Linguistics
370 Temple Street, Rm. 204, 203.432.2450
http://ling.yale.edu
M.A., Ph.D.
Chair
Veneeta Dayal
Director of Graduate Studies
Jim Wood
Professors Claire Bowern, Veneeta Dayal, Robert Frank, Laurence Horn (Emeritus), Frank Keil,* Maria Piñango, Fernando Rubio (Center for Language Study), Zoltán Szabó,* Raffaella Zanuttini
Associate Professors Athulya Aravind, Simon Charlow, Jason Shaw, Jim Wood
Assistant Professors Tom McCoy, Natalie Weber
| * | A joint appointment with primary affiliation in another department. |
Fields of Study
The Department of Linguistics embraces an integrative approach to the study of language, based on the premise that an understanding of the human language faculty arises only through the combination of insights from the development of explicit formal theories with careful descriptive and experimental work. Members of the department offer courses and conduct research in which theoretical inquiry proceeds in partnership with historical and comparative studies, fieldwork, experimental work, cognitive neuroscience, and computational and mathematical modeling. Faculty expertise includes all of the major domains of linguistics (phonetics, phonology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics) and spans a wide range of languages.
Special Requirements for the Ph.D. Degree
Coursework
The conception of linguistics embraced by the Yale Ph.D. program requires that students receive training that is both deep in its coverage of areas of linguistic inquiry and broad in the range of methodological approaches. The course work requirements are designed to accomplish these complementary goals. This course work includes a set of courses designed to expose students to core ideas, together with courses equipping students with a range of methodologies in linguistic research.
During their first two terms, students must take LING 5190, Perspectives on Grammar. This course is taken SAT/UNSAT. A minimum of thirteen other courses are required: four foundational courses, three methodology courses, three advanced seminars, and three linguistics elective classes. No single course can simultaneously satisfy a requirement in two distinct areas. During the initial two years of course work, students must receive at least three grades of H (= Honors). Two or more grades below HP (= High Pass) during the initial two-year period constitute grounds for dismissal from the Ph.D. program. As per graduate school general regulations, grades of F cannot be counted toward degree requirements.
Foundational Courses This requirement ensures that students achieve breadth in several linguistic subfields. Students take at least one sufficiently advanced course in four or more subfields of linguistics. The following courses satisfy this requirement:
| LING 7120 | Historical Linguistics II | 1 |
| LING 7310 | Neurolinguistics | 1 |
| LING 7350 | Phonology II | 1 |
| LING 7390 | Phonetics II: Speech Production and Perception | 1 |
| LING 7540 | Syntax II | 1 |
| LING 7640 | Semantics II | 1 |
| LING 7810 | Morphology II | 1 |
Students decide on their courses, in consultation with the director of graduate studies (DGS) and other faculty, when they arrive on campus. Other sufficiently advanced courses may also satisfy the requirement, subject to DGS approval.
Methodology Courses For the methodology requirement, students must take three relevant courses. The following courses, which are offered regularly by the department, qualify, but other courses may as well, to be determined in consultation with the adviser and DGS:
| LING 6190 | Introduction to Linguistic Phylogenetics | 1 |
| LING 6249 | Mathematics of Language | 1 |
| LING 6340 | Quantitative Linguistics | 1 |
| LING 6349 | Experimental Semantics | 1 |
| LING 6430 | Dynamics of Speech | 1 |
| LING 7000 | Experimentation in Linguistics | 1 |
| LING 7289 | Laboratory Phonology | 1 |
| LING 7310 | Neurolinguistics | 1 |
| LING 7360 | Articulatory Phonology | 1 |
| LING 7410 | Field Methods | 1 |
| LING 7610 | Language Acquisition | 1 |
| LING 7960 | Semantic Investigations in an Unfamiliar Language | 1 |
| An advanced course in statistics such as the following may qualify: | ||
| ENV 755 | Modeling Geographic Space | 3 |
| PSYC 5180 | Multivariate Statistics | 1 |
| S&DS 5380 | Probability and Statistics | 1 |
| S&DS 5630 | Multivariate Statistical Methods for the Social Sciences | 1 |
| S&DS 6610 | Data Analysis | 1 |
One of the methodology courses must be taken during the first year of the program, and two must be completed by the end of the second year. Courses cannot simultaneously satisfy the foundational and methodology requirements.
Seminar Courses Graduate students are active participants in department reading groups and seminars. Students should participate in three advanced seminars in which they read the original literature of the field and write a research paper. With permission of their adviser and the DGS, students may enroll in the appropriate 7900s-numbered LING course and count active participation in a department reading group, including the submission of a final research paper, as satisfying this requirement.
