Michelle Troberg

Michelle Troberg has always been curious about how languages come to have the grammatical systems that they do and about the methods used to investigate historical change. Her research focuses primarily on matters of syntax and argument structure in the Romance languages, but she is equally passionate about how students engage with and internalize complex linguistic concepts. She especially enjoys teaching courses on syntax and language change and welcomes motivated students to explore these topics further through Research Opportunity Programs and Independent Studies with her. 

Current Courses

Fall/Winter 2025–26:

• LIN102 (Introduction to General Linguistics: Words, Sentences, their Structure and Meaning)
• LIN232 (Syntactic Patterns in Language)
• LIN233 (English Words through Space and Time)
• LIN411 (Introduction to Analysis and Argumentation in Linguistics)

Education

• PhD, French Linguistics, University of Toronto
• MA, French Linguistics, University of Toronto
• BEd, Simon Fraser University
• BA, University of British Columbia

Areas of Teaching and Research Interests 

• Threshold Concepts
• Decoding the Disciplines
• Evidence-based pedagogical practices
• Syntax
• Diachronic change
• Romance languages
• Medieval manuscript glossing

Selected Publications 

Articles

• Troberg, M. & J. Whitman. To appear. Glossing in Romance. In P. Moran & M. Zisk (eds.), Handbook of Glossing (Studies in Manuscript Cultures). Hamburg: De Gruyter.
• Heidinger, S. & M. Troberg. To appear. Spatial expressions with implicit (and overt) complements: A comparative study of French and Spanish. In P. Herbeck & N. Pomino (eds.), Null or nothing - Zero elements in Romance morphology and syntax (Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today). John Benjamins.
• Ibrahim, S., M. Troberg, C. Gouveia, C. Eaton & M. Blaauw-Hara. 2024. Threshold Concepts on the Move: A report from a cross-disciplinary working group. Journal of Arts and Sciences 16(4): 128–147.
• Troberg, M. 2024. A diachronic consequence of intransitivity: structural underspecification and processing biases in Old French. In Y. Schawecker, A. Stein, & M. Percillier (eds.), Linguistics Vanguard. Special Issue on the cognitive mechanisms of linguistic change.
• Troberg, M., & J. Whitman. 2022. Syntactic Glosses and Historical Syntax. In L. Grestenberger, C. Reiss, H. A. Fellner, & G. Z. Pantillon (eds.), Ha! Linguistic Studies in Honor of Mark R. Hale, 369–394. Weisbaden: Reichert Verlag.
• Troberg, M., & J. Leung. 2021. On the unified change of directional/aspectual verb particles in French. Journal of Historical Syntax, 5(40): 1–79.
• Troberg, M., & H. Burnett. 2017. From Latin to Modern French: A punctuated shift. In E. Mathieu & R. Truswell (eds.), Micro-change and Macro-change in Diachronic Syntax, 104–124. Oxford University Press.

Edited Volume

• Troberg. M., & S. Tailleur (eds.). 2020. Hommages à Yves Roberge : clitiques, éléments nuls, et autres problèmes de syntaxe et d’acquisition. Special issue of Arborescences, vol. 10. Montreal: Érudit. 

Selected Grants, Fellowships and Awards 

• Pedagogical Research Fund (Principal Investigator), 2025–2026, Threshold Concepts in Syntax
• SSHRC Insight Grant (Collaborator), 2024–2029, Argument realization beyond valence. A cross-linguistic investigation (M.C. Cuervo, PI)
• Jackman Humanities Institute Annual Seminar (Principal Investigator), 2023–2024, Multilingualism: Reflecting on a Global Reality through Time, Space, Mind and Text
• SSHRC Insight Grant (Co-investigator), 2020–2023, Livres d’heures - textes et langue (D. Kullman, PI)
• Learning and Education Advancement Fund (Principal Investigator), 2016–2019, Predictive and Adaptive Learning Analytics in Online and Hybrid Course Delivery
• Decanal Graduate Education Fund Grant (Principal Investigator), 2016–2017, Designing large online introductory classes for active student engagement
• Ontario Online Initiative, Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities (Principal Investigator), 2014, Ontario Online course development (LIN204H5: English Grammar)