- Fellow type
- UK Fellow
- Year elected
- 2020
- Sections
- Linguistics and Philology
- Website
- https://davidadger.org/
David Adger’s research ranges across linguistic topics but is connected by a concern with syntax: understanding the basic organising principles behind the way that languages build meaning through structure. His work connects syntax to issues in sociolinguistics and cognitive science, as well as contributing to the basic question of what kinds of structures are possible in human languages and why. His most recent book, Language Unlimited, tried to present some of the arguments and results from that field in an accessible way. He was President of the Linguistics association of Great Britain from 2015 to 2020, was co-editor in chief of the journal Syntax from 2007 to 2013, and founded and is series co-editor of Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics. He was one of Queen Mary’s LGBT role models in 2018, while he was Head of the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film there.