My research on language structure is strongly centred on the study of syntax, particularly in Dene languages of northern Canada. In recent years I am fortunate to collaborate with Hailey Hyekyeong Ceong on the structure of speech act syntax in Korean and Japanese.
Co-edited books and journal issues
1982 Linguistic Notes from La Jolla, vol. 11. Edited by Leslie Saxon and Y.-H. Tohsaku.
1996 Athabaskan Language Studies: Essays in Honor of Robert W. Young. Edited by Eloise Jelinek, Sally Midgette, Keren Rice, and Leslie Saxon. The University of New Mexico Press. [490 pp.]
2007 Alaska Native Language Center Working Papers 6: Working Papers in Athabascan Linguistics. Edited by Andrea L. Berez, Suzanne Gessner, Siri Tuttle, and Leslie Saxon. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center.
2013 Special volume: The syntax of relative clauses. Canadian Journal of Linguistics/ Revue canadienne de linguistique 58 (2): 151-396. Edited by Martha McGinnis and Leslie Saxon.
Articles, reports, and book chapters on linguistic topics
1981 Gazdar and pragmatic presuppositions. In Linguistic Notes from La Jolla, vol. 10, ed. by W.D. Davies and B. Hawkins, pp. 1-19.
1984 Dogrib pronouns. Final report on contract no. 1630-1-469 with the National Museum of Man, Ottawa, Ontario.
1984 Control and agreement in Dogrib. In Proceedings of the First Eastern States Conference on Linguistics, ed. by G. Alvarez, et al., pp. 128-139.
1985 A comparative study of reflexive forms in three Northern Athapaskan languages. Journal of the Atlantic Provinces Linguistic Association 6/7: 28-45.
1988 Lyle Campbell, Vit Bubenik, and Leslie Saxon. Word order universals: Refinements and clarifications. Canadian Journal of Linguistics 33: 209-230.
1989 Leslie Saxon and Wei-Ping Sun. Verb, complement, and case in Mandarin. Journal of the Atlantic Provinces Linguistic Association 11: 73-93.
1989 Agreement in Dogrib: Inflection or cliticization? In Theoretical Perspectives on Native American Languages, ed. by Donna B. Gerdts and Karin Michelson, SUNY Press, pp. 149-162.
1989 Control and control verbs. In Proceedings of the West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, vol. 8, ed. by E. Jane Fee and Katharine Hunt, pp. 347-357.
1989 Lexical versus syntactic projection: The configurationality of Slave. In Athapaskan Linguistics: Current Perspectives on a Language Family, ed. by E.-D. Cook and Keren D. Rice, Mouton de Gruyter (State-of-the-Art Reports 15), pp. 379-406.
1990 On one’s own: The semantics and pragmatics of reflexives. In Interdisciplinary Approaches to Language: Essays in Honor of S.-Y. Kuroda, ed. by Carol P. Georgopoulos and Roberta L. Ishihara. Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 521-537.
1990 Reflexive agreement binding. In Proceedings of the Sixteenth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, Special Session on Amerindian Linguistics, ed. by David J. Costa. BLS, pp. 116-127.
1993 Keren Rice and Leslie Saxon. On subject-verb constituency: Evidence from Athapaskan languages. In Proceedings of the West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, vol. 11, ed. by Jonathan Mead, pp. 434-450.
1993 Keren Rice and Leslie Saxon. Paradigmatic and syntagmatic mechanisms for syntactic change in Athapaskan. In Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, Special Session on Syntactic Issues in Native American Languages, vol. 19S, ed. by D.A. Peterson, pp. 148-159.
1993 A personal use of Athapaskan “impersonal” ts’e-. International Journal of American Linguistics 59: 338-350.
1994 Keren Rice and Leslie Saxon. The subject positions in Athapaskan languages. In The Morphology-Syntax Connection, ed. by Heidi Harley and Colin Phillips. MIT Working Papers in Linguistics, vol. 22, pp. 173-195.
1998 Complement Clauses in Dogrib. In Studies in American Indian Languages: Description and Theory, ed. by Leanne Hinton and Pamela Munro, University of California Publications in Linguistics. University of California Press, pp. 204-211.
