EHK Elena “Helen” Koulidobrova

Linguist · Educator · Collaborator

Language structure,
in community.

I am a linguist working across signed and spoken languages. My research brings together linguistic structure, multilingual acquisition, documentation and reclamation, and language policy to examine how languages are structured, learned, transmitted, and sustained within the communities that use them.

Professor in Applied Linguistics, Central Connecticut State University Visiting Professor in Linguistics, Yale University Fulbright Specialist Founder & Director, BELL-RL
Explore my work View or download CV
Elena Helen Koulidobrova
Signed and spoken languages · The Americas and beyond
01ResearchQuestions, projects, publications, and student research & mentorship

Research

Across modalities and contexts

AStructure and meaning in signed languagesASL · LSEC · ÍTM

Areas of inquiry

  • Evidentiality
  • Clause semantics
  • Syntax and semantics of noun phrases
  • Intensification and gradability

Representative publications

BMultilingualism and language acquisitionAcross signed and spoken modalities

Current research

Deaf and Multilingual Language Acquisition Studies

Concurrent and sequential acquisition across signed, spoken, and written languages, with attention to transfer, code-blending, input, and additional signed-language learning by Deaf and hearing learners.

Representative publications

CDocumentation and reclamationCommunity authority · open resources · language access

Ecuador · Signed language

Ecuadorian Sign Language: Documentation, Narratives, and Reclamation

Developed with Deaf signers and researchers in Ecuador, this collaborative LSEC project combines naturalistic and experimentally elicited data with research training, community capacity-building, documentation and reclamation, and open resources.

Indigenous languages · Health

SAIPM: Indigenous Languages, Health, and Access to Information

Collaborative research on culturally and linguistically appropriate public-health information in Kichwa, Quechua, Shipibo-Konibo, Wao Terero, Anishinaabemowin, and Nuosu Yi, using multilingual instruments, corpora, audiovisual materials, and digital archives developed with community researchers and collaborators.

Representative publications

DLanguage policy, education, and accessIndigenous law · Deaf education · multilingual equity

Indigenous law · Policy

Anishinaabemowin, Indigenous Knowledge, and Language Policy

Research centering Elders and community members in language transmission, dialect and writing systems, land-based education, and the relationship between language and Indigenous law.

Representative publications

Publications

Publication record

View or download CV
All publications by yearEvery item is hyperlinked

Every item links to its DOI, publisher, open-access version, or a title-specific scholarly record.

