Nathan Sanders

My main research focus is on teaching and learning in linguistics, especially innovative pedagogy (such as gamification, project-based learning, and creative/artistic approaches in STEM) and addressing linguistic injustice and biases in the classroom and in teaching materials. I do research on signed and spoken languages in the areas of theoretical phonology, phonetics, and linguistic typology, with an overall drive to understand to physical, biological, and cognitive factors that shape language. I have worked on derivational opacity, ludlings (language games, like Pig Latin), the history and use of constructed languages (like Esperanto and Klingon), Polish phonology, historical phonology, perception and biomechanics of signed languages, and mathematical and statistical models of linguistic phenomena.

I was the Principal Investigator for "Innovations in Linguistic Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the Linguistics Curriculum and Beyond", an initiative to develop course materials and pedagogical methods for linguistics that address issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion. More information is available on our Linguistics Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Respository.

I am a collaborator on Kathleen Currie's Hall's SSHRC-funded project "Message-Oriented Phonology: Canadian ASL", with Julie Hochgesang, Hope Morgan, Erin Wilkinson, Nigel Howard, and Janet Jamieson.

I have designed a number of educational games for learning the International Phonetic Alphabet and phonetic terminology.

Fall 2024–Winter 2025:
on leave

other courses taught:
LIN101: Introduction to Linguistics: Sound Structure
LIN197: Language and Social Justice
LIN200: Introduction to Language
LIN228: Phonetics
LIN229: Phonological Patterns in Language
LIN305: Quantitative Methods in Linguistics
LIN322: Phonological Theory
LIN402: Linguistic Typology and Constructed Languages
LIN1104: Quantitative Methods in Linguistics (graduate)
LIN1121: Phonological Theory (graduate)

SB in Mathematics, minor in Linguistics, MIT (1996)

MA and PhD in Linguistics, University of California, Santa Cruz (2000, 2003)

PhD dissertation: Opacity and sound change in the Polish lexicon [ PDF ]

Sanders, Nathan. Forthcoming. Effective teaching in phonetics and phonology. Invited talk at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Sanders, Nathan, and Danielle Daidone. Forthcoming. Physical and online games for phonetics and phonology. In Vita V. Kogan, ed. Games for students of linguistics. Cascadilla Press. [ PDF (draft) ]

Konnelly, Lex, Pocholo Umbal, and Nathan Sanders. Forthcoming. On the use of names and example sentences in the linguistics classroom. Canadian Journal of Linguistics 69. [ PDF (draft) ]

Anderson, Catherine, Margaret Grant, and Nathan Sanders. Forthcoming. Building capacity for the scholarship of teaching and learning in linguistics in Canada. Canadian Journal of Linguistics. [ PDF (draft) ]

Anderson, Catherine, Margaret Grant, and Nathan Sanders, eds. Forthcoming. Canadian Journal of Linguistics. Special issue on teaching and learning in linguistics.

Konnelly, Lex, Nathan Sanders, Jason Siefken, and Pocholo Umbal. Forthcoming. Are writing questions in math fair? Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Konnelly, Lex, and Nathan Sanders. Forthcoming. Confronting AI hype in the classroom. Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America. [ PDF (draft) ]

Sanders, Nathan. In progress. A modular introduction to phonetics and phonology. Oxford University Press.

Knowles, Rebecca, and Nathan Sanders. 2024. Data-driven approaches. In Nancy A. Ritter and Harry van der Hulst, eds. Handbook of vowel harmony. Oxford University Press. [ PDF (draft) ]

Napoli, Donna Jo, and Nathan Sanders. 2024. An approach to path movement in the diachronic study of sign languages: Biomechanics and nonarbitrariness. Diachronica 41(2): 203–250. [ PDF (draft) ] [ DOI ]

Sanders, Nathan. 2024. Using learning games for phonetics and phonology. Invited talk at the University of Toronto for the Society of Linguistics Undergraduate Students. [ PDF (slides) ]. Also given in 2023 at San Jose State University for the Linguistics and Language Development Student Association and in 2023 at Simon Fraser University.

