ZWELL ZWELL
creative portfolio

I am currently a PhD student and former GRFP fellow at UC Berkeley; my research focuses on biocultural documentation, phonetics/phonology, and descriptive morphosyntax. My current language of research is Cua (tyu; Eastern Kalahari Khoe). My creative work is available via my creative portfolio.

current undertakings

  • A phonetic description of tonal melodies in Cua.  pdf (qualifying paper #2: Committee: Hannah Sande & Keith Johnson)
  • Non-Pulmonic Consonants in Cua (handbook chapter in progress)

publications

  • Collins, Chris and Zachary Wellstood. 2025. A Grammatical Sketch of Cua. Berlin: Peter Lang. DOI: 10.3726/b22557
  • Wellstood, Zachary. 2022. A relative clause analysis of event existential constructions in Aklanon.  Glossa: a journal of general linguistics 7(1). DOI: 10.16995/glossa.5866  pdf (based on qualifying paper #1; Committee: Line Mikkelsen & Amy Rose Deal)
  • Zachary Wellstood, Nellie Zorc, and R. David Zorc. Documenting Aklanon Morphosyntax, 2023-12, California Language Archive, Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, DOI: 10.7297/X2W66K1F.

teaching

  • Introduction to Linguistic Science Fall 2024, Graduate Student Instructor of Sections 104, 105, 114
  • Endangered Languages: Why does linguistic diversity matter? Spring 2021 (via Zoom), Primary Instructor.  syllabus
  • Introduction to Linguistic Science Fall 2020 (via Zoom), Graduate Student Instructor of Sections 103, 111, 112
  • Intro to Linguistics via Conlanging March 8, 2020 @ Splash! at Berkeley  handout  slides

talks

posters

presentations

research experience

  • Research Assistant to Prof. Chris Collins, Training Students for Fieldwork on the Khoisan Languages, NSF Grant #1760980 June 2018 — 2024
  • Postbaccalaureate Research Assistant to Prof. Maria Polinsky at the University of Maryland, College Park August 2018 — May 2019
  • Research Assistant to Prof. Zvjezdana Vrzic, Documentation of the Vlashki/Zheyanski Language, NSF Grant #1160696 October 2015 — October 2018
  • Independent Researcher (Gurung; Sino-Tibetan) January 4 — 24, 2017
    Co-led linguistic fieldwork with Danielle Ronkos and Lingzi Zhuang in Sikles, Nepal to document the threatened Sikles dialect of Gurung.
  • Volunteer at the Endangered Language Alliance July 2014 — May 2017
    Led weekly meetings with a speaker of Sikles Gurung to perform interviews, record oral texts, transcribe, gloss, analyze, translate texts in Fieldworks Language Explorer, and elicit & record syntactic and lexical data.
  • Assistant to Prof. Zvjezdana Vrzic at DERSII 2016 July 10 — 15, 2016
    Provided technical & logistical assistance at Prof. Vrzic’s 2-week workshop, Documentation and Revitalization of the Istriot Language (Istrioto; Romance), in Rovinj, Croatia. Helped teach Fieldworks Language Explorer, WeSay, and SayMore.
  • Research Assistant to Prof. Chris Collins April 2 — May 14, 2016
    Assist documenting Sasi & Kua (two moribund Khoisan languages) for 6 weeks.
  • ‘Filling in the Gaps’ (Honors Thesis) July 2014 — April 2015
  • U.S. Dept. of State’s Critical Language Scholarship for Chinese Summer 2013

education

  • University of California, Berkeley (Ph.D. in progress) — Linguistics
  • University of California, Berkeley (M.A. 2021) — Linguistics
  • New York University (B.A. 2015) — Linguistics, High Honors; Minors: Mandarin Chinese, Global Visual Arts

honors

  • 2024 Dept. of State's Critical Language Scholarship Refresh Program
  • 2019 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (GRFP)
  • 2015 Phi Beta Kappa; Robert A. Fowkes Prize for High Achievement in Linguistics at NYU; Magna Cum Laude; NYU Dean’s List (all 4 years)
  • 2013 Bernard and Dorothy Layton Foundation Scholarship; Liberal Studies Dean’s Circle
  • 2011 USCPFA Bellinson Scholarship Award for Excellence in Chinese

organizing experience

rejection collection