Originally from the Aegean coast in İzmir, Turkey, Demet Kayabaşı has always been captivated by the structure and diversity of languages. Her earliest fascination came from the realization that there were far more than just Turkish and "foreignese," as she once thought as a child. This curiosity shaped her journey into linguistics, a field that promises endless exploration of the intricacies behind human language.
In middle school, Demet envisioned herself as an English teacher, but a deep dive into Tolkien’s works (and a mistaken assumption about philology) led her to MIT’s Open Course materials on linguistics. The discovery of syntax and phonology sparked a fascination with the linguistic system itself—something beyond the acquisition of individual languages. This path led her to earn a BA in Linguistics from Dokuz Eylül University, where she explored Turkish morpho-syntax and discovered the drive to pursue a PhD. After completing an MA at Boğaziçi University, where she specialized in syntax-semantics and Turkish Sign Language (TİD), she became drawn to her current work aiming to provide novel data that could challenge the existing generalizations previously made by only taking languages of the auditory modality in account.
Demet chose the University of Michigan to pursue her research interests in TİD and generative linguistics, along with her focus on Turkish syntax. A pivotal influence in her decision was Dr. Natasha Abner, her primary advisor, whom she met at the Theoretical Issues in Sign Language Research (TISL 13) conference. There, Dr. Abner provided insightful feedback on Demet’s MA thesis, establishing a collaborative rapport that, alongside U-M's collegial environment, made Michigan an ideal choice.
Demet’s research delves into how humans conceptualize an event, and how participants of an event are encoded in natural language. Early in her career, she worked on reflexive structures, where the subject and object refer to the same entity—something observed across all human languages, albeit encoded in different ways. Fascinatingly, these same linguistic tools used to encode reflexivity are also employed as markers of grammatical emphasis. This functional overlap, attested across diverse languages, reveals something fundamental about how humans translate their perceptions of the world into language
Her dissertation expands on this research, shifting to a broader study of how nouns and verbs—key categories in language—correspond to core human concepts like objects and actions. Demet’s work also takes a step further by incorporating gesture into her exploration, bridging spoken language, sign language, and gestural communication to examine how these modes of expression interact in the conceptualization of events. This multi-modal approach enhances the understanding of how humans communicate experience across diverse linguistic and gestural systems.
Demet has several publications to her name, including peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and conference proceedings. Notably, she co-authored an article with Dr. Natasha Abner titled "On the Reflexive KENDİ in Turkish Sign Language," which was published in Frontiers in Psychology. Demet's academic achievements are further distinguished by her receipt of the prestigious Rackham Pre-Doctoral Fellowship. This highly competitive award recognizes promising and distinguished PhD candidates, providing vital support for their doctoral research.
Outside of linguistics, Demet enjoys single-player RPGs and indie games, embroidery, and baking for both people and pets. She also finds joy in concerts, comedy shows, and travel whenever she can fit it in.
