I’m a phonologist. I’m an Assistant Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Maryland, College Park.

My research focuses on defining what core mechanisms are available to phonology. Can phonology create true copies of sounds? Can it fully transpose (reorder) them? By examining these questions, I aim to address the question of how morphosyntax (and postsyntactic operations, if they exist) differ formally from phonology proper.

Some topics I work on include: metathesis, consonant epenthesis, infixation, copy epenthesis, and person discontinuities in agreement. I also do fieldwork in Eastern Indonesia on Uab Meto, an understudied Austronesian language.

In 2023, I completed my PhD at the Department of Linguistics at NYU. My advisor was Maria Gouskova. Prior to coming to NYU, I did my BA in Linguistics at the University of Chicago, where I worked with Karlos Arregi.

Feel free to get in contact with me at kemooney@umd.edu. I’m always happy to talk about phonology.