David Willis (linguist)


David Willis is a linguist and Celticist. In 2020 he took up the post of Jesus Professor of Celtic at the University of Oxford. He had previously held posts in historical linguistics at the University of Manchester and at the University of Cambridge, where he was a Fellow of Selwyn College.

Research

His research is in the areas of language change and syntax, with particular reference to the Celtic and Slavic languages as well as to English. The synchronic and diachronic syntax of Welsh has been a particular focus: his first book was on the loss of verb-second in the history of Welsh, and he has co-authored a textbook on the syntax of the present-day language. He is also an expert in the syntax of negation and on Jespersen's cycle cross-linguistically.

Selected publications