Home Department: Linguistics
Area Chair in Linguistic Dimensions of L2 Learning
SLAT Area of Specialization: Linguistic Dimensions of L2 Learning
The semantics of human languages involves complex representations and operations over those representations. The goal of Dr. Henderson's research is to design logics in which one can define representations and operations over those representations that closely mimic what is observed in human languages. This allows the modeling of how people interpret the meanings of arbitrary expressions in the languages they speak.
To understand how meaning in human languages works in general, evidence is needed from a large variety of languages. For this reason Dr. Henderson's research has a strong empirical component. He has done primary fieldwork on a number of Mayan languages spoken in Guatemala. He works to describe, document, and analyze these languages in their own right, while also discovering what they can tell us about how human languages work in general.
Research Interests: Semantics, Logic, Morphology, Mesoamerican languages (especially Mayan)