Refereed journal articles 13
  1. Namboodiripad, S., Kutlu, E., … Koulidobrova, E. … et al. (2026). Finding our ROLE: How and why to reframe essentialist approaches to language. Cognition.
  2. Koulidobrova, E., & Martínez-Vera, G. (2025). Not a matter of a degree: ASL signing children and acquisition of gradability. Language Acquisition, 1–33.
  3. Koulidobrova, E., Martínez-Vera, G., Kurz, K., & Kurz, C. (2023). Revisiting gradability in American Sign Language (ASL). Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics, 8(1), 1–44.
  4. Chen Pichler, D., & Koulidobrova, E. (2023). The role of modality in L2 learning: The importance of learners acquiring a second sign language. Language Learning.
  5. Sánchez, L., & Koulidobrova, E. (2023). World Health Organization myth busters and Indigenous perceptions of COVID-19: Quechua and Shipibo communities. Ampersand, 10, 100118.
  6. Koulidobrova, E., & Chen Pichler, D. (2021). Cripping the “delay”: Multilingualism-related consequences of re-labeling language deprivation systems. Frontiers in Communication, 6.
  7. Koulidobrova, E., & Sverrisdóttir, R. (2021). How to ensure bilingualism/biliteracy in an Indigenous context: The case of Icelandic Sign Language. Languages, 6(2), 98.
  8. Werblow, J., Duesbery, L., & Koulidobrova, E. (2020). The case for dual-language programs as the gold standard for achieving educational equity in the US. Journal of Educational Leadership and Public Policy.
  9. Werblow, J., Duesbery, L., & Koulidobrova, E. (2019). Shifting the perspective: The case for dual-language programs as the gold standard for achieving educational equity in schools. Literacy Today, 22–24.
  10. Koulidobrova, E., Kuntze, M., & Dostal, H. (2018). If you use ASL, should you study ESL? Limitations of a modality-b(i)ased policy. Language, 94(2), e99–e126.
  11. Koulidobrova, E. (2017). Elide me bare: Null arguments in American Sign Language. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, 35, 397–446.
  12. Koulidobrova, E. (2016). Argument omission in ASL-English bilinguals: Language interaction effects in bimodal bilingualism. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism.
  13. Koulidobrova, E. (2012). Parallelism revisited: The nature of the null argument in ASL as compared to the Romance-style pro. Sign Language & Linguistics, 15(2).
Chapters 8
  1. Koulidobrova, E., Sánchez, L., Imbaquingo, J., Guaman, R., Ortega, F., & Haboud, M. (in press). Language of access to information about COVID-19 in Kichwa (Ecuador) and Quechua and Shipibo (in Peru). In Challenges in Diversity. Abya-Yala Press/PUCE.
  2. Koulidobrova, E., & Chen Pichler, D. (2025). Crip Linguistics for (Second) Language Acquisition. In The Crip Linguistics Reader. Gallaudet University Press.
  3. Koulidobrova, E. (2021). Counting (on) bare nouns: Revelations from American Sign Language. In Mass-Count Distinction Across Languages. Cambridge University Press.
  4. Koulidobrova, E. (2019). Argument omission in SignL2 acquisition by deaf learners. In Sign Language Acquisition. John Benjamins.
  5. Chen Pichler, D., Koulidobrova, E., & Palmer, J. (2019). Modality-(in)dependent second language learning. Senri Ethnological Studies, 101, 165–186.
  6. Koulidobrova, E., & Lillo-Martin, D. (2016). A “point” of inquiry: The case of the (non-)pronominal IX in ASL. In The Impact of Pronominal Form on Interpretation. De Gruyter.
  7. Koulidobrova, E., & Davidson, K. (2016). Semantics in the study of sign languages. In The SAGE Deaf Studies Encyclopedia. SAGE.
  8. Chen Pichler, D., & Koulidobrova, E. (2015). Acquisition of sign language as a second language (L2). In The Oxford Handbook of Deaf Studies, Language, and Education, Vol. 3. Oxford University Press.
Reviewed proceedings 11
  1. Imbaquingo-Ramón, J., Perez, D., Sánchez, L., & Koulidobrova, E. (2025). Distribution of evidential markers in a Cuzco Quechua corpus. Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America, 10(1).
  2. Koulidobrova, E., Martínez-Vera, G., Kurz, K., & Kurz, C. (2023). Revisiting gradability in ASL. Proceedings of Chicago Linguistic Society 57, 235–248.
  3. Koulidobrova, E., & Ivanova, N. (2020). Acquisition of phonology in child Icelandic Sign Language: Unique findings. Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America, 5(1), 164–179.
  4. Luchkina, T., Koulidobrova, E., & Palmer, J. (2020). When you CAN see the difference: The phonetic basis of sonority in American Sign Language. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting on Phonology.
  5. Wilbur, R., Abner, N., Wood, S., & Koulidobrova, E. (2018). When BEAT is ‘exceed’: Verbal comparison in ASL. Proceedings of the FEAST Colloquium, 1, 59–69.
  6. Koulidobrova, E., & Davidson, K. (2015). Watch the attitude: Role shift and embedding in ASL. Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 19.
  7. Koulidobrova, E. (2014). Null arguments in bimodal bilingualism: Code-blending (and the lack of) effects in American Sign Language. Proceedings of BUCLD 38.
  8. Koulidobrova, E. (2014). Mechanics of “transfer”: Evidence from the speech of ASL-English bilinguals. University of Connecticut Working Papers in Linguistics, 17.
  9. Koulidobrova, E. (2013). Influence uninhibited: Null subjects in the speech of ASL-English bilinguals. In Advances in Language Acquisition.
  10. Lillo-Martin, D., Koulidobrova, E., Müller de Quadros, R., & Chen Pichler, D. (2012). Bilingual language synthesis: Evidence from wh-questions in bimodal bilinguals. Proceedings of BUCLD 36.
  11. Lillo-Martin, D., Müller de Quadros, R., Koulidobrova, E., & Chen Pichler, D. (2010). Bimodal bilingual cross-language influence in unexpected domains. Proceedings of GALA 2009.
Additional publications 2
  1. Koulidobrova, E., & Davidson, K. (2021). Attitude embedding predicates and indexicals under role shift in ASL. In Making Worlds Accessible: Essays in Honor of Angelika Kratzer.
  2. Koulidobrova, E. (2012). Commentary on Fischer & Johnson (1982). Sign Language & Linguistics, 15(2).
02TeachingCourses, mentoring, invited lectures, and workshops

Teaching and mentoring

Analysis meets
application.

