Hi, I am Rafa

I am a first year PhD student in Formal Linguistics at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, where I am advised by Louise McNally, and a member of GLiF. In my PhD thesis, I explore the semantics of words that are derived from proper names from formal and probabilistic perspectives. Specifically, I deal with the problem of developing a semantic account that explains how the integration of the information from the proper name and the information from morphology is achieved when a word of this kind is derived.

My research interests lie in the interface between philosophy and linguistics. In Bogotá, I did a B.A. in Philosophy (2017), a B.A in Linguistics (2019) and a M.A. in Philosophy (2022). In my M.A. thesis, I explored the nature of spatial concepts (a problem from the philosophy of mind) using semantic descriptions of spatial terms as a tool to carry out the conceptual analysis. In Barcelona, I studied a M.A. in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics (2023). In my second M.A. thesis, I started approaching the semantics of words derived from proper names and the problems that come with it. Some of these problems are different instantiations of the traditional issues (well known by philosophers and linguists) concerning the content of proper names.

Recent News

• February, 2024. David Rey and I are working on the organization of the online conference Philosophy and Generative Grammar 2, which will take place in May.
• January, 2024. Abstract accepted at Non-Bare Proper Names: Proper Names with Determiners and Modifiers in a Cross-Linguistic Perspective.
• September, 2023. I started my Ph.D. at Univesitat Pompeu Fabra.