publications

2025

1. ICSNL

   Clause-Typing and Clitic Linearization in Gitksan

   Colin Brown

   In Proceedings of the International Conference on Salish and Neighbouring Languages 60, 2025

   Bib HTML

   @inproceedings{browngit2025,
     title = {Clause-Typing and Clitic Linearization in {{Gitksan}}},
     booktitle = {Proceedings of the {{International Conference}} on {{Salish}} and {{Neighbouring Languages}} 60},
     author = {Brown, Colin},
     editor = {Hannon, Ella and Diep, Brian and Griffin, Laura and Loginova, Mila and Oliver, Bruce and Schneider, Lauren and Steiner, Reed and Trotter, Bailey},
     year = {2025},
     publisher = {University of British Columbia Working Papers in Linguistics},
     address = {Vancouver, BC}
   }

2. Folia Linguistica

   Conjectural Questions in Sm’algyax

   Colin Brown

   Folia Linguistica, Apr 2025

   Abs DOI Bib

   Abstract This paper discusses evidentials and their behaviour in interrogative sentences, based on novel data from Sm’algyax (Tsimshianic, British Columbia/Alaska). Typically, evidentials in declarative sentences receive a Speaker-anchored orientation (“According to my evidence, p ”), and in interrogative sentences they receive an Addressee-anchored orientation (“According to your evidence, Q ?”). This shift from Speaker to Addressee in questions is referred to as Interrogative Flip, which has been argued to be an obligatory process in canonical questions (Korotkova, Natasha. 2016. Heterogeneity and universality in the evidential domain . UCLA Doctoral dissertation). I discuss a particular evidential sn “Conjectural”, which exhibits variable interrogative flip in questions. The anchor of sn may shift to the Addressee, or it may result in a “Conjectural Question” reading, which I suggest involves a particular orientation of sn to neither the Speaker nor the Addressee. Adopting a simple modal analysis for evidentials, and a pragmatic approach to interrogative flip (Garrett, Edward John. 2001. Evidentiality and assertion in Tibetan . UCLA Doctoral dissertation; Korotkova, Natasha. 2016. Heterogeneity and universality in the evidential domain . UCLA Doctoral dissertation), I suggest that the variable interrogative flip behaviour falls out from the pragmatics of (non-)canonical questions (Farkas, Donka F. 2022. Non-intrusive questions as a special type of non-canonical questions. Journal of Semantics 39(2). 295–337).

   @article{brownFL2025,
     title = {Conjectural Questions in {{Sm}}'algyax},
     author = {Brown, Colin},
     year = {2025},
     month = apr,
     journal = {Folia Linguistica},
     volume = {59},
     number = {1},
     pages = {7--28},
     issn = {0165-4004, 1614-7308},
     doi = {10.1515/flin-2023-2051},
     urldate = {2026-02-22},
     langid = {english}
   }

3. LSP

   On the Clausal Syntax of Dschang Predicate Focus Doubling

   Colin Brown and Harold Torrence

   In Cross-disciplinary approaches to Information Structure in Niger-Congo languages, Aug 2025

   Abs DOI Bib

   This paper investigates the syntax of Predicate Focus Doubling (PFD) in Dschang, a Grassfields Bantu language of Cameroon. PFD is similar to the well-known predicate cleft construction found in a number of other West African languages, because it encodes verbal focus and involves two instances of the verb. However, unlike the predicate cleft construction, PFD involves the right clausal edge, not the left. Through analyzing PFD, we propose that Dschang provides strong crosslinguistic support for the existence of a low focus position near the vP edge. We further argue that the surface word order in the PFD construction is derived by head movement of the verb (understood as copying) to the low focus position. Finally, we provide evidence that there is movement of a constituent, containing minimally the verb and direct object, to a position higher than that of the copy of the verb in low focus.

   @incollection{brownClausalSyntaxDschang2025,
     title = {On the Clausal Syntax of {{Dschang}} Predicate Focus Doubling},
     author = {Brown, Colin and Torrence, Harold},
     booktitle = {Cross-disciplinary approaches to Information Structure in Niger-Congo languages},
     year = {2025},
     month = aug,
     publisher = {Language Science Press},
     doi = {10.5281/ZENODO.16875466},
     urldate = {2026-02-14},
     copyright = {Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International},
     isbn = {978-3-96110-536-6},
     langid = {english}
   }

2024

1. IJAL

   Questions and Their Relatives in Sm’algyax

   Colin Brown

   International Journal of American Linguistics, Jul 2024

   DOI Bib PDF

   @article{brownijal2024,
     title = {Questions and Their {{Relatives}} in {{Sm}}'algyax},
     author = {Brown, Colin},
     year = {2024},
     month = jul,
     journal = {International Journal of American Linguistics},
     volume = {90},
     number = {3},
     pages = {277--326},
     issn = {0020-7071, 1545-7001},
     doi = {10.1086/730303},
     urldate = {2026-02-22},
     langid = {english}
   }

2. NELS

   A Second-Last Position Clitic in Sm’algyax (Coast Tsimshian)

   Colin Brown and Henry Davis

   In Proceedings of NELS 54, 2024

   Bib PDF

   @inproceedings{browndavisnels,
     title = {A Second-Last Position Clitic in {{Sm}}'algyax ({{Coast Tsimshian}})},
     booktitle = {Proceedings of {{NELS}} 54},
     author = {Brown, Colin and Davis, Henry},
     year = {2024}
   }

3. UCLA PhD thesis

   The Form and Function of Interrogatives in Sm’algyax

   Colin Brown

   University of California, Los Angeles, 2024

   Bib HTML

   @phdthesis{browndiss2024,
     title = {The Form and Function of Interrogatives in {{Sm}}'algyax},
     author = {Brown, Colin},
     year = {2024},
     school = {University of California, Los Angeles}
   }

