ABOUT ME

I am a typologist at the intersection of corpus linguistics, usage-based linguistics, language documentation, Construction Grammar (CxG), cognitive linguistics, and quantitative linguistics, who uses a variety of different methodologies to explore primary and secondary data of languages spoken in different parts of the world. My research focuses particularly on how morphosyntactic features interact with other features in language use from a typological and corpus-based perspective. For this, I focus on complex sentence constructions as the main empirical domain (e.g., adverbial clauses, relative clauses, complement clauses).

My typological work has enabled me to identify two-way interactions between morphosyntactic features that arise in individual constructions and that have been traditionally neglected in the literature. The findings of this line of research inform general theories of REDUNDANCY MANAGEMENT IN GRAMMAR. Redundancy (i.e., the use of more than one form relating to a single meaning within a construction) has often been described by linguists as universal to the architecture of language (Sadock 2012: 225). However, my work shows that morphosyntactic redundancy is dispreferred in the languages of the world. Instead, languages tend to show functional trade-offs between morphosyntactic features in the expression of specific communicative functions. My typological work also goes beyond the comparison of isolated constructions to examining systems of constructions that share similar semantic and pragmatic characteristics from a monofactorial and multifactorial perspective. Such cross-constructional analysis sheds light on how associative links between constructions arise from speakers’ experience with recurring patterns, as well as how specific constructions guide the categorization of novel linguistic experiences from a diachronic perspective. The findings of this line of research are in accordance with the view that formal resemblances among syntactic constructions are the result of categorization, analogy, and semantic similarity and not the result of derivational processes. The typological analysis of individual constructions as well as that of networks of constructions adopted in my research goes beyond classic presence-absence analyses, in which typology has been characterized as categorical in the sense that grammatical constructions, distinctions, and variables are typically classified in binary terms as either present or absent.

Representative publications

Olguín Martínez, Jesús. 2026. Precautioning purpose constructions in typological perspective: A functional trade-off between clause-linking devices and TAM marking. Journal of World Languages 12. 389-423.

Olguín Martínez, Jesús. 2025. The interaction of irrealis markers and blocking effects in counterfactual conditionals: Theoretical implications. Linguistic Typology 29. 361-403.

Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Phil Rogers. 2024. A cross-linguistic analysis of cross-clausal associations: Counterfactual conditionals. STUF-Language Typology and Universals 77. 467-514.

Olguín Martínez, Jesús, Alonso Vásquez, & Pilar Valenzuela. 2024. Temporal ‘since’ constructions in cross-linguistic perspective. STUF-Language Typology and Universals 77. 371-416.

Olguín Martínez, Jesús. 2024. Semantically negative clause-linkage: ‘Let alone’ constructions, expletive negation, and theoretical implications. Linguistic Typology 28. 1-52.

From a language-specific corpus-based perspective, I have extended the analysis mentioned above beyond morphosyntax to explore the interplay between morphosyntax and other grammatical domains, including the lexicon, semantics, discourse-pragmatics, and conversation, drawing on insights from CxG and Cognitive Linguistics. My research is based on both original data collected through the documentation of indigenous Mesoamerican languages and corpus data from Indo-European languages, particularly Spanish and English. The findings of my corpus-based research have important implications for CLASSICAL INHERITANCE LINKS. Inheritance links of classical CxG are unidirectional in the sense that they transmit information from high-level schemas to low-level constructions, but there is no upwards direction of inheritance. My work shows that inheritance links can be investigated from both directions (upwards and downwards direction). Another important area of my work is the following. Although the consensus of CxG is that external properties of constructions (e.g., discourse-pragmatic functions, conversational functions) play a crucial in the operation of the language system (Kemmer & Barlow 2002), it remains largely understudied how we can explore the complex interaction of multiple internal and external factors in constructions (CONSTRUCTIONHOOD). The findings of my corpus-based research have also important implications for the way we characterize this domain from a methodological perspective. In particular, this has allowed me to demonstrate that filler-slot relations (i.e., the co-occurrence patterning of lexemes and constructions) are not only influenced by international properties of construction, but also by external properties.

Representative publications

Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Stefan Th. Gries. 2026. The link between syntax, semantics, discourse, and lexicon in counteridenticals: A multivariate extension of co-varying collexeme analysis. Functions of Language 32. 339-365.

Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Stefan Th. Gries. 2026. Clarifying when-constructions: Conversation, morphosyntax, lexicon, and mode and their interactions in language use. Research in Corpus Linguistics 14. 290-320.

Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Stefan Th. Gries. 2026. Syntax in social interaction: Syntax, conversation, discourse-pragmatics, lexicon, and mode in if you ask me constructions. Corpus-based studies in the humanities 4- 45-74.

Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Stefan Th. Gries. 2025. The similative-pretence alternating pair and filler-slot relations. A revised version of distinctive collexeme analysis. Constructions and Frames 17. 65-91.

Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Stefan Th. Gries. 2024. If not for-if it weren’t/wasn’t for counterfactual constructions: A multivariate extension of collostructional analysis. Cognitive Semantics 10. 159-189.

In addition to examining such interactions within individual languages, I have investigated how these patterns spread across languages through processes of language contact. My research has shown that traditional models of language contact, which rely on rigid separations among structural levels such as the lexicon, syntax, and morphology, are insufficient for describing complex contact situations in which multiple linguistic domains interact simultaneously.

Representative publications

Olguín Martínez, Jesús. 2026. Exceptive constructions in Huasteca Nahuatl: On the interaction of syntax and discourse in language use. Studies in Language 50. 206-232.

Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Stefan Th. Gries. 2026. Filler-slot relations in language contact: Lexico-syntactic transference from a usage-based perspective. Review of Cognitive Linguistics (published online).

Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Stefan Th. Gries. 2026. Similative-pretence constructions in language contact situations: A Usage-Based Construction Grammar perspective. Cognitive Linguistic Studies 12. 292-321.

Olguín Martínez, Jesús. 2024. ‘Until’ clauses and expletive negation in Huasteca Nahuatl. Studies in Language 48. 753-780.

More broadly, the findings of my typological and corpus-based research inform linguistic theory regarding how grammatical systems emerge, spread, and change through the interaction of usage-based factors and diachronic processes.

ACADEMIC AND RESEARCH POSITIONS

2026- Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in Linguistics. University of Hong Kong Linguistics Department

2025 Instructor-Linguistic Society of America Summer Institute 2025: Advanced Syntactic Typology. University of Oregon Linguistics Department

2023-2025 Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in Theoretical Linguistics. Illinois State University English Department

2023 Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship. Institute of Asian and African Studies at the Humboldt University of Berlin (Postdoc)

EDUCATION

2017-2022-Ph.D. in Linguistics-University of California, Santa Barbara

2014-2016-M.A. in Linguistics-University of Sonora

2009-2014- BA in English Language Teaching-University of Sonora

Peer-review journal publications

2026 Olguín Martínez, Jesús. Exceptive constructions in Huasteca Nahuatl: On the interaction of syntax and discourse in language use. Studies in Language 50. 206-232.

2026 Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Stefan Th. Gries. Syntax in social interaction: Syntax, conversation, discourse-pragmatics, lexicon, and mode in if you ask me constructions. Corpus-based studies across humanities (published online).

2026 Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Stefan Th. Gries. 2026. Clarifying when-constructions: Conversation, morphosyntax, lexicon, and mode and their interactions in language use. Research in Corpus Linguistics 14. 290-320. 

2026 Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Stefan Th. Gries. The link between syntax, semantics, discourse, and lexicon in counteridenticals: A multivariate extension of co-varying collexeme analysis. Functions of Language 32. 339-365.

2026 Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Stefan Th. Gries. Filler-slot relations in language contact: Lexico-syntactic transference from a usage-based perspective. Review of Cognitive Linguistics (published online).

2025 Olguín Martínez, Jesús. Precautioning purpose constructions in typological perspective: A functional trade-off between clause-linking devices and TAM marking. Journal of World Languages (published online)

2025 Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Stefan Th. Gries. Similative-pretence constructions in language contact situations: A Usage-Based Construction Grammar perspective. Cognitive Linguistic Studies 12. 292-321.

2025 Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Stefan Th. Gries. 2025. The similative-pretence alternating pair and filler-slot relations. A revised version of distinctive collexeme analysis. Constructions and Frames 17. 65-91.

2025 Olguín Martínez, Jesús. The interaction of irrealis markers and blocking effects in counterfactual conditionals: Theoretical implications. Linguistic Typology 29. 361-403.

2024 Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Phil Rogers. A cross-linguistic analysis of cross-clausal associations: Counterfactual conditionals. STUF-Language Typology and Universals 77. 467-514.