Linguistics Electives Students must take three more linguistics courses that are at least 6000 level.
Research
The primary focus of a Ph.D. program is independent research. In the course of our Ph.D. program, students carry out cutting-edge linguistic research, culminating in the completion of a dissertation. To help students in the transition from “consuming” to also “producing” linguistic research, there are a number of structures and requirements in place.
Research Adviser and First-Year Directed Readings By the end of the first term of the program, students find a department faculty member who acts as their research adviser. This choice should be made on the basis of compatibility of research interests and discussions between the student, faculty member, and DGS. Starting from the spring term of the first year, students will, with the help of their adviser, define a topic of research interest, meeting regularly (minimally once every three weeks) and carrying out a series of readings on this topic. Students should keep a research journal, describing their readings and how they fit in with work in the area, and chronicling the development of their thinking about the research topic. It is the faculty’s expectation that this exploration will form the foundation for the research reported in the student’s first qualifying paper (on which see below). Note however that the initial choice of research adviser is not binding: students who want to change their choice of topic or adviser for whatever reason may do so. It is the student’s responsibility to find a suitable adviser, and students are expected to have a faculty adviser at all times during their enrollment in the program. Some students have two faculty co-advisers.
Portfolio At the conclusion of the first year of the program, students submit to the faculty a portfolio of two research papers, in two distinct subfields (such as Phonetics, Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, Semantics, Pragmatics, Historical Linguistics, Neurolinguistics, Computational Linguistics). These papers should demonstrate a student’s mastery of the material in these fields to the level covered in the foundational courses in the area, as well as the ability to identify a significant research question and argue for a possible solution. In short, such papers should be at the level of an excellent term paper, representative of a student’s best work during the first year of course work. The faculty do not expect students to write papers expressly for the portfolio. Rather, the portfolio will typically consist of term papers from courses taken during the first year in the program. The default expectation is that these papers will be submitted by May 10 each year.
Annotated Bibliography/Research Plan On the basis of the research journal begun during the first year in the program, students will prepare an annotated bibliography and research plan (ABRP) for their first qualifying paper. The ABRP, which should be approximately twenty pages in length, should lay out the question that the student wants to explore, motivating its importance through a presentation and synthesis of relevant past literature on the topic. The ABRP should be submitted within the first few weeks of the third term. If this is the fall semester, the default expectation is that it will be submitted by September 10.
Qualifying Papers Once the ABRP has been completed, the student will proceed to work on the qualifying papers (QPs). The goal of the QPs is to develop a student’s ability to conduct independent research in linguistics at the level of current scholarship in two different areas of linguistics. The faculty expect a QP to report on the results of a substantial project, which are written up in a manner consistent with the standards of the field, and to be eventually published in an academic journal, working papers, or conference proceedings. Students are strongly encouraged to identify a target journal early in the project.
The process of writing the first QP is broken into a number of smaller steps with specific deadlines for each (all during the second year of the program).
- Students discuss their preliminary results in an appropriate venue (lab meeting, reading group, seminar, etc.) by no later than the end of the fall term.
- Also by the end of the fall term, the student will send a request for a QP reader to the DGS. This request must include a title and brief summary of the project, and may also request specific faculty members to be involved. On the basis of research area and faculty availability, the DGS will identify a faculty member other than the adviser to serve as a QP reader. This reader will be involved in the ultimate evaluation of the QP once it is completed. Because it is useful to get a range of feedback on one’s work, we encourage students to make the best use of their QP reader by meeting with them and keeping them up to date on the progress of the project.
- Students submit a first draft of their QP to their adviser and reader within the first few weeks of their sixth semester. If this is the spring semester, the default expectation is that it is submitted by February 1, but advisers may approve a different specific date.
- Students present their work to the department at the yearly QPFest, which takes the form of a twenty-minute conference talk to members of the department.
- Students must submit the final version of the paper to their adviser and reader well before the end of the semester. Toward the end of the fourth semester, the student should begin to explore possible areas and advisers for the second QP. Students are expected to identify an area and adviser within the first few weeks of the third year. Students follow the same steps and benchmarks listed above for the second QP, this time during the third year.
The second QP should be in a different area of linguistics, with a different adviser, from the first QP. It is particularly important that students make satisfactory progress toward the first QP and complete all work by the relevant deadlines. Failure to do so may result in being asked to leave the program.
