Daniel Finer's research focuses on syntax, including the acquisition of syntax in both first and second language learning, and the syntactic structures of bilingual code switching. He is particularly interested in incorporating insights from less studied (and sometimes endangered) languages into a universal theory of linguistic structure. He has worked on native American languages and languages of New Guinea, and his work in recent years has concentrated on the structure of the Austronesian languages of southwestern Sulawesi (Indonesia). These languages have been a rich source of data bearing on his theoretical interests in long-distance dependencies, head movement, verb-peripherality, switch-reference systems, and the interpretation and distribution of pronominal elements. Current projects include investigation of the ways in which syntactic structure interacts with the phonological and semantic components of the grammar.

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