Shadden Alfadhil

Graduate Research Assistant

Semantics & Pragmatics, Syntax, Morphology, Language Documentation, Interspeaker Variation, Experimental Linguistics

Shadden Alfadhil is a current Ph.D. student and a former teaching assistant in the Linguistics Program. Her areas of interest include semantics & pragmatics, syntax, morphology, and language documentation. She is specifically interested in ambiguity and contextual factors that affect language. Shadden primarily works on the documentation of Najdi Arabic, a language that is widely spoken in Saudi Arabia but is underdocumented. She also has experience in experimental linguistics and research that involves the teachability of linguistic concepts to English language learners.

As an American-born Saudi, her fascination with language grew through the exposure to two languages simultaneously early in life and the comparison of Arabic to English and vice versa.

Current Research

Documentation of meaning and structure in Najdi Arabic, which includes discourse markers, compounding, and other various topics.

Teaching the pragmatic functions of the English discourse marker "but" to advanced English language learners.

Courses Taught

Spring 2024: LING 306 (General Linguistics: Recitation)

Spring 2022: LING 306 (General Linguistics – TA), LING 522 (English Grammar and Pedagogy)

Fall 2021: LING 306 (General Linguistics – TA), LING 787 (Syntax II – TA)

Education

2021 - M.A., English: Linguistics, George Mason University

2021 - Graduate Certificate, TESOL, George Mason University

2016 - B.A., English Language (Linguistics) and Literature, King Saud University