Jenneke van der Wal is involved in the ERC project ‘Reconsidering Comparative Syntax’ where she is working on discourse configurationality. Her main research interests include Bantu languages, the interface between syntax and  information structure, and synchronic and diachronic morphosyntax. Her dissertation studied word order and information structure in Makhuwa (a Bantu language spoken in Mozambique), and she has also worked on the conjoint and disjoint verb forms in southern and eastern Bantu languages, the link between Mauritian Creole and Mozambican Bantu languages (with Tonjes Veenstra), the fascinating functions of demonstratives in Makhuwa, grammaticalisation of focus constructions (with Maud Devos and Jacky Maniacky), and agreement in subject inversion.

Recent publications