Tyler Peterson
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Ross-Blakley Hall (RBHL) Room 235 1102 S. McAllister Avenue Tempe, AZ 85287
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Mail code: 1401Campus: Tempe
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Tyler Peterson's personal and professional roots are in the Pacific northwest of Canada. He did his dissertation with Lisa Matthewson on the Gitksan language (Tsimshianic) at the University of British Columbia. He is an assistant professor in the Department of English at Arizona State University. Although his professional home is in an English department, his work focuses on the documentation, revitalization, and maintenance of endangered Indigenous languages, primarily in the Americas and Oceania. He has a special interest in exploring how everyday technology and contemporary media can be used as a tool for language documentation and engaging the language learner, as well as developing teaching resources in these areas. His research as a linguist involves the theoretical and empirical approaches to the study of meaning (semantics and pragmatics). Previous to my position at ASU, he was visiting lecturer at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. In this part of the world, he has a number of currently active language documentation and research projects that brings his interests together. One of these projects is on the Cook Islands Māori, which includes a component dedicated to language revitalization, maintenance and literacy.
Being situated in Arizona, he has experience working with the Indigenous communities and languages in the U.S. Southwest. He was the interim program coordinator of the Native American Masters Program (NAMA). NAMA is a specialized master's of arts degree that is oriented towards training Indigenous language educators and activists in linguistics, language maintenance, revitalization and policy. In addition to his various research projects in linguistics, he is also active in outreach, teaching and developing curricula for the American Indian Language Development Institute (AILDI), an independent program within the College of Education at the University of Arizona. AILDI is one of the longest continually running organizations dedicated to providing critical training to Indigenous language educators and community activists.
- PhD. Linguistics, University of British Columbia 2010. Dissertation: “Epistemic Modality and Evidentiality in Gitksan at the Semantics-Pragmatics Interface.”
- B.Mus. Music theory; Minor: Russian Literature, University of British Columbia 1999
Books and edited volumes
To appear in 2025. The Language of Surprise: Linguistic and Psychological Perspectives on Mirativity. Cambridge University Press
2010. Evidence from Evidentials. T. Peterson & U. Sauerland (eds), Vancouver: University of British Columbia Working Papers in Linguistics (UBCWPL), Volume 28.
2005. ICSNL XL: Proceedings of the 40th Int’l. Conference on Salish and Neighbouring Languages, J.C. Brown., M. Kiyota & T. Peterson (eds), Vancouver: UBCWPL
2004. ICSNL XXXIX: Proceedings of the 39th Int’l. Conference on Salish and Neighbouring Languages, J.C. Brown & T. Peterson (eds), Vancouver: UBCWPL
Articles and chapters (peer reviewed)
Peterson, Tyler. 2023. “Evidentiality” in C. Jany, M. Mithun, and K. Rice (eds.) Handbook of Languages and Linguistics of North America (World of Linguistics series) De Gruyter.
Barragan, Luis, Ron Carlos, Isabella Dockerty, Saki Gejo, Christina Lopez, Tyler Peterson, Sierra Ward, and Kelly Washington. 2023. “A Sketch of Epistemic Modality and Evidentiality in Piipaash” in Proceedings from the 25th Workshop on American Indigenous Languages, J. Douglas-Tavani and G. Belmar Viernes (eds). Santa Barbara: SBPL
Peterson, Tyler, and Ofelia Zepeda. 2022. “Towards an Indigenously-informed Model for Assessing the Vitality of Native American Languages: a Southern Arizona Pilot Project.” Special issue of Language Documentation & Conservation 27, pp. 136-154. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
Peterson, T. 2020. "Mirativity in Morphology" in Oxford Encyclopedia of Morphology, Oxford: OUP
Celle, A., L. Lansari, A. Jugnet, T. Peterson. 2019. “Interrogatives in surprise contexts in English.” In A. Celle and N. Depraz (eds.) Consciousness and Emotion. Benjamins. pp. 117-138.
