Evgeniya Gutova

I'm Evgeniya (Jenia) Gutova, a linguist interested in language structure and linguistic diversity around the world. My focus is particularly on non-Western (non-Indo-European) and underdescribed languages, especially from Africa and the Middle East.

I am engaged in language description and documentation, grammar writing, and creation of annotated corpora to preserve linguistic heritage. In my research, I try to bring together insights from descriptive and theoretical linguistics, and currently also psycho- and neurolinguistics, with an overall goal to explore how language structure varies and how language diversity impacts human cognition.

I have worked on different aspects of Berber (Amazigh) linguistics, Arabic/Berber bilingualism, and different outcomes of language contact. As a MSCA postdoc at the UiT – the Arctic University of Norway and in collaboration with the C-LaBL (Centre for language, brain and learning), I am researching Arabic influence on Senhaja Berber Tense, Aspect, and Modality (see NABOR). I have previously researched multilingualism in the Moroccan diaspora community in Spain (Moroccan Arabic and Berber heritage speakers) as a researcher at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain. My PhD thesis from the Sorbonne University (Paris, France), 2021, is a polylectal grammar of Senhaja Berber (northern Morocco), while my MA thesis from Leiden University (the Netherlands) investigated Kabyle Berber manuscripts from Algeria written in the Arabic script. I hold a BA in Cuneiform Studies (Languages and Cultures of Mesopotamia and Anatolia) from Leiden University.