My academic interests include comparative syntax, language change, historical linguistics, language contact and heritage languages. To date, null arguments, pronouns, DP syntax and clause structure have been been my major focus areas. I am currently investigating aspects of Norwegian as a heritage language in North and Latin America, i.e. Norwegian spoken by the descendants of Norwegian emigrants. These speakers have acquired Norwegian in a naturalistic setting as young children, but are separated from the speech community in Norway. 

I was awarded a PhD at the University of Oslo in 2016 and have teaching experience from courses in Norwegian grammar, syntax and historical linguistics. Before taking up my current post, I held postdoctoral research positions at the University of Cambridge and the University of Oslo. 

I am the Principal Investigator of the research project Norwegian across the Americas, funded by the Research Council of Norway (RCN). I am also one of the partners of the infrastructure project Norchron (Norwegian Diachronic Corpus), also funded by RCN. 

I am a co-editor of Nordic Journal of Linguistics.

Conference lecture

• Kari Kinn; Michael T. Putnam (2025). Free relative clauses in North American Norwegian. (external link)
• Ida Larsson; Kari Kinn (2022). Satsens inledning i svenskt arvspråk. (external link)
• Kari Kinn (2021). Stability and change in American Norwegian: Perspectives from the nominal domain. (external link)
• Kari Kinn; Ida Larsson (2019). Argumentskifte over grenser og generasjoner. (external link)
• Kari Kinn; Ida Gunilla Larsson (2024). Bisatsordföljd i nordiskt arvspråk i Nordamerika och Argentina. (external link)
• Kari Kinn (2024). Observasjoner av norsk som arvespråk i en ny kontekst: Latin-Amerika-norsk. (external link)
• Kari Kinn; Ivar Berg (2025). Norchron: Tekster og metadata. (external link)
• Kari Kinn; Melvær June Osland (2023). V2 in non-subject-initial main clauses in Latin-American Norwegian. (external link)
• Kari Kinn; George Walkden (2021). Investigating historical heritage languages: Possessives in Norn. (external link)
• Kari Kinn; Marie Lund Stokka (2021). New approaches to Norwegian as a heritage language: Norwegian across the Americas. (external link)
• Ida Larsson; Kari Kinn (2022). Satsens inledning i amerikasvenskt arvspråk. (external link)
• Sofie Johansson Kokkinakis; Emma Sköldberg; Britt Henriksen et al. (2012). Developing Academic Word Lists for Swedish, Norwegian and Danish – a joint research project. (external link)
• Kari Kinn; Ida Gunilla Larsson (2024). Embedded verb placement in North American and Argentine heritage Scandinavian. (external link)
• Kari Kinn; Ida Gunilla Larsson (2023). Embedded verb placement in North American and Argentine heritage Scandinavian. (external link)
• Kari Kinn; Ida Larsson (2021). Transmission of complex variation in a heritage language context: American Norwegian argument shift across generations. (external link)
• Kari Kinn (2024). Norsk som arvespråk i Latin-Amerika. (external link)
• Kari Kinn; Kristian A. Rusten; George Walkden (2014). Null subjects in early Icelandic. (external link)
• Kari Kinn (2022). Predicate nouns in Latin American Norwegian. (external link)
• Ida Larsson; Kari Kinn (2020). Pronominal demonstratives in homeland and heritage Scandinavian. (external link)
• Kari Kinn; Ida Gunilla Larsson (2023). Investigating a low-frequency phenomenon in nearly extinct HLs: embedded verb placement in Argentine Heritage Norwegian/Swedish. (external link)
• Kari Kinn; Ida Larsson (2023). Investigating a low-frequency phenomenon in nearly extinct HLs: embedded verb placement in Argentine Heritage Norwegian/Swedish. (external link)
• Kari Kinn; Ida Larsson (2020). Argumentskiften över gränser och generationer. (external link)
• Ida Larsson; Kari Kinn (2021). Transmission of complex variation in a heritage language context: American Norwegian argument shift across generations. (external link)
• Kari Kinn; George Walkden (2020). Exploring Norn from a Heritage Language Perspective. (external link)
• Kari Kinn (2022). Substantiv som predikativ i Latin-Amerika-norsk. (external link)
• Kari Kinn (2024). Microvariation and microchange in Scandinavian heritage languages. (external link)
• Ida Larsson; Kari Kinn (2020). Pronominal demonstratives in homeland and heritage Scandinavian. (external link)
• Ida Larsson; Kari Kinn (2022). Stability and change in the C-domain in American Swedish. (external link)
• Ida Larsson; Kari Kinn (2021). Transmission of complex variation: American Norwegian argument shift. (external link)
• Ida Gunilla Larsson; Kari Kinn (2023). Språkförändring och nordiskt arvspråk. (external link)
• Kari Kinn; Michael T. Putnam (2024). Free relative clauses in North American Norwegian. (external link)
• Kari Kinn; Ida Gunilla Larsson (2024). Embedded verb placement in North American and Argentine heritage Scandinavian. (external link)