Pérez-Leroux, A., T. Peterson, A. Castilla, S. Béjar, D. Massam, and Yves Roberge. 2018. “The Acquisition of Recursive Modification in NPs” Language 94(2)
Peterson, T. 2018. “Epistemic Modality and Evidentiality in Gitksan” in Handbook of Evidentiality. A. Aikhenvald (ed.), Oxford: OUP. pp.463-489
Peterson, T. 2018. “On the Status of Applicatives in Tsimshianic” in Matthewson, Lisa, Erin Guntly and Michael Rochemont (eds.) Wa7 xweysás i nqwal'utteníha i ucwalmícwa: He loves the people's languages. Essays in honour of Henry Davis. Vancouver, BC: UBC Occasional Papers in Linguistics vol. 6.
Peterson T. 2017. “Problematizing Mirativity” Review of Cognitive Linguistics 15(2), 312--342 (special volume on surprise and mirativity)
Peterson, T. 2017. “Alignments Across Tsimshianic” in Handbook of Ergativity. D. Massam, J. Coon, and L. Travis (eds), Oxford: OUP. pp.1007-1034.
Pérez-Leroux, A., A. Castilla-Earls, S. Béjar, D. Massam, and T. Peterson. 2017. “Strong continuity and children's development of DP recursion” in Recursion across Domains. In T. Roeper, A. Nevins, L. Amaral, M. Maia (eds), Cambridge: CUP
Brown J., T. Peterson, K. Craig. 2016. “Belief, Evidence, and Interactional Meaning in Urama” Oceanic Linguistics. 55(2), 431-448
Peterson, T. 2016. “Mirativity as Surprise: Evidentiality, Information, and Deixis” Journal of Psycholinguistic Research. 45:1327--1357; doi: 10.1007/s10936-015-9408-9
Peterson T. 2015. “The Semantics of Grammatical Evidentiality and the Unprepared Mind” Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 13(2), 314-352. doi 10.1075/rcl.13.2.03pet [reprinted in Benjamins Current Topics (2017) vol. 92, pp.51-89]
Peterson, T. 2012. Book review: About the Speaker: Towards a Syntax of Indexicality. Alessandra Giorgi. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2010); 2012. Lingua 122(8)
Brown J. and T. Peterson. 2007. “Grammaticalization And Strategies In Resolving Subject Marking Paradoxes: the Case of Tsimshianic” in Studies In Natural Language And Linguistic Theory. Vol. 72, de Hoop, Helen; de Swart, Peter (eds), Dordrecht: Springer pp. 223-245 [alphabetical co-authors]
Peterson, T. and G. Picanço. 2007. “Dynamic Correspondences: An Object-Oriented Approach to Tracking Sound Reconstructions” in Proceedings of the 9th Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics – Special Interest Group in Computational Morphology and Phonology, J. Nerbonne, T. M. Ellison and G. Kondrak (eds). ACL. pp. 126-133 oai:CiteSeerX.psu:10.1.1.115.9738 (peer reviewed proceedings)
Peterson, T. 2006. “Issues of Morphological Ergativity in the Tsimshian Languages: Determiners, Agreement and the Reconstruction of Case” in Case, Valency and Transitivity (Studies in Language Companion Series, 77). L. Kulikov, A. Malchukov, and P. de Swart (eds), Amsterdam: John Benjamins pp. 65-90. DOI: 10.1075/slcs.77.06pet
Papers in conference proceedings (peer reviewed by abstract)
2015. “Structural Complexity and the Acquisition of Recursive Locative PPs” in Proceedings of the 45th Meeting of the North East Linguistic Society [first co-author; with A.T. Pérez-Leroux, A. Castilla-Earls, D. Massam, and S. Béjar]
2012a. “Some Remarks on the Morphosemantics of Multiple Causative Sequences” in Papers from the 32nd Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, Berkeley: Berkeley Linguistics Society.
2012b. “The Role of the Ordering Source in Gitksan Epistemic Modals” in Proceedings of Semantics of Under-Represented Languages in the Americas (SULA 6), Amherst: GLSA.
2010. “Perfective aspect and actuality entailments: a cross-linguistic approach” in Proceedings of the Semantics of Under-represented Languages in the Americas (SULA 5), Amherst, Mass: GLSA Publications. [alphabetical co-authors Henry Davis, Meagan Louie, Lisa Matthewson, Ileana Paul, Amelia Reis Silva].
