Research

The main focus of her research lays on the diachronic syntax of the Romance languages, especially Catalan and bordering linguistic varieties, mainly Occitan, Aragonese, Spanish and French. Her PhD thesis, entitled Word Order in Old Catalan, provided the first comprehensive account of word order in Old Catalan, using data drawn from a 13th century historical chronicle. Currently, Afra is working on different aspects of the syntax of Old Catalan (mainly revolving around polarity and the interplay between syntax and register).

She is also keenly interested in (historical) sociolinguistics and discourse analysis.