Jenneke van der Wal
Associate professor
- Name
- Dr. G.J. van der Wal
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 3658
- g.j.van.der.wal@hum.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0003-1136-5884
Jenneke van der Wal is a researcher and teacher with a passion for African languages and linguistics. She wants to understand what our human language ability is in the broadest sense, focusing on morphosyntax and information structure. She believes this is best done through collaborative research. In her teaching and outreach she aims to spark enthusiasm for (African) languages and linguistics, interactively challenging students to think critically and analytically.
More information about Jenneke van der Wal
News
See also
PhD students
Fields of interest
- Bantu languages
- Agreement
- Focus
- Information structure
- Syntax
- Morphology
- Fieldwork
- Methodology
Research
With the ultimate goal of contributing to our understanding of what it means to be human, I aspire in my research 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 also shaped by our interaction with others. I investigate which aspects of interaction and meaning can become part of the grammar of particular languages, and of language in general. This question on the interface between morphosyntax and pragmatics keeps fascinating me.
Curriculum vitae
| 2020-current | Senior University Lecturer at Leiden University |
| 2017-2020 | University Lecturer at Leiden University |
| 2016-2017 | Lecturer on Linguistics at Harvard University |
| 2011-2016 | Research Associate at the University of Cambridge, on the ERC-funded project ‘Rethinking Comparative Syntax’ (PI Prof. Ian Roberts) |
| 2012-2016 | Research Fellow at Darwin College, Cambridge |
| 2009-2011 | Post-doctoral researcher at the Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren (Belgium), on the Interuniversity Attraction Pole ‘Grammaticalization and (Inter)Subjectification’ |
| 2004-2009 | Ph.D. at Leiden University, Ph.D. thesis ‘Word order and information structure in Makhuwa-Enahara’ (supervisors Prof. Lisa Cheng and Prof. Thilo Schadeberg) |
| 2000-2004 | M.A. in African Linguistics at Leiden University, M.A. thesis ‘Lusoga phonology’ |
Associate professor
- Faculty of Humanities
- Leiden Univ Centre for Linguistics
- LUCL T&C van Afrika