Lisa Christine Matthewson is Professor of

Linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

in the Department of Linguistics at

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

with specialties in

pragmatics In linguistics and the philosophy of language, pragmatics is the study of how Context (linguistics), context contributes to meaning. The field of study evaluates how human language is utilized in social interactions, as well as the relationship ...

and

semantics Semantics is the study of linguistic Meaning (philosophy), meaning. It examines what meaning is, how words get their meaning, and how the meaning of a complex expression depends on its parts. Part of this process involves the distinction betwee ...

. She has also done significant work with semantic fieldwork and in the preservation and oral history of

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

languages, especially St'át'imcets and

Gitksan Gitxsan (also spelled Gitksan and Kitksan) are an Indigenous people in Canada whose home territory comprises most of the area known as the Skeena Country in English (: means "people of" and : means "the River of Mist"). Gitksan territory encom ...

. Matthewson's appointment at UBC was notable because she was the first female full professor in the department's history.

Biography

Matthewson received her BA and MA from

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

. She received her PhD in linguistics from the

in 1996. In 1998, her PhD thesis, "Determiner Systems and Quantificational Strategies: Evidence from Salish," was awarded the

E. W. Beth Dissertation Prize The Association for Logic, Language and Information (FoLLI) each year awards the ''E. W. Beth Dissertation Prize'', named in honor of the Dutch mathematician Evert Willem Beth, to outstanding PhD theses in the fields of Logic, Language, and Informa ...

, given to outstanding PhD theses in the fields of Logic, Language, and Information. Matthewson's research explores how variation in semantics and pragmatics among languages can provide insight into the proposal of a Universal Grammar. Her paper
On the Methodology of Semantic Fieldwork
is one of her most widely cited papers. Matthewson co-edited the 2015 book ''Methodologies in Semantic Fieldwork'' from

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. Matthewson also co-developed the Totem Field Storyboards project, which seeks to gather linguistic information from speakers without direct interviews.

Key publications

Matthewson, Lisa 1999. On the Interpretation of Wide-Scope Indefinites. ''Natural Language Semantics'' 7:79-134. Matthewson, Lisa 2001. Quantification and the Nature of Cross-Linguistic Variation.''Natural Language Semantics'' 9:145-189. Matthewson, Lisa 2004. On the Methodology of Semantic Fieldwork. ''International Journal of American Linguistics'' 70:369-415. Schaeffer, Jeannette and Lisa Matthewson 2005. Grammar and Pragmatics in the Acquisition of Article Systems. ''Natural Language and Linguistic Theory'' 23:53-101. Matthewson, Lisa 2006. Temporal Semantics in a Supposedly Tenseless Language.''Linguistics and Philosophy'' 29:673-713. Matthewson, Lisa, Hotze Rullmann and Henry Davis 2007. Evidentials as Epistemic Modals: Evidence from St’at’imcets. ''The Linguistic Variation Yearbook'' 7. von Fintel, Kai and Lisa Matthewson 2008. Universals in Semantics. ''The Linguistic Review'' 25(1-2):139-201. Rullmann, Hotze, Lisa Matthewson and Henry Davis 2008. Modals as Distributive Indefinites. ''Natural Language Semantics'' 16:317-357. Bochnak, Ryan and Lisa Matthewson (eds.) 2015. ''Methodologies in Semantic Fieldwork.''Oxford: Oxford University Press. Burton, Lisa and Strang Burton 2015. Targeted Construction Storyboards in Semantic Fieldwork. In R. Bochnak and L. Matthewson (eds.), ''Methodologies in Semantic Fieldwork.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 135–156.

References

External links

Lisa Matthewson's page
on the UBC website
Featured Linguist
on the LinguistList
Interview on Radio New Zealand
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthewson, Lisa Living people Canadian women linguists Year of birth missing (living people) Linguists from New Zealand University of British Columbia alumni 21st-century linguists Academic staff of the University of British Columbia Canadian women academics Linguists of Salishan languages