Jennifer Wilson

I have a thing for languages...

For those of you who don't already know me, my name is Jennifer Wilson, and the day I heard my older sister singing Spanish Christmas carols, I was hooked on language. After studying Spanish in high school as well as Mandarin Chinese and Arabic in college, that initial fascination bloomed into an unending supply of questions as to how we learn such complex systems and what other languages are like. Thanks to that obsession love for language, I'm currently a fourth year Ph.D student at the University at Buffalo where I study linguistics. Other than that, I grew up in a two-stoplight town in Southern Virginia, and right now my immediate goal is to simply survive enough Buffalo winters to get my doctorate.

For those people curious about my academic life, you can view a copy of my current CV here. Additional information on my research can be found on the page devoted to my work with an endangered language of New Guinea called Yeri.

If you haven't met me and somehow find yourself incredibly curious about what kind of girl goes traipsing off to New Guinea to learn languages, here are some random language facts about me:

• I studied Mandarin Chinese for 3 years in college. My Chinese name is Wei4 Xiao3 Jie2, named so because my teacher considered me tiny, neat, and innocent.


• In 5th grade I thought I wanted to be a vet because I was obsessed with memorizing the scientific names of animals.


• I spent my 8th grade gym class trying to make up my own sign language. I wasn't a fan of softball so I would teach my friends signs and then make up more while I played as far back in the field as possible.


• I memorized the Russian alphabet in sixth grade band while other sections had playing tests. Incidentally, I used to write on the back of my band notebook to practice writing them correctly.


• My interest in Papuan languages was sparked in a seminar by Matthew Dryer, Typology of Papuan languages. I just recently completed a summer of fieldwork and am now studying Yeri, an endangered language of New Guinea.