Professor of Linguistics and Cognitive Science
With Pomona Since: 2006
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Expertise
Expertise
Mary Paster specializes in phonology, the branch of linguistics concerned with the systematic organization of sounds in languages. Her research focuses primarily on describing poorly documented languages, with a focus on African and Native American languages, and demonstrating the theoretical importance of the linguistic phenomena found in those languages, particularly their sound patterns.
Research Interests
- Phonology - tone, vowel harmony, sound change
- Morphology - suppletive allomorphy, affix order, multiple exponence
- Phonetics - (un)naturalness, instrumental measurement and documentation
- The phonology-morphology interface
- Field linguistics / working with consultants
- African languages
- Indigenous American languages
Areas of Expertise
LINGUISTICS
- African Languages
- Phonology
- Morphology
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Education
Education
Ph.D.
University of California, BerkeleyMaster of Arts
University of California, BerkeleyBachelor of Arts, summa cum laude
Ohio State UniversityRecent Courses Taught
- Introduction to Linguistics
- Field Methods in Linguistics
- Morphology
- Phonology
- Topics in Phonology