Eating Low-Carb in West Africa

In this blog post, I outline what I am learning through trial-and-error about eating low-carb in West Africa.

Togo Diary (June July 2026)

This diary is the record of my stay in Togo during June and July of 2026.

Aspects of Tone in Cua (Zachary Wellstood)

Zachary Wellstood's doctoral dissertation (Berkeley) on Cua tone. Below is the eScholarship link to the thesis:

Aspects of Tone in Cua

Abstract (abridged):

This dissertation constitutes the first description and analysis of the tone system of Cua, a highly endangered and underdocumented Kalahari Khoe language of the Tshwa subgroup spoken in southeastern Botswana. This dissertation includes (i) an updated phonological sketch of Cua, including evidence of segmental contrasts and phonotactic constraints, (ii) an empirical overview of Cua’s tonal inventory, tonal phenomena, and tonal morphophonology, (iii) the results of a phonetic study on lexical tone in Cua conducted with 6 Cua speakers, and (iv) a phonological analysis of Cua tone which proposes phonological representations of Cua’s lexical tonal categories and derivations of tonal phenomena noted throughout the preceding chapters.

Conversations with Noam Chomsky (2021-2022)

Here are two lengthy conversations that I had with Noam Chomsky on the topics of language, thought and formal semantics. I was very honored to have been able to have these conversations with Noam, who has been a guiding light for me throughout my career.

A Conversation with Noam Chomsky about Formal Semantics (June 25, 2021)

A Conversation with Noam Chomsky about Language and Thought (March 27, 2022)

How to Turn Your QP into a Journal Publication (in Syntax)

You have spent a grueling year writing up your Qualifying Paper (QP) for your Ph.D. program. You have read and carefully studied dozens of papers preparing your QP. You have been having weekly, sometimes tense, meetings with your supervisor, and somewhat less frequent meetings with the other committee members. Now, you have a 70-page double-spaced QP, containing your analysis of X, resulting in a successful defense. 

What are the next steps?

How to Cite This Blog

Doing syntactic research includes acknowledging ideas that you get from informal sources, such as blog posts, talks, conversations, etc. If you find ideas on this blog useful in your own work, please cite the relevant blog post. 

Minimalist Syntax and the Many Faces of Recursion

This blog post summarizes the confusing web of concepts associated with recursion, and comments on how they are related to each other. In particular, I will show how each of the concepts relates to the minimalist structure building operation Merge.