If you are interested in the semantics of under-represented languages, mark your calendar! On May 12th to 15th, 2026, four department members of SFU Linguistics will be presenting research at the SULA–TripleA conference at UBC. 

This joint conference brings together SULA (Semantics of Under-represented Languages in the Americas) and TripleA (Semantics of Languages of Africa, Asia, Australia and Oceania). SULA–TripleA 2026 will highlight research on languages that are under-represented in the literature on formal semantics, focusing in particular on work that involves primary fieldwork or experimentation. 

Dr. Jozina Vander Klok will be giving a co-authored talk on how Indonesian modal adverbs with -nya and se-...-nya differ in information structure. Two graduate students who have taken Vander Klok’s Field Methods course, Trevor Block and Phoenix Neuscheler, will each be presenting their own posters on Javanese. Additionally, grad student Ben Chung is giving a co-authored talk on documentation and analysis of the morpheme n̓x̌va in Haíɫzaqvḷa (Heiltsuk). You can peruse the event programme here, and see the full abstracts published below. 

Trevor Block
Universal Quantifier and Predicate Classes in Javanese

Abstract

My research examines the semantics of the Javanese universal quantifiers saben (‘each’) and kabeh (‘all’), building on earlier observations by Soemarmo (1979) regarding their distributive and collective interpretations. Using acceptability and felicity judgments, I argue that saben quantifies over atomic individuals and is strictly distributive, while kabeh ranges over maximal plural individuals and supports collective and cumulative interpretations. The analysis shows that saben is systematically incompatible with collective-only predicates (Dowty 1987; Lasersohn 1990), whereas kabeh allows both collective readings and derived distributive interpretations via subject-level distributivity (Link 1983; Landman 2012). I further demonstrate that cumulative readings are available only with kabeh, providing evidence for the atomicity requirement of saben (Krifka 1992). The findings support a compositional account in which the contrasting behavior of these quantifiers follows from their lexical semantics and aligns with broader typological patterns in Austronesian languages. 

Ben Chung
Fear and Sasquatches: Apprehensional Uses of N̓x̌va in Haíɫzaqvḷa

My presentation is co-authored with Daphne Wheeler (Haíɫzaqv Nation) who is also an Indigenous Language Proficiency student in her first year of study. We document and analyse the morpheme n̓x̌va in Haíɫzaqvḷa or Heiltsuk language, which is an Upper Northern Wakashan (UNW) language comprised of two main varieties spoken in the communities of Bella Bella and Klemtu respectively. n̓x̌va is documented to mean both 'if, when' and 'lest, otherwise, for fear of'. The latter gloss would indicate that it is an apprehensional morpheme or grammatically encodes negative prospective epistemic modality. We are interested in its contemporary apprehensional usage since its initial description.

Abstract

We present analyses of if-constructions that feature n̓x̌va ‘if, when’ or ‘lest, in fear that, otherwise’ in Haíɫzaqvḷa or Heiltsuk language. Apprehensional constructions encode a negative prospective epistemic modality (Anderbois & Dąbkowski, 2025). That is, they are used to express something bad possibly happening in the future. Fluent speakers resist producing the previously documented method of subordination in the literature used to encode a timitive (‘for fear of’) apprehensional reading for n̓x̌va. However, they do find this form acceptable when presented it. When the apprehensional n̓x̌va form is used in contemporary speech, the morpho-syntax differs and provides either precautioning avertive or in-case readings. Outside this specific construction, n̓x̌va heads conditional if-clauses as predicted. We also do find that there is interspeaker variability in what can be used as an if-morpheme in the language. This preliminary address of n̓x̌va and its grammatical capabilities reveals a case of morpho-syntactic language change with retention of its previous semantics. These findings inform our ongoing documentation and analyses of Haíɫzaqvḷa with the remaining Elders and how apprehensionals develop and grammaticalize typologically.  

Phoenix Neuscheler
Reduplication and Pluractionality in Javanese

My presentation is on reduplication and plurality in Javanese, specifically on how lexical aspect interacts with what kind of pluractions are licensed in the reduplicated form. 

Abstract

Full and partial reduplication occurs quite productively across word classes in Javanese to express a variety of concepts (Miyake, 2011). For verbs, this includes licensing pluractional interpretations, in which the events are understood to be plural or repeated in some way (Newman 1980, Wood 2007). This study explores the effect that lexical aspect has on the reduplicated form of the verb: whether pluractionality is licensed at all, as well as what type of pluractionality. Additionally, the use of applicative suffixes (either locative -i or benefactive -ake) to license pluractional interpretations is also explored. While prior research shows that the suffix -i may be used in certain constructions to create an iterative/repetitive predicate (Sumarlam, 2004; Vander Klok & Evans, 2022), this research has found that the suffix -ake may also license optional pluractional interpretations as well.

Jozina Vander Klok
Topics, which are never focused: Indonesian modal-nya forms

My presentation is co-authored with Sarah Zobel (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), Hiroki Nomoto (TUFS) and David Moeljadi (Kanda Univ of International Studies). 

Abstract

Alwi (1992) observes a curious puzzle: a class of Indonesian modal adverbs with the circumfix se-...-nya allow for modification with negation and sudah ‘already’, while the corresponding modal adverbs with the suffix -nya do not. These include semestinya, seharusnya, selayaknya, sepatutnya, sepantasnya vs. mestinya, harusnya, layaknya, patutnya, pantasnya, which all roughly translate to English ‘should’ but differ slightly in their modal flavour. We show, based on new data from a corpus study (Nomoto et al. 2024) and elicitation, that the contrast cannot be attributed to any of the following plausible properties: (A) syntactic height, (B) (not)-at-issueness/projectivity, (C) positive polarity item (PPI) status and (D) modal flavour or force. Instead, we point out a previously unknown difference concerning focus and claim it as the source of the relevant contrast. Specifically, nya-forms cannot be focused, while se-...-nya-forms can.