Ellen M. Kaisse (born 1949) is an American linguist. She is Professor Emerita of Linguistics at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

(USA), best known for her research on the interface between

phonology Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...

syntax In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituency) ...

and

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

Career

Kaisse earned her PhD in

Linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

in 1977 from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, with a dissertation entitled, ''Hiatus in Modern Greek''. In 1976 she took up a position at the

, where she stayed for 40 years, until her retirement. Over the course of her career, she worked on a wide range of issues in theoretical

, and particularly on the phonology of

Modern Greek Modern Greek (, , or , ''Kiní Neoellinikí Glóssa''), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the ...

, (Argentinian) Spanish and

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

. She has published on topics ranging from lexical phonology to the phonology-syntax interface to

vowel harmony In phonology, vowel harmony is an Assimilation (linguistics), assimilatory process in which the vowels of a given domain – typically a phonological word – have to be members of the same natural class (thus "in harmony"). Vowel harmony is t ...

to featural phonology.

Honors and distinctions

Kaisse served as President of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA) from January 6, 2013 – January 5, 2014. She was inducted as an LSA

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

in 2015. Kaisse has co-edited the journal ''

Phonology Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...

'' (

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

) with Colin Ewen (

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...

The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

) since 1988.

Key publications

* Kaisse, Ellen M. 1985. ''Connected speech: the interaction of syntax and phonology''. Academic Press. * Kaisse, Ellen M. and Arnold Zwicky (eds.). 1987. ''Phonology Yearbook 4'': Syntactic conditions on phonological rules. * Kaisse, Ellen M.1990. Toward a typology of postlexical rules. S. Inkelas and D. Zec, eds., ''The syntax-phonology connection.'' CSLI Publications, 123–138. * Kaisse, Ellen M. 1992. Can onsonantalspread? ''Language'' 68, 313–332. * Kaisse, Ellen M. 1993. Rule generalization and rule reordering in Lexical Phonology: a reconsideration, In S. Hargus and E. Kaisse, eds., ''Studies in Lexical Phonology''. Academic Press, 343–363. * Harris, James W. and Ellen M. Kaisse. 1999. Palatal vowels, glides and obstruents in Argentinian Spanish, ''Phonology'' 16, 117–190. * Kaisse, Ellen M. and April McMahon. 2011. Lexical phonology and the lexical syndrome. In M. van Oostendorp et al., eds., The Wiley-Blackwell ''Companion to phonology'', ch. 94. * Kaisse, Ellen M. 2011. The stricture features. In M. van Oostendorp et al., eds., The Wiley-Blackwell ''Companion to phonology'', ch. 13.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaisse, Ellen 1949 births Living people Fellows of the Linguistic Society of America Harvard University alumni Linguistic Society of America presidents Linguists from the United States University of Washington faculty Women linguists Linguistics journal editors Phonologists

Career

Honors and distinctions

Key publications

See also

References