Sanders, Nathan, Lex Konnelly, and Pocholo Umbal. 2024. An action-based roadmap for equity, diversity, and inclusion in teaching linguistics. In Anne H. Charity Hudley, Christine Mallinson, and Mary Bucholtz, eds. Inclusion in linguistics. Oxford University Press. 357–382. [ DOI ]

Konnelly, Lex, and Nathan Sanders. 2024. Confronting AI hype in the classroom: ChatGPT and an equity-first linguistics pedagogy. Invited talk for the Teaching Linguistics: A Glimpse into the Future organized session at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America. [ PDF (slides) ]

Sanders, Nathan. 2023. Teaching linguistics with equity, diversity, and inclusion. Invited talk at Simon Fraser University. [ PDF (slides) ]

Konnelly, Lex, Nathan Sanders, Jason Siefken, and Pocholo Umbal. 2022. Are writing questions in math fair? 6th Northeastern Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education. [ PDF (slides) ]

Jurgec, Peter, Liisa Duncan, Emily Elfner, Yoonjung Kang, Alexei Kochetov, Brittney K. O’Neill, Avery Ozburn, Keren Rice, Nathan Sanders, Jessamyn Schertz, Nate Shaftoe, and Lisa Sullivan, eds. Proceedings of the 2021 Annual Meeting on Phonology. Washington, DC: Linguistic Society of America.

Sanders, Nathan. 2022. The Linguistics Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Repository as a resource for instructors. Invited plenary talk at the Workshop on Linguistic Equity and Justice, University of Toronto Mississauga. [ PDF (slides) ]

Anderson, Catherine, Bronwyn Bjorkman, Derek Denis, Julianne Doner, Margaret Grant, Nathan Sanders, and Ai Taniguchi. 2022. Essentials of Linguistics, second edition. Toronto: eCampusOntario.

Anderson, Catherine, Bronwyn Bjorkman, Derek Denis, Margaret Grant, Martin Kohlberger, Nathan Sanders, and Ai Taniguchi. 2022. Teaching introductory linguistics with justice: Updating an open educational resource. Congrès annuel de l’Association canadienne de linguistique 2022 | 2022 annual meeting of the Canadian Linguistic Association. [ PDF (slides) ]

Hall, Kathleen Currie (principal investigator); Julie Hochgesang, Hope Morgan, Nathan Sanders, Erin Wilkinson, Nigel Howard, and Janet Jamieson (collaborators). 2021–present. Message-oriented phonology: Canadian ASL. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Insight Grant.

Sanders, Nathan (principal investigator); Lex Konnelly, Pocholo Umbal, Keren Rice, and Naomi Nagy (collaborators). 2019–2022. Linguistic equity, diversity, and inclusion in the linguistics curriculum and beyond. Learning and Education Advancement Fund project, University of Toronto.

Sanders, Nathan. 2021. Designing online quizzes and tests: Principles and implementation. Pedagogy Workshop, Department of Linguistics, University of Toronto. [ PDF (slides) ]

Sanders, Nathan. 2021. Restructuring tests. Journal for Research and Practice in College Teaching 6(2). Special issue of personal narratives: After innovating teaching during the pandemic, what will stick? [ PDF ]

Sanders, Nathan. 2021. Language-based biases in legal contexts. Invited webinar for ezCPD.ca. [ video (59m13s) ] [ PDF (slides) ]

Konnelly, Lex, Pocholo Umbal, and Nathan Sanders. 2021. The Diverse Names Database: A tool for creating more equitable, diverse, and inclusive linguistic example sentences. Special Session on Pedagogy, Congrès annuel de l’Association canadienne de linguistique 2021 | 2021 annual meeting of the Canadian Linguistic Association. [ PDF (slides) ]

Sullivan, Lisa, Erin Vearncombe, and Nathan Sanders. 2021. Grading grading: Training for consistency, efficiency, and effectiveness in marking linguistics writing. Special Session on Pedagogy, Congrès annuel de l’Association canadienne de linguistique 2021 | 2021 annual meeting of the Canadian Linguistic Association. [ PDF (slides) ]

Sanders, Nathan. 2021. Teaching semantics from a JEDI perspective: Some considerations. Invited presentation. Workshop on Inclusive Teaching in Semantics, 31st Semantics and Linguistic Theory conference. [ YouTube (talk, 21m45s) ] [ PDF (slides) ]

Sanders, Nathan, Pocholo Umbal, and Lex Konnelly. 2021. The Linguistics Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Repository (LEDIR). https://ledir.ling.utoronto.ca/

Sanders, Nathan, Adrian Zhao, and Chaerin Song. 2021–present. Phonogenesis: An online tool for generating novel phonological data. Website. https://phonogenesis.accelsnow.com/ (temporary URL for beta version)

Sanders, Nathan, and Peter Jurgec (principle investigators). 2018–2021. Constructing naturalistic linguistic data for the classroom. Advanced Teaching and Learning in Arts & Science project, University of Toronto.

