Overview
Ryan Windhearn is primarily a diachronic syntactician whose broader research interests lie in the application of synchronic linguistic theory to diachronic problems and vice versa. His syntactic work deals mainly with the reconstruction of Indo-European clausal syntax, focusing on the use of innovations to provide clues to inherited syntactic structure. His morphophonological work explores how the operation of analogical processes can tease apart the division of labor between the mental lexicon and the modules of the grammar. In addition to his research, Dr. Windhearn is an avid conlanger; he helped create the Torfan and Skrull languages used in Marvel Entertainment's Captain Marvel and Secret Invasion.
Research Focus
- The diachronic/synchronic interface
- Syntactic theory
- Indo-European historical linguistics