4. UBCWPL

   A Second-Last Position Clitic in Sm’algyax: A Puzzle

   Colin Brown and Henry Davis

   In The Title of This Volume Is Shorter than Its Contributions Are Allowed to Be: Papers in Honour of Hotze Rullmann, 2024

   Bib HTML

   @incollection{browndavis2023,
     title = {A Second-Last Position Clitic in {{Sm}}'algyax: A Puzzle},
     booktitle = {The Title of This Volume Is Shorter than Its Contributions Are Allowed to Be: {{Papers}} in Honour of {{Hotze Rullmann}}},
     author = {Brown, Colin and Davis, Henry},
     editor = {Bochnak, M. Ryan and Csipak, Eva and Matthewson, Lisa and Morzycki, Marcin and Reisinger, Daniel K. E.},
     year = {2024},
     volume = {9},
     publisher = {Vancouver, BC: UBC Occasional Papers in Linguistics},
     copyright = {All rights reserved}
   }

5. UBCWPL

   A Second-Last Position Clitic in Sm’algyax: A Solution

   Henry Davis and Colin Brown

   In The Title of This Volume Is Shorter than Its Contributions Are Allowed to Be: Papers in Honour of Hotze Rullmann, 2024

   Bib HTML

   @incollection{davisbrown2023,
     title = {A Second-Last Position Clitic in {{Sm}}'algyax: A Solution},
     booktitle = {The Title of This Volume Is Shorter than Its Contributions Are Allowed to Be: {{Papers}} in Honour of {{Hotze Rullmann}}},
     author = {Davis, Henry and Brown, Colin},
     editor = {Bochnak, M. Ryan and Csipak, Eva and Matthewson, Lisa and Morzycki, Marcin and Reisinger, Daniel K. E.},
     year = {2024},
     volume = {9},
     publisher = {Vancouver, BC: UBC Occasional Papers in Linguistics},
     copyright = {All rights reserved}
   }

2023

1. Open Linguistics

   Irrealis-Marked Interrogatives as Rhetorical Questions

   Colin Brown

   Open Linguistics, Jul 2023

   Abs DOI Bib

   Abstract I describe and compare two strategies to form rhetorical questions (RQs) in Sm’algyax (Tsimshianic). I show that one kind is isomorphic to ordinary, information-seeking questions, and is compatible with positive and negative answers, while the second is marked with irrealis morphology and only allows negative answers. I provide evidence from answerability and embedding to suggest that both types of RQs in Sm’algyax behave like questions in terms of their syntax/semantics, and propose that the irrealis subordinator present in the second type signals to the addressee that a negative answer is expected. These findings have implications for the presence of irrealis and subjunctive morphology appearing in RQs crosslinguistically.

   @article{brownopenlinguistics2023,
     title = {Irrealis-Marked Interrogatives as Rhetorical Questions},
     author = {Brown, Colin},
     year = {2023},
     month = jul,
     journal = {Open Linguistics},
     volume = {9},
     number = {1},
     pages = {20220239},
     issn = {2300-9969},
     doi = {10.1515/opli-2022-0239},
     urldate = {2026-02-22},
     copyright = {http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0},
     langid = {english},
     file = {/Users/colin/Zotero/storage/5AAZDEUX/Brown - 2023 - Irrealis-marked interrogatives as rhetorical questions.pdf}
   }

2020

1. ICSNL

   Clause-Type, Transitivity, and the Transitive Vowel in Tsimshianic

   Colin Brown, Clarissa Forbes, and Michael David Schwan

   In Papers for the 55th International Conference on Salish and Neighbouring Languages, 2020

   Bib HTML

   @incollection{brownforbesschwan,
     title = {Clause-Type, Transitivity, and the Transitive Vowel in {{Tsimshianic}}},
     booktitle = {Papers for the 55th {{International Conference}} on {{Salish}} and {{Neighbouring Languages}}},
     author = {Brown, Colin and Forbes, Clarissa and Schwan, Michael David},
     editor = {Reisinger, D. K. E. and Green, Hannah and Huijsmans, Marianne and Mellesmoen, Gloria and Trotter., Bailey},
     year = {2020},
     pages = {12--40},
     publisher = {UBC Working Papers in Linguistics},
     copyright = {All rights reserved},
     date-added = {2020-05-13 20:59:17 +0000},
     date-modified = {2023-06-06 11:18:59 -0700}
   }

2018

1. WSCLA

   Syntactic Ergativity in Gitksan

   Colin Brown

   In Proceedings of the Workshop on Structure and Constituency in the Languages of the Americas 21, 2018

   Bib HTML

   @inproceedings{brownwscla2016,
     title = {Syntactic Ergativity in {{Gitksan}}},
     booktitle = {Proceedings of the {{Workshop}} on {{Structure}} and {{Constituency}} in the {{Languages}} of the {{Americas}} 21},
     author = {Brown, Colin},
     editor = {Keough, Megan and Weber, Natalie and Anghelescu, Andrei and Chen, Sihwei and Guntly, Erin and Johnson, Khia and Reisinger, Daniel and Tkachman, Oksana},
     year = {2018},
     publisher = {University of British Columbia Working Papers in Linguistics},
     copyright = {All rights reserved},
     date-modified = {2023-08-19 14:05:48 -0700},
     owner = {forcf},
     keywords = {read,todo},
     timestamp = {2016.09.27}
   }

2016

1. McGill MA Thesis

   Extraction Restrictions in Gitksan

   Colin Brown

   McGill University, 2016

   Bib

   @mastersthesis{brown2016,
     title = {Extraction Restrictions in {{Gitksan}}},
     author = {Brown, Colin},
     year = {2016},
     copyright = {All rights reserved},
     school = {McGill University}
   }