Daniel Clayton

Postgraduate researcher in formal and functional linguistics

Current projects

What I'm doing in May, 2026:

• testing and fine-tuning my analysis of the derivation of object-initial languages in order to present this at conference in June;
• intensively learning Georgian before doing fieldwork on Abkhaz in Georgia in July;
• continuing to improve my Spanish, Portuguese, MSA, Anishinaabemowin and Guaraní.

Broad: Syntactic, morphological and semantic typology, formal and functional syntax, language description and documentation, language diversity, typological universals and parameters

Narrow: typologies of tense–aspect–mood–evidentiality (TAME), object-initial word orders (OVS and OSV), negation typology, differential object marking (DOM), agreement and parameter hierarchies

2025-2026     MA (by research) Linguistics, University of York

2023-2025     MSc Linguistics, University of York

2019-2022      PGDip Applied Linguistics, University of Birmingham

2005-2009      BA (Hons) Arabic, University of Manchester

At present, I am a Master's by Research student at the University of York, supervised by Dr. Imke Driemel. I work on constituent order with a focus on object-initial orders from both a formal and typological-functional approach.

Recently, I graduated with an MSc with distinction in Linguistics with a focus on formal syntax and typology, supervised by Professor George Tsoulas. Prior to this, I completed a PGDip in Applied Linguistics at the University of Birmingham and a BA in Arabic at the University of Manchester. My BA dissertation focused on variation in tense and aspect in a sample of the varieties of Arabic, supervised by Professor Yaron Matras.

In my current work, I adopt a deliberately hybrid approach that draws on both formal and functional-typological perspectives, treating them as complementary rather than competing frameworks.

More generally, my research orientation is empiricist and typologically informed, with a strong focus on indigenous and under-documented languages, particularly as they bear on questions of linguistic diversity, typological universals and parameters, and syntactic theory.

I am particularly drawn to Amerindian languages, especially languages of the Amazon and of North America and languages of the Caucasus, although I am generally motivated by opportunities for cross-linguistic study, particularly where the data and phenomena are rare or underrepresented in both theoretical and typological scholarship.

I’m an avid language learner. I’ve studied dozens of different languages from different regions of the world and language families. At the moment I’m mostly focusing on developing my Spanish and Portuguese. Additionally, I have recently been trying to learn (albeit it slowly) some Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe), Paraguayan Guaraní and Georgian. 

I am influenced by a number of syntacticians, typologists and field linguists, including Robert Dixon, Lyle Campbell, John Payne (University of Manchester), Marianne Mithun, Joseph Greenberg, Daniel Everett, Mark Baker, and Matthew Dryer.

I hope to pursue a PhD in language description and documentation with a focus on the functional morphosyntax of an indigenous language.

daniel.clayton@york.ac.uk