{{Short description|American linguist}} '''Laura J. Downing''' (born 1954, [[Mitchel Air Force Base|Mitchel AFB]], [[New York (state)|New York]]) is an American [[Linguistics|linguist]], specializing in the [[phonology]] of [[Languages of Africa|African languages]].
== Education and career == Downing earned her B.S. in linguistics from [[Georgetown University]] in 1977, and her PhD in linguistics from the [[University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign|University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign]] in 1990.<ref>{{Cite web |title=University of Illinois Ph.D. Recipients in Linguistics {{!}} Linguistics at Illinois |url=https://linguistics.illinois.edu/research/university-illinois-phd-recipients-linguistics |access-date=2022-03-12 |website=linguistics.illinois.edu}}</ref> Her dissertation, ''The tonal phonology of [[Jita language|Jita]]'', was published by Lincom Europa in 1996. After receiving her PhD, she held several positions in North America before moving to Europe in 2001. She was a senior researcher at the [[:de:Leibniz-Zentrum Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft|ZAS]] (Center for General Linguistics) in [[Berlin]] from 2001 to 2012,<ref>{{Cite web |title=ZAS Berlin: PB4 |url=https://www.leibniz-zas.de/en/research/research-areas/project-archive/projekt-archive/pb4 |access-date=2022-03-12 |website=www.leibniz-zas.de |language=en-EN}}</ref> and was professor of African Languages at the [[University of Gothenburg]], [[Sweden]], from 2012 until her retirement in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Laura Downing {{!}} University of Gothenburg |url=https://www.gu.se/en/about/find-staff/lauradowning |access-date=2022-03-12 |website=www.gu.se |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=GU Journalen 3-2015 by University of Gothenburg - Issuu |url=https://issuu.com/universityofgothenburg/docs/gu-journalen3-2015 |access-date=2022-03-12 |website=issuu.com |date=12 May 2015 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=GU-Journal no 1 2013 by University of Gothenburg - Issuu |url=https://issuu.com/universityofgothenburg/docs/guj1-13inenglish |access-date=2022-03-12 |website=issuu.com |date=13 February 2013 |language=en}}</ref>
== Research == Downing's research centers on the formal analysis of the prosody of [[Bantu languages]], including prosodic morphology, lexical and grammatical [[Tone (linguistics)|tone]] systems, [[information structure]] and phrasal [[Prosody (linguistics)|prosody]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Laura J. Downing |url=https://scholar.google.de/citations?user=LnOGCa4AAAAJ&hl=en |access-date=2022-03-12 |website=scholar.google.de}}</ref> Her research has contributed to a better understanding of the prosodic and morphological constraints on [[reduplication]], especially in [[Bantu languages|Bantu]] languages (Downing 2006). Her work with [[Lisa Cheng (linguist)|Lisa Cheng]] on the phonology-syntax interface, in particular in [[Zulu language|Zulu]], shows the close interaction between the prosodic phrasings of a language and the [[syntactic structure]] within the [[Minimalist program|Minimalist]] framework (Cheng & Downing 2009, 2016). [[Field research|Fieldwork]] over many years in [[Malawi]] in collaboration with [[Al Mtenje]] led to them co-authoring ''The Phonology of [[Chewa language|Chichewa]]'' (Downing & Mtenje 2017).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Marlo |first1=Michael R. |last2=Frost |first2=Joshua |last3=Kujath |first3=Elizabeth |last4=Lawlor |first4=Cara |last5=Pribe |first5=Sarah |last6=Raney |first6=Emily |last7=Skrivan |first7=Patrick |last8=Thein |first8=Alexa |date=2018 |title=The phonology of Chichewa by Laura J. Downing and Al Mtenje |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/702692 |journal=Language |language=en |volume=94 |issue=3 |pages=714–717 |doi=10.1353/lan.2018.0042 |s2cid=149490714 |issn=1535-0665|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Franich |first=Kathryn |date=2018 |title=Laura J. Downing and Al Mtenje (2018). The phonology of Chichewa. (The Phonology of the World's Languages.) Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pp. xvi+294. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0952675718000167/type/journal_article |journal=Phonology |language=en |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=537–543 |doi=10.1017/S0952675718000167 |s2cid=70125906 |issn=0952-6757|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
Downing was also involved in international collaborative projects funded by leading funding agencies. She co-directed, with [[Annie Rialland]], a French-German ANR-DFG project, BANTUPSYN, devoted to the Phonology-syntax Interface in Bantu languages (2009–2012).<ref>{{Cite web |title=ZAS Berlin: SynPhonI |url=https://www.leibniz-zas.de/en/research/research-areas/project-archive/projekt-archive/synphoni |access-date=2022-03-12 |website=www.leibniz-zas.de |language=en-EN}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Lacombe |first=Stephanie |title=Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3 - ANR - BANTUPSYN |url=http://www.univ-paris3.fr/anr-bantupsyn-59974.kjsp |access-date=2022-03-12 |website=www.univ-paris3.fr |language=fr-FR}}</ref> This project led to a co-edited volume on ''Intonation in African tone languages'' (Downing & Rialland, eds., 2017).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Snider |first=Keith L. |date=2018 |title=Book review |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0024384117304515 |journal=Lingua |language=en |volume=204 |pages=16–20 |doi=10.1016/j.lingua.2017.10.008|url-access=subscription }}</ref> With Maarten Mous ([[Leiden University]]) and Morgan Nilsson (U of Gothenburg), she led a [[Swedish Research Council|VR]] project investigating [[Somali language|Somali]] prosody from 2016 to 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Somaliska språket och prosodisk typologi |url=https://www.gu.se/forskning/somaliska-spraket-och-prosodisk-typologi |access-date=2022-03-12 |website=www.gu.se |language=sv}}</ref>