2024 Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Stefan Th. Gries. If not for-if it weren’t/wasn’t for counterfactual constructions: A multivariate extension of collostructional analysis. Cognitive Semantics 10. 159-189.

2024 Olguín Martínez, Jesús, Alonso Vásquez, & Pilar Valenzuela. Temporal ‘since’ constructions in cross-linguistic perspective. STUF-Language Typology and Universals 77. 371-416.

2024 Olguín Martínez, Jesús. The intertwining of discourse, syntax, and lexicon in language use: The case of Huasteca Nahuatl pleonastic conditionals. LIAMES: Línguas Indígenas Americanas 24. 1-21.

2024 Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Alonso Vásquez. Counterfactual conditional strategies in some Amazonian languages. LIAMES: Línguas Indígenas Americanas 24. 1-28.

2024 Olguín Martínez, Jesús. Semantically negative clause-linkage: ‘Let alone’ constructions, expletive negation, and theoretical implications. Linguistic Typology 28. 1-52.

2024 Olguín Martínez, Jesús. The interaction of standard negation in clauses of substitution: A typological account. Folia Lingüística 58. 157-190.

2024 Olguín Martínez, Jesús. ‘Until’ clauses and expletive negation in Huasteca Nahuatl. Studies in Language 48. 753-780.

2023 Olguín Martínez, Jesús. Temporal adverbial clauses: A cross-linguistic perspective. Lingua Posnaniensis 65. 47-76.

2023 Olguín Martínez, Jesús. Precedence clauses in the world’s languages: Negative markers need not be expletive. STUF-Language Typology and Universals 76. 587-634.

2023 Olguín Martínez, Jesús. ‘Until’ clauses in typological perspective. Rhema 3. 33-64.

2023 Olguín Martínez, Jesús. Areality of clause-linkage: The consecutive construction in Mesoamerican languages. Voprosy Jazykoznanija (‘Topics in the Study of Language’) 3. 122-142.

2023 Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Manuel Peregrina Llanes. ‘Without V-ing’ clauses: Clausal negative concomitance in typological perspective. Folia Linguistica 57. 37-80.

2022 Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Alonso Vásquez. The contribution of Amazonian languages to the typology of purpose clauses. LIAMES: Línguas Indígenas Americanas 22. 1-21.

2022 Olguín Martínez, Jesús. Contact-induced language change: The case of Mixtec adverbial clauses. Journal of Language Contact 15. 1-70.

2021 Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Nicholas Lester. A quantitative analysis of counterfactual conditionals in the world’s languages. Italian Journal of Linguistics 33. 147-182.

2021 Olguín Martínez, Jesús. Hypothetical manner constructions in world-wide perspective. Journal of Linguistic typology at the crossroads 1. 2-33.

2020 Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Zarina Estrada Fernández. Adverbial clauses in Huasteca Nahuatl from a functional-typological approach. LIAMES: Línguas Indígenas Americanas 20. 1-21.

2020 Olguín Martínez, Jesús. Attributive temporal clauses in cross-linguistic perspective. Te Reo. The Journal of the Linguistic Society of New Zealand 63. 1-36.

Peer-review chapters in edited volumes

2025 Olguín Martínez, Jesús, Bernard Comrie, & Eric W. Campbell. The expression of temporal subsequence in Uto-Aztecan languages: An intragenetic functional typological approach. Dependencias Simétricas y Asimétricas, Zarina Estrada Fernández, Dioney M. Gomes, & Albert Álvarez González (eds.), 147-169. Universidad de Sonora: Universidad de Sonora Press.

2023 Olguín Martínez, Jesús. A typological study of tail-head linkage constructions. In Discourse phenomena in typological perspective, Alessandra Barotto & Simone Mattiola (eds.), 403-432. Amsterdam: John Benjamins (Studies in Language Companion Series)

2019 Olguín Martínez, Jesús, Zarina Estrada Fernández, & Manuel Peregrina Llanes. Dissecting adverbial clauses in Veracruz Huasteca Nahuatl. In Estudios de lenguas amerindias 4. Escenario actual de la investigación sobre lenguas yutoaztecas. Homenaje a Jane H. Hill. Zarina Estrada Fernández, Mercedes Tubino Blanco, & Albert Álvarez González (eds.), 257-280. Universidad de Sonora.