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Lab & students

The Syntax Lab at McMaster University, led by Ivona Kučerová: current PhD and MSc students, postdoctoral fellows, alumni, and information for prospective graduate students in theoretical and experimental syntax and Indigenous language revitalization.

The Syntax Lab

I lead the Syntax Lab at McMaster University (L.R. Wilson Hall 4015), part of the Centre for Advanced Research in Experimental and Applied Linguistics (ARiEAL). The lab studies the combinatorial structure of human language from a general-cognition perspective: which structural properties are universal, which are language-specific, and how syntactic structure is mapped onto meaning. We combine formal theoretical analysis, fieldwork on typologically diverse and understudied languages (including Indigenous languages of Canada), and experimental methods. The lab is equipped for EEG and eye-tracking research (Canada Foundation for Innovation John R. Evans Leaders Fund and Ontario Research Fund, 2019–2020; operational since 2022).

Prospective students and postdocs

I accept new MSc and PhD students in McMaster’s Cognitive Science of Language graduate program, and I host postdoctoral fellows and visiting researchers through ARiEAL, including its International Visiting Researcher Program for PhD candidates and early-career scholars from regions underrepresented in Western academia. Students in the lab work on theoretical syntax and the syntax–semantics interface, experimental syntax (EEG, eye-tracking, self-paced reading), comparative and Slavic syntax, and Indigenous language revitalization. If you are interested, please email me (kucerov [at] mcmaster.ca) with a short description of your research interests and a CV. Undergraduate students at McMaster can join the lab through honours theses (LING 4Y06), research practica (LING 3RP3), independent studies and summer research awards.

Current members

Postdoctoral fellows

  • Dr. Aya Zarka (2024–2026) — theoretical and experimental syntax; differential object marking; Levantine Arabic

PhD students

  • Ethan Stollar (2025–) — experimental syntax; specificational pseudoclefts
  • Roronhiakehte Deer (2024–) — Indigenous language revitalization; Cayuga (Gayogo̱hó:nǫˀ)
  • Audrey Ho (2024–) — theoretical and experimental syntax; Cantonese and other Chinese languages
  • Meagan Nuculaj (2023–) — experimental syntax; EEG reflexes of agreement; gender markedness
  • Kurtis Commanda (2023–) — Indigenous language revitalization; Kanien’kéha verbal agreement; Indigenous governance

MSc students

  • Paloma Van Vliet (2025–2027) — syntax; the syntax of datives
  • Emmanuel Gil (2025–2027) — syntax; infinitival subjects in varieties of Spanish
  • Radin Sedghi-Alherd (2025–2027) — syntax; Persian modals

Alumni

PhD

  • Aya Zarka (PhD 2024) — Differential Object Marking in Levantine Arabic; cotutelle with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, co-supervised with Tova Rapoport
  • Frederico Prado (PhD 2023) — Cross-clausal A-movement in Brazilian Portuguese
  • Cassandra Chapman (PhD 2018) — Processing of LF structure
  • Jitka Bartošová (PhD 2017) — Topics in copular clauses

Postdoctoral fellows and research associates

  • Dr. Fareeha Rana (2024–2025) — neurolinguistics and core research platform development; co-supervised with Maxime Dagenais
  • Dr. Alina Dochu (2022–2025) — language policies for Indigenous languages; Scholars at Risk USA Network Ukraine Fellowship
  • Dr. Cassandra Chapman (2019) — processing of anaphoric relationships; University of Toronto, co-supervised with Keir Moulton
  • Dr. Nicholas Welch (2017–2018) — syntax, fieldwork, Indigenous languages

MA / MSc

  • Ethan Stollar (2024) — Specificational pseudoclefts: A self-paced reading study
  • Audrey Ho (2024) — Light verbs in Cantonese
  • Meagan Nuculaj (2023) — EEG reflexes of agreement
  • Kurtis Commanda (2022) — Verbal agreement in Kanyen’ke:ha: A catalogue of the transitive paradigm, and proposal for subject-object agreement by one probe with multiple Agree
  • Alish Kocz (2021) — The syntax of subject suppression in Turkish
  • Tess Hudson (2020) — Is A-movement a movement?
  • Frederico Prado (2019) — Null subjects in Brazilian Portuguese: A unified model
  • Sara Sturino (2017) — Agreement variation in English existential constructions
  • Heather Stephens (2016) — Interpretation of pronouns in proxy counterfactuals
  • Diane Doran (2015) — The semantics of copy raising
  • Malaree Baraniuk (2014) — Cognitively complex semantic processing in the domain of aspect
  • Olena Kit (2014) — On the complex eventive structure of dispositional middle constructions
  • Tiffany Deschamps (2012) — Processing of VP ellipsis; co-supervised with Victor Kuperman
  • Charalambos Christodoulou (2009, University College London) — Morpho-phonology of Cypriot Greek

Visiting scholars

  • Dr. Mary Amaechi, University of Ilorin, Nigeria (2024)
  • Dr. Mohamed Jlassi, University of Sohar, Oman (2023–2024)
  • Aya Zarka, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (visiting PhD student, 2019–2020)

Community-based research staff (Six Nations of the Grand River)

  • Alysson General and Jodi Lynn Maracle — Research Coordinators, NFRF-Exploration project (2023–2026)
  • Caroline VanEvery-Lefort — Project Coordinator, SSHRC Partnership Development Grant (2022–2024)

Over the years the lab has also hosted more than forty undergraduate researchers through honours theses, research practica, Undergraduate Student Research Awards and research assistantships.

Last updated: November 2026.