I did my undergraduate studies in Arabic at SOAS, and my postgraduate studies in Linguistics at the University of Cambridge. Before taking up my current position at SOAS, I was Research Associate in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Cambridge and then British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Linguistics at SOAS.
Research interests
My research focuses on the analysis and description of linguistic variation and change, especially in connection with Arabic and Maltese, though I also work on English. The primary empirical domains I have investigated to date include the expression of negation and of definiteness, and the historical developments observed cross-linguistically in each of these domains. I have also worked extensively on contact-induced grammatical change, as well as Language Analysis for the Determination of Origin (LADO) in the Arabic context.
I welcome inquiries from PhD students wishing to focus on any aspect of Arabic or Maltese linguistics, or on grammatical change in Arabic, Afro-Asiatic or other languages.
The typology of negation across varieties of Arabic
Lucas, Christopher and Alluhaybi, Mohammed, 2022, STUF - Language Typology and Universals - Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung (75), 4, pp 613-641
One of Those Constructions that Really Needs a Proper Analysis
Arnold, Doug and Lucas, Christopher, 2017, Proceedings of the Joint 2016 Conference on Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar and Lexical Functional Grammar (2016), pp 43-63
Special Issue - The noun phrase in Maltese and Maltese English
Lucas, Christopher, (eds.) and Krug, Manfred, (eds.) (2018). Berlin: De Gruyter. (STUF - Language Typology and Universals [Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung])
Lucas, Christopher, Spagnol, Michael and Brown, Niamh (2024). In: Bezzina, Rafaello, (eds.), Vella, Michela, (eds.) and Vorholt, Maike, (eds.), The next century of Maltese linguistics. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton
Lucas, Christopher and Spagnol, Michael (2022). In: Turek, Przemyslaw, (eds.) and Nintemann, Julia, (eds.), Maltese: Contemporary Changes and Historical Innovations. Berlin: De Gruyter, pp 47-80
Lucas, Christopher and Manfredi, Stefano (2020). In: Lucas, Christopher, (eds.) and Manfredi, Stefano, (eds.), Arabic and contact-induced change. Berlin: Language Science Press, pp 1-33
Lucas, Christopher and Čéplö, Slavomír (2020). In: Lucas, Christopher, (eds.) and Manfredi, Stefano, (eds.), Arabic and contact-induced change. Berlin: Language Science Press, pp 265-302
Conditions on /t/-insertion in Maltese numeral phrases: a reassessment
Lucas, Christopher and Spagnol, Michael (2018). In: Gatt, Albert, (eds.) and Paggio, Patrizia, (eds.), The Languages of Malta. Berlin: Language Science Press, pp 117-141
Lucas, Christopher and Spagnol, Michael (2016). In: Puech, Gilbert, (eds.) and Saade, Benjamin, (eds.), Shifts and Patterns in Maltese. Berlin, Boston: DeGruyter, pp 269-290
Incipient Jespersen's Cycle: the (non-)grammaticalization of new negative markers
Breitbarth, Anne, Lucas, Christopher and Willis, David (2013). In: Fleischer, Jürg, (eds.) and Simon, Horst, (eds.), Sprachvandelvergleich - Comparing Diachronies. Berlin: De Gruyter, pp 141-162
Negation in the History of Arabic and Afro-Asiatic
Lucas, Christopher (2013). In: Willis, David, (eds.), Lucas, Christopher, (eds.) and Breitbarth, Anne, (eds.), The History of Negation in the Languages of Europe and the Mediterranean, Volume I: Case Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 399-452
Form-function mismatches in (formally) definite English noun phrases: Towards a diachronic account
Lucas, Christopher (2011). In: Sleeman, Petra, (eds.) and Perridon, Harry, (eds.), The Noun Phrase in Romance and Germanic: Structure, Variation and Change. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp 159-174
Louhichi, Soumaya and Lucas, Christopher(2023). In: Louhichi, Soumaya (ed.), Studies of Djaït’s Work on Early Islam (Islam im Diskurs, vol. 9), pp 7-16
On the confusion of faith, science, and humanism in Hichem Djaït’s Fī s-sīra an-nabawiyya
Alaoui, Mustapha and Lucas, Christopher(2023). In: Louhichi, Soumaya (ed.), Studies of Djaït’s Work on Early Islam (Islam im Diskurs, vol. 9), pp 107-128
Louhichi, Soumaya and Lucas, Christopher(2023). In: Louhichi, Soumaya (ed.), Studies of Djaït’s Work on Early Islam (Islam im Diskurs, vol. 9), pp 129-156
On the terminology relating to tribal elites in early Islam – Competition and social status
Sakly, Mondher and Lucas, Christopher(2023). In: Louhichi, Soumaya (ed.), Studies of Djaït’s Work on Early Islam (Islam im Diskurs, vol. 9), pp 221-246