My Research
Modality. I'm interested in the language we use to talk out possibilities. Specifically, I'm interested in the relationship between modal and causative language.
My research is interdisciplinary. I explore:
the formal tools we have to model modal meaning (formal semantics)
the experimental tools we can use to understand the processing of modality (psycholinguistics) and
children's use of modal language that teaches us about the components of modality (acquisition).
Bridging cognitive psychology and formal semantics.
A principal goal of my research is to show how particularly apt psycholinguistic methodology is for answering questions about the formal semantics of modal language.
You can find my CV here:
(last update: July 23, 2024)
ah_cv 7:24:24.pdfDissertation:
What Modality Can Mean
My dissertation investigates the relationship between modal and causal language at different places along the syntactic spine using methodology from both formal semantics and psycholinguistics.
The project is co-supervised by Ana Arregui and Shota Momma.
I make 2 assumptions:
Truth conditions reflect the mechanisms of language processing
Causal expressions are modal
The project consists of 3 case studies:
Causative expressions e.g., made, forced, allowed
Proximate future expressions e.g., be about to, be going to
Epistemic modals and because clauses
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My dissertation is partially funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (LING-DDRI) awarded to me and S. Momma.
NSF BCS-2416240: Priming modal representations in causatives and (other) modals
Here's a list of publications:
To appear
Hill, A. What about about to? A proposal for proximate future reference.
In Proceedings of the Forty-First West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL 41). [link]
Lee, C. Y. and Hill, A. Children's acquisition of deontic modals: Do they know where necessity can come from?
In Proceedings of the Forty-Ninth Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD 49).
2024
Hill, A. and Momma, S. Priming abstract modal representations in modals with causatives.
In Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (CogSci2024). [link]
Current projects:
a semantics of proximate futures
priming modal meanings in causatives and modals
a semantics for epistemic modals and because clauses
a semantics for causatives
children's acquisition of modals (joint-work with Maggie Chui Yi Lee @UConn)
Here's a list of selected presentations (*if invited):
A. Hill (joint work with S. Momma), Priming abstract modal representations in modals with causatives slides poster
Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (CogSci2024 @ Rotterdam, The Netherlands) | July 2024
37th Annual Conference on Human Sentence Processing (HSP37 @ University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) | May 2024
Linguistic Evidence (LE2024 @ University of Potsdam) | February 2024
A. Hill (joint work with C. Y. Lee), Children's acquisition of modals and causatives
37th Annual Conference on Human Sentence Processing (HSP37 @ University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) | May 2024
A. Hill, What about about to? A proposal for proximate future reference poster abstract
West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL41 @ USC, Santa Cruz) | May 2023
Generative Linguistics in the Old World (GLOW46 @ University of Vienna, University of Graz) | April 2023
* A. Hill, Two peas in a causal modal pod: Testing the relationship between modals and causatives slides
Causation & Modality in Logic & Language Workshop (University of Amsterdam, ILLC) | May 2023
Here's a list of courses I've taught:
Undergraduate Courses:
Writing for Linguistics (TA) - Spring 2024 guest lecture: A linguistic take on scientific writing
Prof. Brian Dillon, UMass Amherst
Introduction to Formal Semantics (TA) - Fall 2023 LaTex cheat sheet for linguists
Prof. Ana Arregui, UMass Amherst
Language and Cognition (TA) - Spring 2023 guest lecture
Prof. Shota Momma, UMass Amherst
Language Processing and the Brain (TA) - Fall 2022 guest lecture
Prof. Shota Momma, UMass Amherst
Introduction to Linguistic Theory (TA) - Spring 2022 section site
Prof. Kyle Johnson, UMass Amherst
Introduction to Linguistics (TA) - Fall 2021
Prof. Magda Oiry, UMass Amherst