I am a linguist who specializes in linguistic fieldwork, syntax, semantics, and the syntax-semantics interface. As a researcher, I am particularly interested in indigenous languages, as I believe that studying lesser-documented languages is of cultural importance and theoretical value. I currently work as a Linguistic Researcher for Motorola's Digital Inclusion Initiative which aims to localize indigenous languages onto Motorola smartphones. I also advise the Lenovo Machine Translation team on cross-linguistic typologies to enhance the performance of our LLM.

I hold a Master's Degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz. My thesis, Questions and indefinites in Sanitago Laxopa Zapotec, investigates the syntax-semantics interface of quexistentials in Santiago Laxopa Zapotec (Oto-Manguean). I have participated in various psycholinguistic research projects funded by NSF Grant BCS-2019804, Animacy and resumption at the border of cognition and grammar. I was a co-organizer of S-Circle and Nido de Lenguas through the Workshop on the Languages of Meso-America. I was also involved in the Zapotec Language Project, where I helped to transcribe, translate, and document Zapotec audio and text for 4 years, as well as help to create Zapotec language learning materials.

Contact: delaney [at] motorola [dot] com