasm for (African) languages and linguistics, interactively making students think critically about bigger questions.

In my research I aspire to find out what determines how we express ourselves, and what that tells us about human cognition and interaction. How we convey information is in part determined by fixed grammar rules, but equally shaped by our interaction with others. Which aspects of meaning and interaction can become part of the grammatical system of particular languages, and language in general? Gaining insight from African languages is essential in this quest to arrive at a truly encompassing model of human language and cognition. The interface between morphosyntax and pragmatics, and particularly the cross-linguistic variation in this area, keeps fascinating me. 

In other roles I am active as editor of Stemmen van Afrika, member of the executive committee of the Association of Contemporary African Linguistics (ACAL), and co-editor of the Journal of African Languages and Linguistics (JALL).

I was recently awarded the Ammodo Science Award for fundamental research.