Becker Colloquium
May 28, 12:30pm
Robert C. Brown Hall, Room 6152
Zoom link: email lingcomm@sfu.ca
“What semantic universals exist? And how do languages vary in their semantics? In this talk, I aim to shed light on these big questions by drawing on the past 30 years of research into Salish semantics.”
In honour of esteemed donor Yvonne Becker, join us on May 28th at 12:30pm for the annual Becker Colloquium. This year’s event features visiting speaker Lisa Matthewson from the University of British Columbia.
Title
Semantic universals and semantic variation: Evidence from Salish language research
About the speaker
Lisa Matthewson is a Professor of Linguistics at UBC. She is a cross-linguistic semanticist and a fieldworker, and conducts research on St’át’imcets (Salish), Gitksan (Tsimshianic), and nɬeʔkepmxcín (Salish). Her research agenda aims to uncover what is universal in the semantics, and how languages can vary in the semantics. She also contributes to the documentation and revitalization of Indigenous languages of British Columbia through the collection and publication of narratives, teaching in UBC Okanagan’s Bachelor of St’át’imc Language Fluency, developing language teaching curriculum, and mentoring language instructors and learners.
About the Becker Colloquium
The Becker Colloquium is an annual event presented by the Department of Linguistics to honour our most significant benefactor, who established the Yvonne Becker Memorial Linguistics Endowment. In memory of Yvonne’s great passion for linguistics, the department selects a speaker to offer a colloquium that is enlightening, cutting-edge and unique in its perspective. Prior to the colloquium, we will be presenting the winner(s) of the Becker Undergraduate Award with their Certificate of Achievement.