2010. “Introduction: Evidence from Evidentials” in Evidence from Evidentials. T. Peterson and U. Sauerland (eds), Vancouver: UBCWPL. [alphabetical co-authors: R.M. Déchaine, U. Sauerland]
2010. “On the Semantics of Conjectural Questions” in Evidence from Evidentials. T. Peterson and U. Sauerland (eds), Vancouver: UBCWPL. [alphabetical co-authors: P. Littell, L. Matthewson]
2010. “Examining the Mirative and Non-literal Uses of Evidentials” in Evidence from Evidentials. T. Peterson and U. Sauerland (eds), Vancouver: UBCWPL (paper presented at GLOW 31)
2004a. “The (Re)organization of Semantic Roles in Tsimshian Connectives” in ICSNL XXXIX: Proceedings of the 39th International Conference on Salish and Neighbouring Languages, J.C. Brown & T. Peterson (eds), Van: UBCWPL pp. 323-340
2008. “Pragmatic Blocking in Gitksan Evidential Expressions” in Proceedings of the 38th Meeting of the North East Linguistic Society, A. Schardl, M. Walkow, M. Abdurrahman (eds), Amherst, Mass: GLSA Publications
2007a. “Minimality and Syllabification in Kabardian” in Papers from the 39th Meeting of the Chicago Linguistics Society, J. Cihlar, A. Franklin, and D. Kaiser (eds), Chicago: University of Chicago pp. 215-235
2007b. “Analytical Database Design: Approaches in the Mapping between Cognate and Semantic Sets” in Proceedings of the Seventh International Workshop on Computational Semantics IWCS-7, J. Goertzen, E. Thijsse, H. Bunt, A. Schiffrin (eds). Tilburg: Tilburg University Dept. of Communication and Information Sciences. pp. 359-361
2004b. “Theoretical issues in the representation of the glottal stop in Blackfoot” in Proceedings from the 7th Workshop on American Indigenous Languages, Vol. 15, L. Harper and C. Jany (eds). Santa Barbara: SBPL pp. 106-121
“Tamayame Language Resources Project (Santa Ana Keres)”
2024-2025: National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship
Keresan is an isolate family of Native American languages that are spoken in several pueblo communities in central New Mexico. Tamayame (kee) is the name of the Keres language spoken in the Pueblo of Santa Ana, the smallest of the seven Keresan pueblos by population. Although there are no official numbers, it is estimated that there are fewer than 75 people that still speak Tamayame fluently, most of whom are in their 60s and older. Other than a sketch grammar and word list (Davis 1964), there is no contemporary linguistic documentation of Tamayame. Even though it is possible to hear people speak Tamayame in ceremony, it is experiencing a steady and rapid decline in use within the community. Many community-driven reclamation efforts are actively underway to reverse this familiar trend of language loss, but these efforts lack the support that would be provided by a base of recorded, analyzed, and accessible Tamayame language. Taken together, these facts point to the need for a set of foundational linguistic resources for Tamayame. This project responds to this need by creating for Tamayame (1) a dictionary, (2) a description of the core grammar, and (3) a set of transcribed and analyzed texts. These resources will be integrated to form a linguistic infrastructure that we call the Tamayama Language Resources Project (TLRP).
“CoLang 2024: Institute for Collaborative Language Research”
2023-2024: National Science Foundation: Dynamic Language Infrastructure - Documenting Endangered Languages
CoLang is an international institute which creates multi-dimensional networks and provides quality training for anyone interested in language work, including language activists, teachers, linguists, and students from all types of communities. CoLang workshops provide hands-on skills in language reclamation, documentation, and related fields as practiced in collaborative, community-based contexts. Arizona State University (ASU) and the O’odham-Piipaash Language Program (OPLP) of the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC), one of several federally recognized tribes in the greater Phoenix area, have joined forces to cohost CoLang 2024. Located in the northern Sonoran desert - on the world's unique desert biospheres - and adjacent to the city of Phoenix, ASU and SRPMIC are close neighbors. the theme for CoLang 2024 is “Creating Partnerships, Honoring Neighbors, Building Capacity”. To our knowledge, this will be the first co-equal partnership, from day one, between a university and tribal organization in the conceiving, planning, funding, and hosting of an Institute. Indeed, our theme can be seen as a step in the evolution of CoLang, whereby educators, and indigenous community language scholars and activists meet and build their capacities in a setting that was shaped by a truly collaborative vision between a traditional institution of higher learning and a tribal-run language program - one that is facing many of the familiar challenges in documenting and revitalizing their languages that indigenous language communities around the world face. Both organizations bring unique resources, scholars, expertise, and opportunities to the Institute that we believe will make for a special learning experience. An important aspiration of CoLang 2024 is to serve as a model for how such a co-equal enterprise can lead to a productive and sustainable partnership between neighbors, and how institutions such as ASU can honor and serve their neighbors in a meaningful way.
