Please note: my updated website can now be found here.
I am a linguist (I successfully defended my PhD in April 2023) at the University of Edinburgh, where I am part of Nilotic@Edinburgh and the Phonetics and Phonology Research Group. I currently work on the Leverhulme Trust-funded project ‘Suprasegmentals in three West Nilotic languages’ (PI Bert Remijsen). My research involves the description of the Dinka language, whose complex suprasegmental system involves independently contrastive tone, vowel length, and voice quality. I study the tone systems of dialects of Dinka, as well as the many morphophonological and morphosyntactic phenomena that reveal themselves during the process. My research interests broadly include tone, morphophonology, and the description of understudied and undocumented languages. I am also interested in innovative research methodologies, specifically those that promote: 1) decolonial practices with regards to the relationship between language communities and research communities, and 2) accessibility in all areas/stages of research, both for researchers and language communities (since those communities are unfortunately still often separate). Lastly, I am interested in the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on field linguistics and resulting novel approaches to fieldwork that allow ethical practices in the face of ongoing global crisis and vaccine/healthcare inequity.
My pronouns are she/her.
CV and contact info.
How I pronounce my name: [mɪ.ˈɹɛ.lə blʌm]
