Anna Kinsella

(formerly Anna Parker)

Language Evolution and Computation Research Unit
Linguistics and English Language
School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences
University of Edinburgh
Room 1.12, Dugald Stewart Building
3 Charles Street
Edinburgh EH8 9AD
Scotland
Office phone: +44 131 650 3960
Email: anna dot kinsella at ed dot ac dot uk

Research

I am a British Academy fellow in Linguistics, interested in the evolution of human language. More specifically, I am interested in the evolutionary plausibility of linguistic theory. How reasonable are current linguistic theories when considered in the light of evolutionary theory?

My PhD thesis looks at the following areas:

The Evolution of Syntax
Language as an Optimal System
Perfection in the Minimalist Program
Evolvable Features of Language
Recursion as a Feature of Language

In my current research I am exploring the evolutionary plausibility of alternative syntactic theories including Simpler Syntax and theories based within the framework of Construction Grammar.

Outputs

My PhD thesis, 'Evolution as a Constraint on Theories of Syntax: The Case against Minimalism' can be downloaded here (.pdf).

Publications

Anna R. Parker (2006) Evolving the narrow language faculty: was recursion the pivotal step? in A. Cangelosi, A. D. M. Smith and K. Smith (eds.) The Evolution of Language: Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on the Evolution of Language, World Scientific Press, pp.239-246.
Anna R. Parker (2007) review of Philip Lieberman's Toward an Evolutionary Biology of Language, Quarterly Review of Biology 82(2): 178.
D. Robert Ladd, Dan Dediu and Anna R. Kinsella (2008) Languages and genes: reflections on biolinguistics and the nature-nurture question, Biolinguistics 2(1): 114-126.

Teaching

In semester 1 2007-2008, I will be teaching L2 Syntax.

Background

Before coming to Edinburgh in 2002, I spent most of my life in my native Dublin. There, I attended University College Dublin, where I completed my B.A. International in Linguistics and German in 1997. I then went on to study for an M.Litt. in the Department of Linguistics. My thesis, entitled 'Parasitic Gaps in the Germanic Languages' is available here in word and .pdf format. I took a brief sojourn to the Computer Science Department, completing a H.Dip. in Computer Science in 2000. After working in the I.T. industry in Dublin and Toronto, I came to Edinburgh.

Interests

When I'm not working, I like to eat out, go to the cinema, and practice ballroom dancing.

Links

The Irish Times
Weather for Edinburgh