2000 Head-internal relative clauses in Dogrib (Athapaskan). In Papers in Honor of Ken Hale, ed. by Andrew Carnie, Eloise Jelinek, and Mary Willie. MIT Working Papers on Endangered and Less Familiar Languages #1, Department of Linguistics, MIT, pp. 93-108.
2002 On two OSV constructions in Navajo: beyond Subject-Object Inversion. In S. Oh and N. Sawai, eds., Proceedings of WSCLA 6: The Workshop on Structure and Constituency in the Languages of the Americas. University of British Columbia Working Papers in Linguistics 7, pp. 73-87.
2003 The complementizer *Gu’ in Athapaskan: Its reflex in Dogrib. Proceedings of WSCLA VIII: The Eighth Workshop on Structure and Constituency in the Languages of the Americas, ed. by Yunhee Chung, Carrie Gillon, and Rachel Wojdak. UBC Working Papers in Linguistics, vol. 12, pp. 59-74.
2003 On two OSV constructions in Navajo: beyond Subject-Object Inversion. In V. Samiian (ed.), Proceedings of the Western Conference on Linguistics (WECOL) 2001. Fresno: California State University, Fresno. 340-359.
2005 Keren Rice and Leslie Saxon. Comparative Athapaskan syntax: Arguments and projections. In The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Syntax, ed. by G. Cinque and R. S. Kayne, Oxford University Press, pp. 698-774.
2008 Andrea Wilhelm and Leslie Saxon. The syntax of numerals in two Dene languages. Proceedings of WSCLA 12: The 12th Workshop on Structure and Constituency in Languages of the Americas, ed. S. K. Chin and F. Hudu. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Working Papers in Linguistics. 146–159.
2013 Martha McGinnis and Leslie Saxon. Introduction. The syntax of relative clauses. Canadian Journal of Linguistics/ Revue canadienne de linguistique 58 (2): 151-155.
2014 Hailey Ceong and Leslie Saxon. Features of questions and interrogatives. Actes du congrès annuel de l’Association canadienne de linguistique 2013 / Proceedings of the 2013 the annual conference of the Canadian Linguistic Association.
2016 Leslie Saxon and Andrea Wilhelm. The “possessed noun suffix” and possession in two northern Dene (Athabaskan) languages. International Journal of American Linguistics 82 (1): 35-70.
2020 The Tłı̨chǫ syntactic causative and non-nominal CPs. In Contrast and Representations in Syntax, eds. Bronwyn Bjorkman and Daniel Currie Hall. Oxford University Press, pp. 141-165
2020 Hailey Hyekyeong Ceong and Leslie Saxon. Addressee honorifics as allocutive agreement in Japanese and Korean. Actes du congrès annuel de l’Association canadienne de linguistique 2020 / Proceedings of the 2020 the annual conference of the Canadian Linguistic Association.
2023 Dene – Athabaskan. In Carmen Dagostino, Marianne Mithun, and Keren Rice (eds.), The Languages and Linguistics of Indigenous North America: A Comprehensive Guide. Volume 2. De Gruyter Mouton, pp. 875-930.
Presentations on linguistic topics (since 2005)
2005 Joseph Martel and Leslie Saxon. Vowel length neutralization in Dogrib stems: An acoustic study. Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas annual meeting. Oakland, CA, January 2005.
2005 Joseph Martel and Leslie Saxon. Vowel length neutralization in Dogrib stems: An acoustic study. Department of Linguistics, University of British Columbia, March 2005. Invited lecture by Leslie Saxon.
2005 Aliki Marinakis and Leslie Saxon. History of a history: Perspectives on Petitot’s transcription of Tłı̨chǫ Godıì. Dene Languages Conference. University of Victoria, June 2005.
2006 Nineteenth Century Placenames in the Dogrib Region. Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas annual meeting. Albuquerque, New Mexico, January 2006.
2007 Andrea Wilhelm and Leslie Saxon. The syntax of numerals in two Dene languages. Workshop on Structure and Constituency in the Languages of the Americas, University of Lethbridge and Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump Interpretative Centre, Alberta, March 2007.
2008 Leslie Saxon and Andrea Wilhelm. The ‘possessed noun suffix’ and “possession” in two Northern Athabaskan languages. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of the Indigenous Languages of the Americas (SSILA), Chicago, IL, January 3–6, 2008.