Anderson, Catherine, Bronwyn Bjorkman, Julie Doner, Félix Desmeules-Trudel, Margaret Grant, Daniel Currie Hall, Timothy Mills, Nathan Sanders, and Ai Taniguchi. 2021. Podcasting in a pandemic for teaching, outreach, and justice. Presentation Opportunities for Scholarly Teaching, Education, and Resources panel discussion in the Scholarly Teaching in the Age of Covid-19 and Beyond organized session. The 95th Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America. [ presentation webpage (video and transcript, 10m38s) ]

Sanders, Nathan, Lex Konnelly, and Pocholo Umbal. 2020. Building equity, diversity and inclusion in courses: A case study in linguistics. Talk given at Faculty of Arts & Science Teaching & Learning Community of Practice, University of Toronto. [ PDF (slides) ]

Namboodiripad, Savithry, and Nathan Sanders. 2020. Centering linguistic diversity and justice in course design. Racial Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in the Linguistics Curriculum webinar series. Linguistic Society of America. [ info page ] [ PDF (slides) ] [ YouTube (webinar, 1h27m09s) ]

Sanders, Nathan, Pocholo Umbal, and Lex Konnelly. 2020. Methods for increasing equity, diversity, and inclusion in linguistics pedagogy. Talk given at Congrès annuel de l’Association canadienne de linguistique 2020 | 2020 annual meeting of the Canadian Linguistic Association. [ PDF (slides) ] [ PDF (proceedings) ] [ YouTube (talk, 30m16s) ]

Sanders, Nathan, with host Michelle Garcia-Vega. Forthcoming. Why we do historical linguistics. Word to the Whys podcast episode. TILCoP Canada. Anderson, Catherine, with host Nathan Sanders. 2020. Why we do language acquisition. Word to the Whys podcast episode #6. TILCoP Canada. Sanders, Nathan, with host Margaret Grant. 2020. Why we do phonetics. Word to the Whys podcast episode #1. TILCoP Canada.

Punske, Jeffrey, Nathan Sanders, and Amy V. Fountain, eds. 2020. Language invention in linguistics pedagogy. Oxford University Press. [ DOI ] Punske, Jeffrey, Nathan Sanders, and Amy V. Fountain. 2020. Introduction. In Punske et al., eds. Language invention in linguistics pedagogy. Oxford University Press. 1–5. [ DOI ] Sanders, Nathan. 2020. A primer on constructed languages. In Punske et al., eds. Language invention in linguistics pedagogy. Oxford University Press. 6–26. [ DOI ] Sanders, Nathan, and Christine Schreyer. 2020. Moving beyond linguistics: The interdisciplinarity of conlangs. In Punske et al., eds. Language invention in linguistics pedagogy. Oxford University Press. 169–185. [ DOI ]

Sanders, Nathan. 2018. Articulation versus perception in sign language movement. Invited talk given at Gallaudet University. [ PDF (slides) ]

Sanders, Nathan. 2018. Some issues in the perceptual phonetics of sign language: Motion-in-depth and the horizontal-vertical illusion. Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics 40. Special issue from the CRC-Sponsored Phonetics/Phonology Workshops. [ PDF ]

Sanders, Nathan. 2018. Articulatory and perceptual patterns in sign language lexicons. Keynote speech at the 11th Annual Toronto Undergraduate Linguistics Conference [TULCon11]. [ PDF (slides) ]

Sanders, Nathan. 2018. A case study in teaching linguistics to middle school students with language-based learning differences. Poster presentation in Expanding the Reach of Linguistics: Collaborations with Other Disciplines and Beyond, organized session at the 92nd Annual Meeting of the Linguistics Society of America. [ PDF (poster) ] [ PDF (materials) ]

Sanders, Nathan. 2017. Some issues in the perceptual phonetics of sign language: Motion-in-depth and the horizontal-vertical illusion. Talk given at the 2017 CRC-Sponsored Summer Phonetics/Phonology Workshop at the University of Toronto. [ PDF (handout) ]

Sanders, Nathan. 2017. Scales of effort in sign language articulation and perception. Invited talk at the University of Delaware. [ PDF (slides) ]

Sanders, Nathan. 2017. What sign languages tell us about phonetics: Expanding the notion of articulatory effort. Invited talk at the University of Toronto on joint work with Donna Jo Napoli. [ PDF (slides) ]

Sanders, Nathan. 2017. Constructed languages as a bridge to interdisciplinary teaching. Presentation in Teaching Linguistics with Invented Languages, organized session at the 91st Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America. [ PDF (slides) ]

