I am a fifth-year Ph.D student in the Linguistics department at the University of Pennsylvania, and I live in Philadelphia. My dissertation defense is scheduled in summer 2018.

Currently my research investigates the syntax and morphology of Indonesian languages, particularly colloquial Indonesian, Madurese and Javanese. I employ both language-internal analysis and cross-linguistic comparison within a formal theory of morphosyntax. I am particularly interested in intra-speaker variability, and how this informs current theories of generative syntax.

My dissertation, Optional Morphosyntax in Derivational Grammar, investigates functional elements that are variable for a single speaker, i.e. two or more forms are possible in the same position without differences in meaning. My dissertation is supervised by Julie Legate, with committee members David Embick and Florian Schwarz. In the dissertation, I demonstrate that variability can arise at different points in a derivation, and can be subject to various constraints; this means that neither surface variability (counting tokens) nor syntactic conditions (derivational architecture) provide a full picture of the distribution of forms.

Through extended periods of fieldwork in Indonesia, I aim to contribute novel data and observations to our understanding of language structure, particularly from under-represented languages such as Madurese. I have also worked on Voice and A-bar movement, WH-agreement, possessor sub-extraction, null prepositions and unusual pronouns and reflexives in Indonesian languages. I am interested in best practices in fieldwork methodology, collaborative research models and integrating native speakers into the research process.

For the most recent version of my CV, please contact me by email at:  jeoungh (at) sas.upenn.edu.