Theodore Fernald

Professor

Linguistics

Contact

1. Email:tfernal1@swarthmore.edu
2. Phone: (610) 328-8437
3. Dan and Sidney West House 301S

I am a semanticist with interests in the distinction between individual- and stage-level predicates, negative polarity items, generic sentences, definite and indefinite descriptions, and all things having to do with Navajo syntax and semantics.

Current Research

• Online Navajo lexicon and grammar materials with example sentences and audio recordings: 
  • Postposition Lexicon
  • Adverb Lexicon
  • The Grammar of Questions
  • Navajo Verb Modes
  • Navajo Conjunctions and related expressions

Teaching

• Fall 2023
  • LING 035 Indigenous Languages of the Americas
  • NAV 620 Advanced Navajo Linguistics at Navajo Technical University
• Spring 2024
  • LING 030 Semantics
  • LING 061 Structure of Navajo

Navajo Linguistics Workshops

• I am fortunate to teach in the summer workshops run by the Navajo Language Academy. Linguists, language teachers, and students join together for three weeks of classes and collaborative research every summer at a location on or near the Navajo reservation.