L. R. 'Nik' Nikolai

L. R. "Nik" Nikolai works in theoretical and experimental semantics, guided by the idea that analyzing sign languages and other understudied languages helps linguists to make more powerful theoretical claims about language as a whole. Her research has focused on three broad topics: how gradability is expressed in American Sign Language (ASL) both by means of manual markers (viz. the hands) and non-manual markers (viz. grammaticalized facial and body expressions) on a variety of expressions, the iconic properties of event structure in sign languages, and how modal force and flavor are expressed, modified, and strengthened in sign languages.