My teaching connects linguistic theory and empirical research to multilingual classrooms, language communities, and questions of educational access. I ask students to treat their own linguistic knowledge—and the knowledge of the communities with whom they work—as evidence rather than as departure from a presumed monolingual norm.

01LinguisticsStructure, diversity, signed languages, syntax, and semantics

Central Connecticut State University

Yale University · with Veneeta Dayal

02Acquisition & TESOLLanguage acquisition, multilingual education, and teaching methods
03Research & assessmentAssessment, research design, thesis, and applied experience
04Selected Invited Lectures & KeynotesAcross institutions, countries, and areas of inquiry
  1. Documentation as reclamation of LSEC across domains: Looking toward the future · First International Conference on Linguistic Approaches to Ecuadorian Sign Language, PUCE, Quito · Keynote
  2. Language teaching as #LandBack · Center for Language Studies, Yale University
  3. From argument ellipsis to sluicing and back again in ASL · Newcastle University · Keynote
  4. Field linguistics as collaborative practice · International Christian University, Tokyo
  5. Countability in ASL: Questions and how we can answer them · Harvard University
  6. Questions of (non)modality and multilingualism: Crip Linguistics for all · Stockholm University
  7. Unimodal vs. bimodal bilinguals: What we know about multilingual signers · Lund University
  8. Raising and Teaching Signing Multilinguals · Communication Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Reykjavík
  9. Do you see what I see? Ambiguity in ASL signing space · Brandeis University
  10. Ellipsis and related effects in American Sign Language · New York University
Complete presentations record in CV ↗

Currently teaching at Yale University as Visiting Professor in Linguistics.

03Corpora, Documentation & Open ResourcesCollaborative datasets, research infrastructure, training, and access

LSEC · Ecuador

Ecuadorian Sign Language documentation

Naturalistic and experimentally elicited LSEC data developed with Deaf signers and researchers in Ecuador, supporting linguistic description, narrative research, community research training, data processing, reclamation, and reusable resources.

SAIPM · Collaborative network

Indigenous languages, health, and access

Multilingual questionnaire and corpus work in Kichwa, Quechua, Shipibo-Konibo, Wao Terero, Anishinaabemowin, and Nuosu Yi examining access to culturally and linguistically appropriate public-health information.

Project website ↗

NSF · Open resources

Evidentiality and focus

Corpus analysis, targeted elicitation, and open-access resource development for under-represented languages, with current work in Quechua and Shipibo-Konibo.

Methods

From documentation to analysis

ELAN segmentation and annotation, community research training, experimental protocols, corpus development, and resources designed for linguistic and computational research.

04Leadership & ServiceProfessional leadership, editorial work, policy, and public scholarship

Language education and policy

Editorial and reviewing

  • Sign Language Editor, Open Linguistics
  • Editorial Board, Second Language Research
  • National Science Foundation, Linguistics Program reviewer
  • Reviewer for journals across theoretical linguistics, sign-language research, bilingualism, and language acquisition

Professional leadership

  • Linguistic Society of America: Committee on Diversity in Linguistics, Travel Awards co-Chair
  • LSA Program Committee, Language and Policy Subcommittee, and Language Revitalization Subcommittee
  • Conference organizing committees: Beyond Monolingualism, WAFL XII, and GALANA 3

Public scholarship and boards

Complete service record in CV ↗

About

Elena “Helen”
Koulidobrova

elena.koulidobrova [at] ccsu.edu

University website ↗

Sign name: ASL fingerspelled H handshape ASL fingerspelled K handshape

Hear how to pronounce my name ↗

I am a linguist whose work brings together sign-language structure and acquisition, multilingualism, language documentation and reclamation, and language policy.

I am a Professor in Applied Linguistics at Central Connecticut State University, a Visiting Professor in Linguistics at Yale University, and a Fulbright Specialist. My current collaborative work encompasses American and Ecuadorian Sign Languages, Kichwa, Quechua, Shipibo-Konibo, Wao Terero, Anishinaabemowin, and Nuosu Yi.

Across my research and teaching, I connect theoretical inquiry with the knowledge and priorities of language users and communities.