Assistant Professor
PhD (York University)
MA (York University)
BA (University of Toronto)
Office: MCD 450 L
905-688-5550 x3704
[email protected]
Dr. Shaftoe’s research focuses primarily on the application of modern theories of phonology to historical data. He has examined contentious historical data in Sanskrit and used modern analytical tools to offer a potential solution to an old phonological problem known as the RUKI Sound Law. Most of his work has focused on fine-tuning a modern model of phonology that integrates the work and innovations of several different subdisciplines. More recently, he has been looking into the sociolinguistic space of video game and comic book communities and how they have developed over the past century.
Proceedings Publications
Shaftoe, Nate. “Root-first deletion in Harmonic Serialism. In Tarahomi, Parisa. (Ed.). 2022 CLA conference proceedings. Canadian Linguistic Association. https://cla-acl.ca/actes/actes-2022- proceedings.html
Shaftoe, Nate. “Nodal faithfulness in Harmonic Serialism.” In Hernández, Angelica & Butterworth, M. Emma. (Eds.). (2020). 2020 CLA conference proceedings. Canadian Linguistic Association. https://cla-acl.ca/actes/actes-2020-proceedings.html
Shaftoe, Nate. (2019). Moraic coda sonority in Chilean Spanish. Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics, 41(1). https://doi.org/10.33137/twpl.v41i1.32761
Edited Volumes
Jurgec, Peter, Liisa Duncan, Emily Elfner, Yoonjung Kang, Alexei Kochetov, Brittney K. O’Neil, Avery Ozburn, Keren Rice, Nathan Sanders, Jessamyn Schertz, Nate Shaftoe, and Lisa Sullivan. (eds.). Proceedings of the 2021 Annual Meeting on Phonology. Washington, DC: Linguistic Society of America.
“Feature-Geometric Harmonic Serialism and the RUKI Sound Law.” Keynote presentation at GLASA Symposium, April 2025.
“The RUKI Sound Law: A Modern Reanalysis.” Poster presented at Canadian Linguistic Association Conference, June 2023.
“RUKI and the Concept of an Accidental Class”. Talk given at Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto-Hamilton Phonology Workshop, March 2023 (talk).
“Consonant-Vowel Alternations in Harmonic Serialism”. Poster presented at Canadian Linguistic Association Conference, June 2022
“ROOT-First Deletion in Harmonic Serialism”. Poster presented at 29th Manchester Phonology Meeting, May 2022
“ROOT-First Deletion in Harmonic Serialism”. Talk given at Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto Phonology Workshop, March 2022 (talk)
“Underlying Representations in Harmonic Serialism”. Poster presented at Canadian Linguistics Association Conference, June 2021
“Underlying Representations in Harmonic Serialism”. Poster presented at 28th Manchester Phonology Meeting, May 2021
“Feature Geometry in Harmonic Serialism”. Poster presented at Canadian Linguistics Association Conference, June 2020
“Nodal Faithfulness in Harmonic Serialism”. Talk given at Summer Phonology Forum, 2019 (talk)
Dr. Shaftoe’s teaching at Brock University has included:
LING 1P94 Introduction to General Linguistics 1
LING 1P95 Introduction to General Linguistics 2
LING 2P10 Fundamentals of English Grammar
LING 2P50 Phonetics
LING 3P53 Phonology
LING 3P71 Syntax
