Professor Suzi Lima
This course will be offered during the Summer 2026 and Fall 2026-Winter 2027
Who is eligible for this course? To be eligible for ROP, students must be enrolled in a Faculty of Arts and Science degree program, at the St George campus, and will have between 4.0 credits and 13.5 credits completed by the end of the April 2026 exam period.
How to apply? Submit your application – CV, letter of interest, unofficial transcript – by email (suzi.lima@utoronto.ca). Submit your application by April 1st.
Context:
This project builds on Lima’s Connaught New Research Award, “Counting and Measuring in African Languages Spoken in Toronto.” In its first phase, we documented counting and measuring in four Bantu languages spoken in the GTA: Lingala, Tshiluba, Kirundi, and Kinyarwanda.
The project addressed a gap in the literature: while extensive work existed on noun classification in Bantu languages, very few studies explored how classifiers interact with counting and measuring expressions or, more broadly, with systems of quantification (Zerbian & Krifka 2008).
Research Goal:
In the current stage of the project, we are analyzing comparative and superlative structures in these languages, focusing on similarities and differences between counting and measuring at the nominal level versus the non-nominal level. All languages studied so far use an “exceed-type” strategy for comparatives—that is, they employ a verb equivalent to exceed to express comparisons. For instance, a structure like “Maria is short to exceed Albert” corresponds to “Maria is shorter than Albert” in English:
Tshiluba:
(1) Marie mu-ipi ku-pita Albert
Marie cl1-short inf-pass/exceed Albert
Lit. ‘Marie is short to exceed Albert.’ / ‘Marie is shorter than Albert’
We are particularly interested in the link between comparatives and superlatives because none of these languages has a dedicated morpho-syntactic marker for superlatives. Instead, they use alternative strategies (such as comparative paraphrases or null marking), which are also found outside Bantu languages (Coppock 2015; Hohaus 2025). At this stage, we aim to expand the project to include more languages, focusing primarily on Nigerian and Ghanaian languages (Yoruba and Gã have recently been integrated into the scope of this study). We also aim to integrate languages spoken in Portuguese-speaking African countries (e.g., in Angola, in addition to Portuguese, Bantu languages such as Umbundu and Kimbundu are also spoken).
In answering these questions, we aim to advance the description of semantic aspects of African languages and contribute to typological studies on these topics (Bochnak 2025; Hohaus & Bochnak 2020, among others).
Research Questions:
i) Which languages display the exceed-type comparative in their grammar?
ii) For languages that display this strategy, is it the only strategy available, or do other strategies coexist?
iii) When more than one strategy is available, what semantic or pragmatic factors influence the choice of strategy for comparatives and superlatives?
iv) What strategies do these languages use for superlatives?
v) How do comparatives and superlatives vary across domains (nouns, verbs, adjectives)?
Methods:
We will work with native speakers to collect data through tasks such as translating sentences from English into the target languages, describing pictures, and translating storyboards. Students will receive training on how to conduct these elicitation sessions (all supervised by Professor Lima) and will also learn how to annotate and analyze the data.
Student Roles and Responsibilities
Students will participate in several stages of the research process. They will engage in discussions about the topic, including reviewing literature on comparatives and superlatives. They will also learn about the languages involved, as understanding their key features is essential before conducting elicitation sessions. Students will then learn how to prepare elicitation plans.
Next, students will take part in small-group elicitation sessions with language consultants, where they will collect data, annotate it, and contribute to the analysis. In short, students will gain hands-on experience in all stages of a linguistics research project, grounded in typological and theoretical literature.
Academic Outcomes and Skills Gained
Through the activities proposed for this course, students will have the opportunity to improve their oral and written communication in linguistics. The course includes activities where students will practice building arguments and presenting them clearly and concisely. Since this type of skill is highly transferable, their communication skills in other fields they will study at the university will likely benefit from the training received in this course. Students will also expand their knowledge of working in teams (since the course will be organized as a research lab and collaboration will be required).
Training, Mentorship, and/or Supervision
The course will include lectures where students will read and discuss about the language(s), methods and topics being explored in the course. After the initial weeks of training, students will conduct elicitation sessions under the supervision of the instructor, who will provide feedback.
Suzi Lima 