2008 Andrea Wilhelm and Leslie Saxon. The ‘possessed noun suffix’ and “possession” in two Northern Athabaskan languages. Department of Linguistics, University of Calgary, May 2008. Invited lecture by Andrea Wilhelm.
2008 Aliana Parker and Leslie Saxon. Lexicon of Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì: Echoes from the Nineteenth Century. Poster presented at the Canadian Linguistic Association annual meeting, UBC, June 2008.
2008 Aliana Parker and Leslie Saxon. Lexicon of Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì: Echoes from the Nineteenth Century. Paper presented at the Dene Languages Conference, Cold Lake First Nation, Alberta, July 2008.
2009 Some functional categories in a historical view of Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì [Dogrib]. Paper presented at the Athabaskan (Dene) Languages Conference, University of California, Berkeley, July 2009.
2009 Two complementizers in Dene languages. Linguistics Department Research Forum, University of Linguistics, November 2009.
2010 Andrea Wilhelm and Leslie Saxon. The ‘possessed noun suffix’ and “possession” in two Northern Athabaskan languages. Workshop on Nominal Dependents, Department of Linguistics, University of Calgary. Banff, Alberta, May 2010. Invited lecture by Andrea Wilhelm.
2011 Įdaà ts’eèhtła kò … [Once upon a time …] , or Third and ‘Fourth’ Person in Dene (Athabaskan) Languages: An Investigation of Person Features. Guest lecture in graduate syntax seminar (Ling 530A.002), Department of Linguistics, UBC, 4 March 2011. Invited guest lecture.
2011 Two types of relative clauses in Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì. Department of Linguistics, Simon Fraser University, 10 March 2011. Invited lecture.
2011 Yéttanetél’s “Klintchangé kotié” and the Expression of Subjectivity. Workshop on Narrative in Athabaskan and Related Languages, Athabaskan Languages Conference, Council of Yukon First Nations, Whitehorse, Yukon, June 2011. Invited speaker.
2011 Leslie Saxon and Andrea Wilhelm. Dene [Athabaskan] Possessive Compounds and the Architecture of the Grammar. Mediterranean Morphology Meeting, Cagliari, Sardinia, September 2011. Poster presentation.
2012 Relative clauses as arguments or adjuncts: Two types of relative clauses in Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì. Dene Languages Conference, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, 15-17 August 2012.
2013 Relative clauses as arguments or adjuncts. Workshop on Structure and Constituency in the Languages of the Americas, University of California, Berkeley, 5-7 April, 2013.
2013 Hailey H. Ceong and Leslie Saxon. Features of questions and interrogatives. Annual meeting of the Canadian Linguistic Association, Victoria, BC, 1-3 June 2013.
2013 Leslie Saxon, Brittney O’Neill, and Erika Van Vliet. Some “discourse particles” in the Tłı̨chǫ language. Dene Languages Conference, Tsuut’ina Nation, 12-14 June 2013.
2014 “Discourse particles” and selection by higher predicates. Workshop on Structure and Constituency in the Languages of the Americas, St John’s, Newfoundland, 25-27 April 2014.
2014 The role of third person forms in paradigms. Dene Verb Paradigm Workshop, University of Toronto, 26-28 September 2014.
2015 The Tłı̨chǫ syntactic causative and non-nominal CPs. Dog Days of Summer Syntax and Semantics Workshop, Department of Linguistics, University of Toronto, 12 August 2015.
2017 The “adverbial” suffix in Tłı̨chǫ grammar. Research in Indigenous Languages and Linguistics workshop, University of Victoria. 17 May 2017.
2018 Tłı̨chǫ discourse particle ne: what speakers say they know. Poster presentation, Annual meeting of the Canadian Linguistic Association, University of Regina. 30 May 2018.
2019 Elizabeth Bogal-Allbritten, Rosa Mantla, Keir Moulton, and Leslie Saxon. Dene Internally-Headed Relatives: Some preliminary notes on Scope in Tłı̨chǫ Head-Internal Relatives. RelNomComp: Workshop on Relativization, Nominalization, and Complementation. University of Toronto. 19-20 June 2019.
2020 Hailey Hyekyeong Ceong and Leslie Saxon. Addressee honorifics as allocutive agreement in Japanese and Korean. Annual meeting of the Canadian Linguistic Association, online. 30 May – 1 June 2020.