Prospectus At the beginning of the sixth term (typically the spring term of the third year), students choose a dissertation topic and dissertation director. By the beginning of the fourth year, students present a dissertation prospectus to the entire faculty. The prospectus should clearly lay out the student’s proposed dissertation topic. It should motivate the importance of the topic, present the core idea of the proposed work together with its promise and viability, and demonstrate how this work fits into past research in the area. The prospectus should also identify a dissertation committee. The committee must include at least three faculty members (including the adviser), two of whom must be ladder faculty in the Linguistics department. The prospectus document should be about fifteen pages in length. After it is submitted, the prospectus is defended orally in front of the faculty. Upon successful completion of the prospectus defense, students advance to Ph.D. candidacy.
Dissertation By the end of the seventh term, students are expected to complete a chapter of the dissertation, together with a detailed outline of the dissertation and comprehensive bibliography. When the dissertation committee approves the chapter and dissertation outline, students are eligible for a University Dissertation Fellowship, which will support them in their fifth year of graduate study. Once advanced to candidacy, the student will meet with the entire dissertation committee minimally once each term (but with frequency decided by the committee), to evaluate progress toward the dissertation. During this meeting, the committee will complete the committee meeting form, will provide a copy to the student, and will retain one for the department’s records.
Students are expected to complete their dissertations by the end of the sixth year. At least one month prior to the dissertation filing date, the completed dissertation must be orally defended. This defense will typically involve a public presentation of the main results of the dissertation and oral examination by the members of the dissertation committee. Committee members must be given the completed dissertation no less than two weeks prior to the date of the defense.
Language Requirement
Students are expected to exhibit some breadth in their knowledge of the languages of the world beyond those most commonly studied and those most similar in structure to the student’s first language. LING 7410, Field Methods, fulfills this requirement; alternatively, with the permission of the DGS, the student may instead take an appropriate language structure course, or one or more courses characterized as L3 or higher at Yale or the equivalent elsewhere. This requirement must be completed before the prospectus defense, when the student advances to Ph.D. candidacy.
Teaching Fellow/Research Assistant Requirements
The faculty regard teaching experience as an integral part of the graduate training program in Linguistics. All students serve as teaching fellows for a minimum of two terms, beginning in the first term of the third year. In addition, students must complete two additional terms of teaching assistantship. These may be either as a teaching fellow, or through participation in externally supported, supervised research as a research fellow. Research assistantships may be provided by the Linguistics faculty and by various Yale and Yale-affiliated units. Before accepting a research assistantship in fulfillment of this requirement, students must receive approval from the DGS. To be approved, a research assistantship must meet the following criteria:
- It must be supervised by a Linguistics department faculty member or a faculty member from an affiliated unit, such as Haskins Laboratories or the Yale School of Medicine.
- It must provide research experience that complements the student’s academic plan of study and is related to the student’s dissertation research plans.
- It must provide at least ten hours of experience per week.
If an approved research assistantship is accepted that does not provide a stipend equal to the standard departmental stipend, a university fellowship will be provided to augment the stipend so as to bring it up to the departmental standard.
Master’s Degree
M.A. Students who withdraw from the Ph.D. program may be eligible to receive the M.A. degree if they have met the requirements. For the M.A. degree, students must successfully complete the coursework, examinations, and work samples required by the end of the second year of graduate study (see above).
Program materials are available online at http://ling.yale.edu.
Courses
LING 5000a / ENGL 6500a / MDVL 5700a, Old English I Emily Thornbury
The essentials of the language, some prose readings, and close study of several celebrated Old English poems.
MW 11:35am-12:50pm
LING 5010b / ENGL 6502b / MDVL 6051b, Beowulf and the Beowulf Complex Emily Thornbury
A close reading of Beowulf in Old English, within the modern and medieval critical landscapes. Prerequisite: a strong working knowledge of Old English (typically ENGL 500, or the equivalent).
M 1:30pm-3:20pm
LING 5100a, Introduction to Linguistics Claire Bowern
The goals and methods of linguistics. Basic concepts in phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. Techniques of linguistic analysis and construction of linguistic models. Trends in modern linguistics. The relations of linguistics to psychology, logic, and other disciplines.
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm
LING 5150a / SKRT 5100a, Introductory Sanskrit I Aleksandar Uskokov
An introduction to Sanskrit language and grammar. Focus on learning to read and translate basic Sanskrit sentences in the Indian Devanagari script. No prior background in Sanskrit assumed. Credit only on completion of SKRT 520/LING 525.
MTWThF 11:35am-12:25pm
LING 5160b, Cognitive Science of Language Athulya Aravind
The study of language from the perspective of cognitive science. Exploration of mental structures that underlie the human ability to learn and process language, drawing on studies of normal and atypical language development and processing, brain imaging, neuropsychology, and computational modeling. Innate linguistic structure vs. determination by experience and culture; the relation between linguistic and nonlinguistic cognition in the domains of decision-making, social cognition, and musical cognition; the degree to which language shapes perceptions of color, number, space, and gender.
