Dennis Ryan Storoshenko, Phd

PhD in Linguistics Simon Fraser University
Dennis Ryan Storoshenko

Areas of Research

Syntax
Research into syntax, particularly with an interest in issues at the syntax/semantics interface. Projects include scope, binding, and A'-dependencies, and work in multiple theoretical frameworks (principally Tree Adjoining Grammar and Minimalism, but open to work comparing other approaches). Publications include analyses of phenomena in English, Farsi, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, and Shona.
Experimental Syntax/Semantics
The use of lab-based experimental methods to collect data as a basis for syntactic theory. Methodologies range from simple judgement tasks through to visual world eye-tracking. Lab facilities equipped with Mac computers running PsychoPy and access to a shared lab with a 1000Hz-resolution EyeLink system and Experiment Builder. For hypothesis formation and initial testing, we also have access to several corpora of English data as part of the lab (Contemporary, Historical, and World Englishes), along with workstations equipped with Natural Language Toolkit modules for data analysis. These tools can be adapted for work on other languages, but corpus work is limited to developing and testing hypotheses related to syntactic theory. Our lab does not do corpus work relating to the development of language learning/pedagogy, discourse analysis, or descriptive sociolinguistics.

Supervising degrees

Linguistics - Doctoral: Accepting Inquiries
Linguistics - Masters: Accepting Inquiries

Working with this supervisor

Typically I supervise students who are engaged in theoretical syntax research incorporating at least one of a) experimental work b) corpus research c) field elicitation with native speaker consultants. Overall, I am interested in students interested in exploring issues at some point of intersection of syntax and semantics, with no specific language preference (though the languages listed above are most desirable, also including dialectal variation within English). I am also open to students interested in doing work comparing the way different syntactic theories will approach a single phenomenon, exploring questions of whether a given theoretical approach provides a better description of the analysis and makes more useful predictions for further testing. I do not supervise research in critical discourse analysis, the development of tools or technology for language teaching, nor evaluation metrics of such tools. 

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