Jamilläh Rodriguez joins Department of Linguistics

Jamilläh Rodriguez is joining the Department of Linguistics as a Post-doctoral Research Associate through the Carolina Postdoctoral Program for Faculty Diversity. Her dissertation, titled “The syntax and phonology of grammatical tone in Copala Triqui”, looked at the interface of tone and syntax in an indigenous language of Mexico and included data from her own fieldwork with diaspora communities in New York and Oaxaca City. She will obtain her Ph.D. in August 2021 from the State University of New York at Albany and earned her M.A. and B.A. in Linguistics from Stony Brook University. Jamilläh will be teaching Ling 401 Language and Computers in the Spring 2022 semester.

Her research interests include computational and experimental phonology, the syntax-phonology interface, language documentation, and diaspora linguistics. Research outside of her dissertation includes work on Brazilian Portuguese, Ch’ol, and Malawian CiTonga. She is particularly interested in interdisciplinary work and employing computational and quantitative methodologies in understudied and endangered languages. Jamilläh aims to include members of the communities on whose language she works on as active participants and researchers in her work, and values collaboration.

Outside of academia, Jamilläh enjoys painting, swimming, playing tabletop games with her husband, and spending time with her newborn son.