Peace Benson

About me

I am a fourth-year PhD student in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Kansas. My research interests are in syntax, morphosyntax, language documentation, and fieldwork. I conduct fieldwork on understudied African languages to contribute to theoretical models. I am always ready to tackle new challenges and research in any language and related fields. Every language has a unique structure, which piques my attention.

Research

My research interests include:

• Syntax
• Fieldwork
• Language documentation

I have contributed to Towards the INTERACTIVE GRAMMAR of the Jen language cluster (Nigeria) Documentation, description, and analysis of Mingang Doso and Dza.

Publications

• (Under review with John Gluckman, Philip Duncan, and Jamie Hudson). More Patterns of A’- movement Reflexes
• (Under review with Jamie Hudson). Morphological reflex of A’-movement in Dzə
• (with Alexander Andrason), (2024). 10 Onomatopoeia in Dza. Onomatopoeia in the World’s Languages: A Comparative Handbook, 10, 117.
• (with Alexander Andrason) Onomatopoeias in Closely Related Languages: The Case of Mingang Doso and Dza. Skase Journal of Theoretical Linguistics. Vol 20 No 2 ISSN 1336-782X http://www.skase.sk/JTL53index.html
• (with Alexander Andrason). A living Grammatical Sketch of Mingang Doso. Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages
• Hausa and Dzə (Jenjo): The case of an exotic invasive Species. In Sule E. Egya, N. J. Dadi-Mamud & Mohammed A. Usman. (Eds), Studies in Scientific & Cultural Ecology. pp. 116-127. Sevhageː Makurdi. ISBN: 978-978-58437-1-2
• (with Eragbe, Christiana) A Comparative Study of Jenjo and English Syntactic Structures: An X-bar Perspective. AHYU: A Journal of Language & Literature Vol. 2 No. 3. pp 1-7. May 2020. ISSN: 2636-5839
• Ideophones in Dzə (Jenjo): An Adamawa Language of Northeastern Nigeria. Language in Africa 1(3), pp. 336-352. doi:10.37892/2686-8946-2020-1-3-336-352
• A Description of Dzə (Jenjo) Nouns and Noun Phrases, an Adamawa Language of Northeastern Nigeria. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Asian and African Studies, 2020, vol 12, issue 4 pp. 490-504. httpsː//doi.org/10.21638/spbu13.2020.402
• (With Gerry O. Ayieko) An X-bar theoretic account of Jenjo Noun Phrases. Dutsinma Journal of English and Literature. pp 246-259 Vol. 2. No.1. August, 2019 ISSN: 2659-0360
• (With Asiru Hameed Tunde) The Discourse Strategies and Ideologies in the Inaugural Speeches of Barrister Ibrahim Shehu Shema. AHYU: A Journal of Language & Literature pp. Vol. 1 No 2. pp. 120-127. July 2018. ISSN: 2636-5839
• (With Eragbe, Christiana & Kehinde Ogunrinde) Code-Mixing as a Strategy for Effective Communication and Social Identity. Madonna Journal of English & Literary Studies pp. 60-65. Vol. 3. No. 1. ISSN: 0862-8616
• (With Gerry Ayieko & Jessica Khadi Gimode) The Syntactic Functions of Noun Phrase in Jenjo. Yankari Journal of English, Literature & Linguistics (YANJELL). pp. 287-294 Vol. 1 No.1 December 2017. ISSBN: 2336-6037

Conference Presentations

• 2026 | Tough construction in Dzə. At the 57th Annual Conference on African Linguistics (ACAL 57) (May 21-23 2026) in Buffalo, USA
• 2026 | Polar interrogatives and hybrid prosody in Dzə. Linguistic Association of American Annual Meeting at New Orleans, USA
• 2025 | Polar question prosody in Dzə: a first look at the Linguistic Association of Southwest (LASSO) in Wichita, USA
• 2025 | Agent nominalization in Dzə. The 56th Annual Conference on African Linguistics (ACAL 56) at University of Minnesota (May 15-17, 2025 in Minnesota, USA
• 2025 | Verbal complements in Dzə. The 56th Annual Conference on African Linguistics (ACAL 56) at University of Minnesota (May 15-17, 2025) in Minnesota, USA with Brakson Ping and Jamie Hudson.
• 2025 | Hausa and Dzə: The case of an Exotic Invasive Species revisited. Kansas Africa Studies Center Graduate Research Workshop at the University of Kansas (April 24 2025)
• 2025 | (Poster) More patterns of A’-movement reflexes at LSA 2025 Annual Meeting (January 9-12 2025) with Peace Benson, Philip Duncan, John Gluckman and Jamie Hudson
• 2024 | The distribution of resumptive pronouns in Dzə. At the 55th Annual Conference on African Linguistics (ACAL 55) (May 2-4 2024) in Montreal, QC, Canada
• 2024 | Morphological reflexes of Ā-movement in Dzə. The 55th Annual Conference on African Linguistics (ACAL 55). (May 2-4 2024) in Montreal, QC, Canada 2024 with Hudson Jamie.
• 2023 | A description of relative clause in Dzə at 2nd Adamawa Conference Sept 13-15 Maison de la Recherche - Inalco 2, rue de Lille 75001 Paris (France) with John Gluckman.
• 2023 | Contrastive focus and low verb doubling in Dza. The synatx at the vP edge in African languages (SASAL III ) at the University of Frankfurt Frankfurt (Germany) Philip T. Duncan & John Gluckman.
• 2019 | Nigerian English and Sustainable Development: The case of Halita, a Nigerian TV series. The 35th Annual Conference of English Scholars’ Association of Nigeria, at National Open University of Nigeria, Abuja, Nigeria.
• 2019 | The Grammatical Functions of Jenjo Ideophones. 1st Adamawa Conference at Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany. https://www.blogs.uni-mainz.de/fb07-adamawa/files/2019/10/Benson_Ideophones.pdf
• 2018 | Hausa and Jenjo: The case of an Exotic Invasive Species. Presented at the Lapai Humboldt Kolleg National Conference, Lapai, Nigeria.

Invited Talks

• 2026 | Nominal syntax in Dzə. University of Kansas Child Language Proseminar

Conference Posters

• 2026 | An OT analysis of verbal reduplication in Dzə. At the 57th Annual Conference on African Linguistics (ACAL 57) (May 21-23 2026) in Buffalo, USA

Teaching | Skills

Teaching | R | LaTeX | Fieldwork

Contact

peacebenson@ku.edu | LinkedIn | Google Scholar