Lecture

• Kari Kinn (2025). Norsk som arvespråk i Nord- og Latin-Amerika: Fra feltarbeid blant etterkommere av norske utvandrere. (external link)
• Kari Kinn (2024). Nordiske arvespråk i Nord- og Latin-Amerika. (external link)
• Kari Kinn (2025). Norsk som arvespråk i Nord- og Latin-Amerika. (external link)
• Kari Kinn (2021). Norsk som arvespråk i Nord- og Latin-Amerika: Norwegian across the Americas. (external link)

Academic article

• Kari Kinn (2021). Split possession and definiteness marking in American Norwegian. (external link)
• Kari Kinn (2022). Pragmaticalised determiners in American Norwegian. (external link)
• Kari Kinn; Ida Larsson (2022). Pronominal demonstratives in homeland and heritage Scandinavian. (external link)
• Ida Gunilla Larsson; Kari Kinn (2025). Variation Over Time in a Heritage Language: Argument Placement in American Norwegian. (external link)
• Tam Blaxter; Kari Kinn (2018). On Ek and Jak in Middle Norwegian: Mixed Methods in Historical Sociolinguistics. (external link)
• Kari Kinn (2020). Et grammatisk uttrykk for nærhet: psykologisk proksimale possessiver i norsk. (external link)
• Kari Kinn (2016). Referential vs. non-referential null subjects in Middle Norwegian. (external link)
• June Osland Melvær; Kari Kinn; Marie Lund Stokka (2025). V2 in non-subject-initial main clauses in Latin American Norwegian: Results from a narration task. (external link)
• Kari Kinn (2020). Stability and attrition in American Norwegian nominals: a view from predicate nouns. (external link)
• Kari Kinn; Ida Larsson (2020). Pronominale demonstrativer: Nye perspektiver fra norsk og svensk. (external link)
• Kari Kinn; Arnstein Hjelde; Marie Lund Stokka (2024). The Norwegian language in Argentina: A first look at heritage Norwegian in a new context. (external link)
• Kari Kinn (2017). Null arguments in Old Norwegian: Interaction between pronouns and the functional categories of the clause. (external link)
• Kari Kinn; Marie Lund Stokka; Veronica Pajaro (2024). Latin-Amerika-norsk: Noen første observasjoner. (external link)
• Ida Larsson; Kari Kinn (2022). Stability and Change in the C-Domain in American Swedish. (external link)

Conference poster

• Kari Kinn; Verónica Pájaro; Marie Lund Stokka (2021). A new approach to heritage Norwegian: Norwegian in Latin America. (external link)
• Arnstein Hjelde; Kari Kinn (2022). The Norwegian language in Argentina: A first view of heritage Norwegian in a new contact situation. (external link)

Academic book chapter

• Kari Kinn (2020). High and low phases in Norwegian nominals: Evidence from ellipsis, psychologically distal demonstratives and psychologically proximal possessives. (external link)
• Kari Kinn (2014). The cognitive status of null subject referents in Old Norse and their Modern Norwegian counterparts. (external link)
• Ida Gunilla Larsson; Kari Kinn (2025). Argument placement in North American Norwegian: Subject shift, object shift and verb particles. (external link)
• Ida Larsson; Kari Kinn (2021). Argumentplacering i norskt arvspråk i Amerika. (external link)
• Kari Kinn (2025). Possession in determiner phrases in North American Norwegian. (external link)
• Kari Kinn (2019). Bare singular nouns in Middle Norwegian. (external link)
• sofie johansson kokkinakis; Emma Sköldberg; Birgitte Henriksen et al. (2012). Developing Academic Word Lists for Swedish, Norwegian and Danish - a joint research project. (external link)
• Kari Kinn; George Walkden (2023). Exploring Norn: A Historical Heritage Language of the British Isles. (external link)

Non-fiction book chapter

• Michael T. Putnam; Kari Kinn (2025). Epilogue. (external link)

Academic commentary

• Christian Janss; Stine Brenna Taugbøl; Ellen Nessheim Wiger et al. (2009). Henrik Ibsens skrifter 11. Tekstbind. (external link)

Academic literature review

• Kari Kinn; Kristian A. Rusten; George Walkden (2016). Null subjects in early Icelandic. (external link)

Popular science article

• Kari Kinn; Arnstein Hjelde (2023). Norsk på chacraen: rapport fra en skandinavisk språk-lomme i Argentina. (external link)

Introduction

• Arnstein Hjelde; Åshild Søfteland; Kari Kinn et al. (2021). Preface. (external link)
• Kari Kinn; Michael T. Putnam (2025). The syntax of North American Norwegian: Introduction and theoretical preliminaries. (external link)

Book anthology

• Kari Kinn; Michael T. Putnam (2025). A reference guide to the syntax of North American Norwegian. (external link)

Media interview

• Ingvild Gjerstad; Kari Kinn (2025). Kari (41) engasjerte publikum med foredrag i hjembyen sin. (external link)

Doctoral thesis (PhD)

• Kari Kinn (2016). Null Subjects in the History of Norwegian. (external link)

Professional article

• Kari Kinn; Arnstein Hjelde (2022). Prærielingvistikk og pampaslingvistikk – Prosjektet Norwegian across the Americas. (external link)

See a complete overview of publications in Cristin.