Encountering difficulties in your PhD does not mean you’re doing something wrong, but it’s simply part of the journey.
1. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your research interests?
I am a third-year PhD student at the University of Basel, where I have previously completed my MA in Language and Communication. In my PhD project, I am working on first language acquisition from a construction grammar perspective using primarily corpus-based methods. In particular, I am interested in the representation and development of syntactic constructions as constructional networks and of their connection to other constructions, and how this interconnection of different syntactic patterns shapes language development. Ultimately, the aim of this project is to further our understanding of fundamental aspects of Construction Grammar theory concerning our representation of syntax.
Beyond the topics of my research project, I am also highly interested the development of Large Language Models and in the evolution of language and social cognition in humans and other species.
2. What is your favorite memory from the MEDAL summer schools?
There are three things that immediately come to mind: Simon Kirby’s lecture on statistical patterns in human language and whale song, getting to see the Baby Lab at the MPI in Nijmegen after having read so much of the research coming out of it, and the hike through the beautiful nature surrounding Tartu in the first summer school.
3. What advice would you give to someone just starting out in research?
Don’t let yourself be discouraged by setbacks! Figuring out where my project is going was particularly challenging for me (and still is sometimes), but talking to peers in settings like the MEDAL Summer Schools has helped me greatly to realize that I am not alone in my struggles and that encountering difficulties in your PhD does not mean you’re doing something wrong, but it’s simply part of the journey.
4. Which part of your research so far are you most proud of?
I am particularly proud to have published my first article on the development of flexibility and abstraction in the acquisition of the ditransitive construction. Having my first publication out really felt like a milestone!
