Hi there!

My full name is Khairunnisa, and that's it; I don't have a last name. Did you know that having only one name is super common in some parts of the world, like in Indonesia, where I am from? But I go by Nisa, easy to remember, and it makes the most sense. I come from a small, beautiful island called Lombok, but now I am based in Jakarta. I have a PhD in Linguistics from University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, USA. I first came to the state as a Fulbright scholar in 2016, and I grew as a scholar along the way: involved in training, teaching assistantship, attending conferences, navigating academia during the pandemic, and earning my PhD in 2022.

My research revolves around language documentation, morphosyntax, and sociolinguistics, particularly in languages in Indonesia. I have been working on my own language, Sasak, an Austronesian language spoken in Lombok. Additionally, I have also been working on the Saparua language, an endangered language spoken in Central Maluku, funded by an international grant from ELDP, Germany. My documentation work centers on collaborative efforts between researchers and the community. One way I do this is by equipping the speech community with language documentation training so that they can actively participate to document their own language and prevent it from extinction. In my descriptive work, I delve into the corpus to shed light on morphosyntactic puzzles that are often overlooked in the elicitation method and understand how discourse provides evidence to sociolinguistics.

I currently work as a researcher at the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), the official research agency of the Indonesian government.

My work sits at the intersection of research, writing, and mentorship. My skills as a researcher were shaped not only by my current employment but also by my growth as a scholar during my PhD journey in the U.S. and through the many international and local collaborations I have been part of. Over the years, I have developed a strength in conceptualizing ideas, connecting the dots, and turning complex thoughts into strong and meaningful research projects. This is also what led me to help others with their research. I care deeply about supporting scholars not only in producing stronger work, but also in navigating the intellectual and personal challenges that often come with academic life. I also share reflections on academia through my LinkedIn newsletter, Little Academia.