"Preserving And Revitalizing The Abaa'ja (Yavapai) Language in the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation"
2022-25: Administration for Native Americans; Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation
The overall goal of this 36 month Project is to preserve and revitalize the seriously threatened Abaa’ja (Yavapai) language in the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation. This project will support this goal by conducting training workshops on acquiring key legacy language resources, building a Yavapai dictionary and developing curriculum materials. Follow-up project workshops and meetings will produce actionable plans for building a Yavapai dictionary and comprehensive curriculum. In addition, student linguists will identify and assist the FMYN in acquiring legacy resources by the end of the Project. The Project will also build the technology infrastructure needed to support sustainable language documentation, maintenance and revitalization efforts, through the acquisition of recording (audio and video) equipment for the purposes of recording the remaining Yavapai speakers within the Nation. Taken together, these tasks, plans and equipment represent the establishment of an Abaa’ja Language Lab – the permanent home for FMYN Abaa’ja language documentation, learning, and revitalization efforts.
Assessing and Documenting the Vitality of Native American Languages
2016-19: Documenting Endangered Languages (NSF-NEH DEL BCS # 1601738)
This pilot project responds to the fact that there is not a current systematic assessment of the Native American languages of the United States. As such, the initial step is to create a model for grass-roots assessment that can be shared with tribal communities throughout the U.S. This project departs from traditional language documentation research in that it will lead to the documentation of language status, aiming to meet a national need. This aim will be achieved in collaboration with Native American community-based researchers in Arizona, Montana, and New Mexico. Working together with specialists in qualitative and quantitative data analysis and processing, a model of language vitality assessment will be developed and piloted creating a cohort of community researchers versed in research protocol, assessment design and implementation, data collection and management, data storage and use of assessment data for grant-writing. In doing this we broaden participation and empower the community language practitioner. To give you an idea of some of the (preliminary) results this project has yielded, in January 2019 we held a training workshop at the Tohono O'odham Community College in Sells, Arizona, where our project collaborators took on the role of training the workshop participants in survey design, using the methods and materials we developed as part of our project.
Courses
2025 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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ENG 414 | Studies in Linguistics |
ENG 110 | Approaching Big Problems |
2024 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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LIN 513 | Semantics |
ENG 403 | Semantics |
LIN 510 | Linguistics |
2024 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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LIN 516 | Pragmatics/Discourse Analysis |
ENG 110 | Approaching Big Problems |
LIN 610 | Advanced Studies Linguistics |
2023 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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LIN 513 | Semantics |
ENG 403 | Semantics |
2023 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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ENG 213 | Intro to the Study of Language |
LIN 510 | Linguistics |
2022 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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LIN 513 | Semantics |
ENG 403 | Semantics |
ENG 110 | Approaching Big Problems |
ENG 110 | Approaching Big Problems |
2022 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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ENG 213 | Intro to the Study of Language |
HUL 598 | Special Topics |
HUL 494 | Special Topics |
SLC 494 | Special Topics |
SLC 598 | Special Topics |
AIS 598 | Special Topics |
AIS 494 | Special Topics |
LIN 598 | Special Topics |
ENG 494 | Special Topics |
2021 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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ENG 414 | Studies in Linguistics |
LIN 513 | Semantics |
ENG 403 | Semantics |
2021 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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ENG 213 | Intro to the Study of Language |
LIN 510 | Linguistics |
2020 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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ENG 213 | Intro to the Study of Language |
ENG 403 | Semantics |
LIN 513 | Semantics |
2019 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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ENG 403 | Semantics |
LIN 513 | Semantics |
LIA 194 | Special Topics |
ENG 414 | Studies in Linguistics |
Nominated in 2023 and 2024. Humanities Public Scholar Award, Arizona Humanities
2024-2025. National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for the project “The Tamayame Language Resources Project”
2024. Centennial Professorship Award, ASU
2023–2024. Humanities Institute Fellow, ASU
2013–2015. Marie-Curie Inicoming Fellowship, University of Konstanz, Germany
2005–2008. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Doctoral Fellowship