My research interests revolve around the vitality of the Indigenous languages of North America, where I primarily focus on language acquisition, documentation and description, and revitalization.

Due to the legacy of colonialism, nearly all such languages are rapidly losing mother-tongue speakers, and very few are still acquired as a first language by children in a traditional manner. Furthermore, many Indigenous communities have voiced the need for better linguistic resources to help support child language development and pass their languages on to new generations of speakers—through efforts such as immersion, master/mentor-apprentice, and adult language education programs. Many Indigenous languages of North America are also well known for having particular linguistic characteristics, yet the acquisition of such characteristics is critically under-studied.

My research program is dedicated to understanding how speakers use these languages, how young children and learners acquire them, and how best to use this knowledge to inform science and community-grounded language efforts.

Much of my work has centered on Iiyiyiuyimuwin (a.k.a., East Cree), an Algonquian language spoken in Eeyou Istchee territory in Northern Québec, Canada. For example, my dissertation focuses on the first language acquisition of nominal inflection in Northern East Cree by three children between the ages of two and six. I am also an active member of the research team at the Chisasibi Child Language Acquisition Study (CCLAS), led by Dr. Julie Brittain at Memorial University.

See my CV for more details on my research activity, and please contact me if you’d like to know more.