== Honors and distinctions ==
* Honorary Member of the [[Linguistic Society of America|LSA]] (elected 2019)<ref>{{Cite web |title=LSA Elects Three to Honorary Membership {{!}} Linguistic Society of America |url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/news/2019/01/24/lsa-elects-three-honorary-membership |access-date=2022-03-12 |website=www.linguisticsociety.org}}</ref> * Vice-president then President of the Association of Contemporary African Linguistics (ACAL), 2017–2024; Member of the ACAL executive committee, 2014–2017.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Past officers {{!}} ACAL |url=https://acal.linguistlist.org/executive-committee-and-contacts/past-officers/ |access-date=2022-03-12 |language=en}}</ref> * Member of the [[Royal Society of Arts and Sciences in Gothenburg|KVVS]] (elected 2012);<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kungl. Vetenskaps- och Vitterhets-Samhället i Göteborg (KVVS) {{!}} Ledamöter |url=https://kvvs.se/ledamoter/ |access-date=2022-03-12 |language=sv-SE}}</ref> Member of [[AcademiaNet]] (elected 2017)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Prof. Laura J. Downing - AcademiaNet |url=https://www.academia-net.org/profil/prof-laura-j-downing/1489651 |access-date=2022-03-12 |website=www.academia-net.org}}</ref> * Member of the [[Editorial board|Editorial Board]] of [[Phonology (journal)|Phonology]] for 20+ years<ref>{{Cite web |title=LSA Elects Three to Honorary Membership {{!}} Linguistic Society of America |url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/news/2019/01/24/lsa-elects-three-honorary-membership |access-date=2022-03-12 |website=www.linguisticsociety.org}}</ref> * A [[Festschrift]] in Downing's honor was published in the [[open access]] journal, ''[[Stellenbosch University|Stellenbosch]] Papers in Linguistics''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Crossing boundaries: a Festchrift for Laura Downing; Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus |url=https://spilplus.journals.ac.za/pub/issue/view/99 |access-date=2022-03-12 |website=spilplus.journals.ac.za |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Vol. 62 No. 2 (2022): Crossing boundaries: a Festchrift for Laura Downing (part 2) Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus |url=https://spilplus.journals.ac.za/pub/issue/view/101 |access-date=2022-06-21 |website=spilplus.journals.ac.za |language=en-US}}</ref>
== Publications == '''Books'''
Laura J. Downing. 1996. ''The tonal phonology of [[Jita language|Jita]]''. LINCOM Studies in African Linguistics 05. Munich: LINCOM EUROPA. [revised version, dissertation]. 245 pp. {{ISBN|978-3-89586-032-4}}
Laura J. Downing. 2006. ''Canonical Forms in Prosodic Morphology.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press. 284 pp. {{ISBN|978-0-19-928639-3}} {{doi|10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199286393.001.0001}}
Laura J. Downing and Al Mtenje. 2017. ''The Phonology of [[Chewa language|Chichewa]]''. Phonology of the World's Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-872474-2}} {{doi|10.1093/oso/9780198724742.001.0001}}
Laura J. Downing and Annie Rialland, eds. 2017. ''Intonation in African Tone Languages''. Phonology & Phonetics 24. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. {{ISBN|978-3-11-048479-3}}
'''Selected other publications'''
Lisa L.-S. Cheng and Laura J. Downing. 2009. Where's the topic in Zulu? In [[Helen de Hoop]] & Geertje van Bergen (eds.), ''Topics Cross-linguistically''. Special issue, ''The Linguistic Review'' 26, 2/3: 207–238. {{doi|10.1515/tlir.2009.008}}
Laura J. Downing and [[Larry Hyman|Larry M. Hyman]]. 2016. Information Structure in Bantu Languages. In Caroline Féry & Shinichiro Ishihara (eds.), ''Handbook of [[Information structure|Information Structure]]''. Oxford University Press, 790–813. {{doi|10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199642670.013.010}}
Lisa L.-S. Cheng and Laura J. Downing. 2016. Phasal syntax = cyclic phonology? ''Syntax'' 19 (2), 159–191. {{doi|10.1111/synt.12120}}
== References == <references />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Downing, Laura}}
{{Authority control}} [[Category:American women linguists]] [[Category:1954 births]] [[Category:Phonologists from the United States]] [[Category:American Africanists]] [[Category:University of Illinois College of Liberal Arts and Sciences alumni]] [[Category:Georgetown University College of Arts & Sciences alumni]] [[Category:Academic staff of the University of Gothenburg]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:20th-century American linguists]] [[Category:21st-century American linguists]] [[Category:Linguists of Bantu languages]]