Contact Information
801 S. Wright St.
801 S Wright
M/C 322
Champaign, IL 61820
Research Interests
Syntax
Semantics
Morphology
Phonology
Field Research/Language Documentation
Research Description
Josh's research interests are syntax and its interface with morphology, semantics, and phonology. I am especially interested in the functional structure of the nominal and clausal domains, especially in regard to (in)definiteness (determiners) and temporality (Tense). Additionally, I am interested in morphophonology (allomorphy, vowel harmony, among other topics), and work out of a distributed morphology framework. I also have a strong interest in historical linguistics, and my work often reflects both synchronic and diachronic analyses/points of view.
He works on a wide range of language families including Nilo-Saharan (Dholuo), Turkic (Kazakh), Slavic (Polish), Dravidian (Kannada), and Bantu (Swahili).
His dissertation is being supervised by Dr. Aida Talić, and is entitled A Study of (D)efiniteness and (T)emporality in Dholuo (committee: Dr. Seth Cable, Dr. Vicki Carstens, Dr. Tania Ionin, and Dr. Jonathan MacDonald).
Outside of the more formal aspects of linguistics, Josh has research interests in the sociolinguistics of post-colonial language policies in Africa, as well as first generation scholars in the field of linguistics and how to best support them.
Learn more about Josh's research and involvement within the greater linguistics community by reading his member spotlight on the Linguistic Society of America's website.
Education
M.A. in Linguistics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
M.A. in Linguistics and TESOL, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
B.A. in Psychology and Biology, Greenville University
Courses Taught
As instructor of record:
LING 301: Elements of Syntax
LING 304: Elements of Morphology
LING 400: Intro to Linguistic Structure (graduate-level & undergraduate level)
ESL 112: Intro to Academic Writing I
ESL 506: Oral Communication for ITAs (graduate-level)
ESL 510: English Pronunciation and Oral Fluency (graduate-level)
ESL 511: Written and Oral Communication (graduate-level)
ESL 512: Introduction to Academic Writing (graduate-level)
ESL 515: Advanced Introduction to Academic Writing (graduate-level)
Graduate teaching assistant:
LING 225: Language, Mind, and Brain
LING 301: Elements of Syntax
LING 304: Elements of Morphology
LING 307: Elements of Semantics and Pragmatics
LING 400: Intro to Linguistic Structure (graduate-level & undergraduate level)
LING 501: Syntax I (graduate-level)
Highlighted Publications
Proceedings:
Dees, Joshua. to appear. The grammaticalization of Turkic comitative(s): Mismatches in harmony and stress. Proceedings of the 2024 Annual Meeting on Phonology.
Dees, Joshua, Katie VanDyne, & Anna Romaniuk. 2024. The CΔG and Polish causative/anticausative deadjectival verbs. Proceedings of the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America.
Bowie, David, Joshua Dees, Luis Gaytan, Iara Mantenuto, Miranda McCarvel, & Tran Truong. 2024. Identifying, understanding, and supporting first generation and under-represented minorities in linguistics. Proceedings of the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America.
Dees, Joshua. 2024. Kannada through the lens of the NP/DP parameter. Proceedings of the 13th formal Approaches to South Asian Languages.
Dees, Joshua. 2024. Phase head exception in phonological spell-out: A deeper look at Kazakh and Turkic. Proceedings of the 57th Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society.
Dees, Joshua. 2023. Non-uniformity in phonologizing phase heads: Evidence from Kazakh. Proceedings of the Workshop on Turkic and Languages in Contact with Turkic 8, 74-88.