Jila Ghomeshi is a Persian-Canadian linguist. She earned her Ph.D. in 1996 from the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
, under the supervision of
Diane Massam
Diane Massam is a Canadian linguist. She earned her PhD in linguistics under Noam Chomsky in 1985 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She held a position in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Toronto from 1989 until he ...
. She is currently a professor of
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 ...
at the
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba. where she has been since 1998.
Ghomeshi received the National Achievement Award presented by the
Canadian Linguistic Association
The Canadian Linguistic Association (CLA; French: Association canadienne de linguistique, ACL) is the principal professional organization of linguists in Canada. Yearly meetings are held, usually at the end of May, in which members present scho ...
in 2014, in recognition of her contribution in educating the broader public about linguistic issues, such as
language discrimination
Linguistic discrimination (also called glottophobia, linguicism and languagism) is unfair treatment of people which is based on their use of language and the characteristics of their speech, including their first language, their accent, the p ...
and the distinction between
prescriptive
Linguistic prescription, or prescriptive grammar, is the establishment of rules defining preferred usage of language. These rules may address such linguistic aspects as spelling, pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax, and semantics. Sometimes infor ...
and
descriptive grammar
In the study of language, description or descriptive linguistics is the work of objectively analyzing and describing how language is actually used (or how it was used in the past) by a speech community. François & Ponsonnet (2013).
All acad ...
. This is addressed in her 2010 book, ''Grammar Matters: The Social Significance of How We Use Language''.
Ghomeshi also does research in theoretical
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) ...
, including the syntax of
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
, and the interfaces with
pragmatics
In linguistics and related fields, pragmatics is the study of how context contributes to meaning. The field of study evaluates how human language is utilized in social interactions, as well as the relationship between the interpreter and the int ...
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, ...
. She is co-editor of a book, with Ileana Paul and Martina Wiltschko, called ''Determiners: Universals and variation'' on cross-linguistic
universals
In metaphysics, a universal is what particular things have in common, namely characteristics or qualities. In other words, universals are repeatable or recurrent entities that can be instantiated or exemplified by many particular things. For exa ...
and variation in the syntax of
determiners
A determiner, also called determinative (abbreviated ), is a word, phrase, or affix that occurs together with a noun or noun phrase and generally serves to express the reference of that noun or noun phrase in the context. That is, a determiner m ...
.
Ghomeshi is the sister of
Jian Ghomeshi
Jian Ghomeshi (born June 9, 1967) is a British-born Persian-Canadian broadcaster, writer, musician, producer and former CBC personality. From 1990 to 2000, he was a vocalist and drummer in the Thornhill-based folk-pop band Moxy Früvous. In ...
* Canadian Linguistic Association National Achievement Award, 2014
Key publications
*Ghomeshi, J.and D. Massam. 1994. "Lexical/syntactic relations without projection," ''Linguistic Analysis.''
*
*Ghomeshi, J. 2001. "Control and thematic agreement," ''Canadian Journal of Linguistics.''
*Ghomeshi, J. 2003 "Plural marking, indefiniteness, and the noun phrase," ''Studia Linguistica.''
*
* Jila Ghomeshi, Ileana Paul and Martina Wiltschko (eds.) 2009. Determiners: Universals and variation. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
*Ghomeshi, Jila. ''Grammar Matters: The Social Significance of How We Use Language.'' Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring, 2010.