I graduated from the Department of Linguistics at the University of Washington in Seattle in 1989, and joined the University of Arizona in 1990. Currently, I am a Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the same university. I was the department head in 2011-2016, and the director of the graduate program between 2004-2011 in this department. I am affiliated with the Cognitive Science Program, the Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Second Language Acquisition and Teaching (SLAT), the joint Program in Linguistics and Anthropology, the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies (MENAS), and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies.
My research is focused on various syntactic topics within Chomskyan theoretical framework, specifically the Minimalist Program. I have worked extensively on word order and scrambling, the interaction of syntax and discourse, the syntax, semantics and morphology of complex predicate constructions, raising and control, and complex DPs, among other topics. My current research includes the investigation of the syntax-morphology and syntax-semantics interface of various types of ellipsis constructions, passive formation, clitic positioning, and Ezafe construction.
I have published journal articles, book chapters, and one book length monograph. I have also edited/co-edited six books, a special issue on complex predicates for the journal Lingua, and another one on parameters for the journal Linguistic Analysis.
I am currently preparing a volume on the syntax, morphology and phonology of five Iranian languages (Balochi, Ossetian, Pashto, Persian and Sorani-Kurdish), a project funded by National Science Foundation.
My non-linguistics interests include reading modern and classical Persian poetry, listening to music (especially western classical music), hiking, exercising, traveling, and pampering my little puppy Pambe. I also spent five years as the co-president of the Iranian Cultural Association of Southern Arizona (I-CASA), helping to maintain and promote various aspects of the Iranian culture.
Homepage image courtesy of Shahrokh Sdi.