Sanders, Nathan, and Donna Jo Napoli. 2016. A cross-linguistic preference for torso stability in the lexicon: Evidence from 24 sign languages. Sign Language & Linguistics 19(2). 197–231. [ PDF (preprint) ] [ DOI ]

Sanders, Nathan, and Donna Jo Napoli. 2016. Signs of efficiency: Maintaining torso stability affects sign language vocabulary. Natural History 124(9). 28–32. [ PDF ]

Sanders, Nathan. 2016. Constructed languages in the classroom. Language 92(3). e192–e204. [ PDF (preprint) ] [ DOI ]

Sanders, Nathan, and Donna Jo Napoli. 2016. Reactive effort as a factor that shapes sign language lexicons. Language 92(2). 275–297. [ PDF (preprint) ] [ DOI ]

Sanders, Nathan. 2016. nslxIPA. Unicode IPA keyboard layout and documentation. v1.0. [ website ]

Sanders, Nathan, and Donna Jo Napoli. 2015. Active and reactive effort in sign language phonetics. Invited talk for the Tri-Lo Linguistics Lecture Series at Swarthmore College. [ PDF (slides) ]

Sanders, Nathan. 2014. Gradient (dis)harmony: Hidden harmony and anti-harmony. Poster presented at Phonology 2014 (Annual Meetings on Phonology), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. [ PDF (mini-paper) ] [ PDF (poster) ]

Napoli, Donna Jo, Nathan Sanders, and Rebecca Wright. 2014. On the linguistic effects of articulatory ease, with a focus on sign languages. Language 90(2). 424–456. [ DOI ]

Sanders, Nathan. 2006/2014. OTtablx. LaTeX software package and documentation. v0.4. [ website ]

Harrison, K. David, Nathan Sanders, Rachel Killackey, Kathryn Montemurro, and Peter Nilsson. 2012. The Tuvan Machine Translation Project.

Sanders, Nathan, and K. David Harrison. 2012. Discovering new vowel harmony patterns using a pairwise statistical model. Poster presented at the 20th Manchester Phonology Meeting, University of Manchester.

Napoli, Donna Jo, Nathan Sanders, and Rebecca Wright. 2011. Some aspects of ease of articulation in American Sign Language. Invited talk given at Stony Brook University. [ PDF (handout) ]

Sanders, Nathan, and Jaye Padgett. 2009. Exploring the role of production in predicting vowel inventories. Talk given at the 83rd Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America. [ PDF (handout) ]

Cerny, Jacob, Christopher Paci, and Nathan Sanders. 2009. Towards a classification of the northern Berkshires dialect of American English. Poster presented at the 83rd Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America. [ PDF (poster) ]

Sanders, Nathan, and Jaye Padgett. 2008. Articulatory parameters in a dispersion-focalization model of vowel systems. Talk given at the UC Santa Cruz Linguistics Alumni Conference. [ PDF (handout) ]

Sanders, Nathan, and Jaye Padgett. 2008. Predicting vowel inventories from a dispersion-focalization model: New results. Papers from the 44th Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistics Society. [ PDF ]

Sanders, Nathan. 2006. Strong lexicon optimization. Talk given at Umass Phonology Group. [ PDF (handout) ]

Sanders, Nathan. 2004. Opacity from contrast: Neutral segments in harmony systems. Talk given at the 12th Manchester Phonology Meeting, University of Manchester. [ PDF (handout) ]

Sanders, Nathan. 2003. Opacity and sound change in the Polish lexicon. PhD dissertation, UCSC. [ abstract ] [ PDF (defense handout) ] [ PDF (dissertation) ]

Sanders, Nathan. 2002. Dispersion in OT: Color contrast in Middle Polish nasal vowels. WCCFL 21 Proceedings. 415–428. [ PDF ]

Sanders, Nathan. 2001. Preserving synchronic parallelism: Diachrony and opacity in Polish. CLS 37: The Main Session. Papers from the 37th Meeting of the Chicago Linguistics Society. 501–516. [ PDF ]

Sanders, Nathan. 2000. Intra-representational correspondence and the realization of empty morphemes. Qualifying exam paper, UCSC. [ PDF ]

Sanders, Nathan. 1999. Same-edge alignment with opposite-edge effects. Talk given at WCCFL 18. [ PDF (handout) ]

Sanders, Nathan. 1999. Intra-representational correspondence and truncation. Paper given at Linguistics at Santa Cruz. [ PDF ]

Kurisu, Kazutaka, and Nathan Sanders. 1999. Infixal nominal reduplication in Mangarayi. Phonology at Santa Cruz 6. 47–56. [ PDF ]