Professor Ruth Kempson

The current focus of my research is the development of Dynamic Syntax, a grammar formalism which directly reflects the dynamics of how language is processed in context. Unlike most grammar formalisms, the system is intrinsically dynamic, directly reflecting the time-linear nature of language use. This framework was developed with Wilfried Meyer-Viol, as part of an EPSRC-funded project with Dov Gabbay. It has most recently been supported by the Leverhulme Trust and the AHRB, and now involves a network of institutions (SOAS, KCL and Edinburgh).
 
Amongst my current research interests are the development of syntactic explanations within Dynamic Syntax terms, and the application of Dynamic Syntax to the modelling of dialogue and diachronic syntax.
 
I currently head a joint project with Wilfried Meyer-Viol on The Dynamics of Conversational Dialogue (DynDial) which is run in collaboration with Patrick Healey of Queen Mary College London. For all downloadable papers and further details of this project see the DS group website and the DynDial project webpage.
 
Selected Publications