Hi, my name is Kanta Tateno, and I’m from Fukuoka, Japan. Before coming to UConn, I worked on topics in semantics and pragmatics, focusing on how focus affects interpretation. This project led me to think more broadly about meaning in context, and I am excited to continue exploring different perspectives within semantics, pragmatics, and discourse as a PhD student here.

Outside of academics, I enjoy watching sports (especially American football), programming and watching dramas. I look forward to meeting everyone and being part of the UConn community!

Hi! I’m Will Rimer [ˈɹɑɪ̯.mə], and I’m from the South West of England. I did my BA at Downing College, Cambridge, and my MLitt at Newcastle University – both degrees were in linguistics, and for both dissertations I worked on syntax. In particular, I investigated the crosslinguistic possibilities of null pronouns, using Ian Roberts’ formal-feature-based parameter hierarchies. Despite this focus, I’m always reluctant to be pigeonholed as ‘just’ a syntactician (or ‘just’ a linguist, for that matter). My other interests in linguistics include phonology, typology, historical linguistics, language evolution, linguistic complexity, and the indigenous languages of North America. Since coming to UConn, I have also developed an interest in semantics and logic, which tie in with two of my main academic interests outside linguistics, namely maths (with an s!) and philosophy.

When I’m not studying or working as a teaching assistant, I like working out and bodybuilding (running, calisthenics and lifting), playing (and designing!) board games and video games, cooking, reading, and spending as much time as I can with the people I love. I’m very easy to spot on campus: I’m the only person who wears a full suit and tie, and I’m always sporting a dashing moustache – do say hello if you see me out and about, because I love meeting new people 🙂

線路沿ひ　声や紅き葉　星に落つ

Beside the railbed
A weary voice – crimson leaf
Falls into the stars.

Salutations, I am Roman Pasquill, hailing from Schenectady on the Macquaa Kill. At Albany, where I spent my youth in university, I studied the art of linguistics and anthropology, before taking a tryst with the teaching of English as a second tongue. From there I found myself six years lost far-far east, in the land of the Ainu among the Japanese. The things that draw me to the puzzling patterns of language are the same that pull me to dance, to sing, to hear a bit of Pushkin in a baseball game. Perhaps this explains my particular fondness for the phonology of rhythm, pitch, and prosody – the music imbued in even the most mundane speech. Out in the world, you may find me at the piano, tuning a bike wheel, or casting a verse along old rails.

My name is Ryuta Ono. I was born and raised in Osaka, Japan, and spent much of my time in Kyoto, where I completed both my B.A. and M.A. at Doshisha University. My interests lie in syntax, phonology, and the interface between the two. I am especially interested in agreement, case marking, prosody, ellipsis, dialectal variation, and minimalist theory.

Outside of linguistics, I enjoy watching old movies, listening to music (especially AOR, Bossa Nova, country music, and classic Japanese pop), reading novels, drinking beer, taking photos, and traveling, sometimes all at once.

Hi, my name is Jaewon Oh, and I am from Korea. I received both my BA and MA degrees from the Department of Linguistics at Seoul National University. My research interests lie in formal semantics and the interface between semantics and pragmatics. I am interested in topics such as modality, questions, conditionals, implicature, scalarity, and focus-alternatives. What motivates me most as a linguist is intriguing analogies and puzzles in distributional patterns and the way meaning is enriched beyond the literal meaning. Besides my academic life, I am a big fan of Moomin and love crocheting (For me, it’s a kind of meditation, an outlet of creativity, and a satisfying way to feel productive).

Hi, my name is Eli Herbst. I am from Princeton, New Jersey. I got my BS in Mathematics, with a minor in Linguistics, from the University of Maryland in 2024. I discovered the field of linguistics when I took the introductory class at Maryland as an elective, and by the end of that semester I had already declared a Linguistics minor. I was fascinated to see that a lot of what I learned in mathematics could be applied to the study of language. I am very excited to continue pursuing linguistics at UConn!

My main research interest is first language acquisition, but I am also interested in semantics and syntax. I am currently working on a project inspecting the acquisition of relational nominals and their reciprocity.

Outside of academics, I enjoy games, puzzles, and sports.