TTh 2:30pm-3:45pm
LING 5179a, Language and Mind Maria Pinango
The course is an introduction to language structure and processing as a capacity of the human mind and brain. Its purpose is to bridge traditional domains in linguistics (phonetics, morphology, syntax) with cognition (developmental psychology, memory systems, inferential reasoning). The main topics covered are morphosyntax and lexical semantics, sentence composition and sentence processing, first- and second-language acquisition, acquisition under unusual circumstances, focal brain lesions, and language breakdown.
TTh 2:30pm-3:45pm
LING 5190a or b, Perspectives on Grammar Staff
This biweekly, in-person meeting of all first-year students is led by faculty members and TFs. Students are asked to reflect upon the content introduced in the courses they are taking and share their understanding of how these multiple perspectives connect with each other. The goal is to provide a forum where students can synthesize their views on the grammar of natural language and at the same time create a cohort experience for first-year students. ½ Course cr
HTBA
LING 5380a / SKRT 5300a, Intermediate Sanskrit I Aleksandar Uskokov
The first half of a two-term sequence aimed at helping students develop the skills necessary to read texts written in Sanskrit. Readings include selections from the Hitopadesa, Kathasaritsagara, Mahabharata, and Bhagavadgita. Prerequisite: SKRT 520/LING 525 or equivalent.
MWF 10:30am-11:20am
LING 5460b, Language and Gender Natalie Weber
Sex-based asymmetries in language structure and language use. Role of language in encoding, reflecting, or reinforcing social attitudes and behavior. The “he-man” lexicon: sex-marking, reform, and resistance. Gender and sexual diversity as linguistic variables. Genderlects: differences (real and perceived) between male and female speech, conversational styles, and linguistic communities.
MW 1pm-2:15pm
LING 5640b / FREN 6700b / ITAL 6570b / SPAN 5000b, Principles of Language Teaching and Learning Staff
Introduction to the basic principles of second-language acquisition theory, focusing on current perspectives from applied linguistics, sociolinguistics, and psycholinguistics. Topics include language teaching methodology, communicative and task-based approaches, learner variables, intercultural competence, and models of assessment.
HTBA
LING 6030b, English in Post Colonial Africa and the African Diaspora Staff
N/A
MW 1pm-2:15pm
LING 6120b, Historical I Claire Bowern
Principles governing linguistic change in phonology and morphology. Status and independence of proposed mechanisms of change. Relations between the principles of historical change and universals of language. Systematic change as the basis of linguistic comparison; assessment of other attempts at establishing linguistic relatedness. Prerequisites: LING 512, 632, and 653.
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm
LING 6200a, Phonetics I Jason Shaw
Each spoken language composes words using a relatively small number of speech sounds, a subset of the much larger set of possible human speech sounds. This course introduces tools to describe the complete set of speech sounds found in the world's spoken languages. It covers the articulatory organs involved in speech production and the acoustic structure of the resulting sounds. Students learn how to transcribe sounds using the International Phonetic Alphabet, including different varieties of English and languages around the world. The course also introduces sociophonetics, how variation in sound patterns can convey social meaning within a community, speech perception, and sound change.
MW 1pm-2:15pm
LING 6249b, Mathematics of Language Robert Frank
Study of formal systems that play an important role in the scientific study of language. Exploration of a range of mathematical structures and techniques; demonstrations of their application in theories of grammatical competence and performance including set theory, graphs and discrete structures, algebras, formal language, and automata theory. Evaluation of strengths and weaknesses of existing formal theories of linguistic knowledge.
MW 1pm-2:15pm
LING 6270a, Language and Computation I Staff
Design and analysis of computational models of language. Topics include finite state tools, computational morphology and phonology, grammar and parsing, lexical semantics, and the use of linguistic models in applied problems. Prerequisite: prior programming experience or permission of the instructor.
TTh 9am-10:15am
LING 6340a or b, Quantitative Linguistics Staff
This course introduces quantitative methods in linguistics, which are an increasingly integral part of linguistic research. The course provides students with the skills necessary to organize, analyze, and visualize linguistic data using R, and explains the concepts underlying these methods, which set a foundation that positions students to also identify and apply new quantitative methods, beyond the ones covered in this course, in their future projects. Course concepts are framed around existing linguistic research, to help students use these methods when designing research projects and critically evaluating quantitative methods in the academic literature. Assignments and in-class activities are a combination of hands-on practice with quantitative tools and discussion of analyses used in published academic work. Prerequisite: one entry-level linguistics course (e.g., phonetics, phonology, syntax, and psycholinguistics) or permission of the instructor.
HTBA
LING 6349b, Experimental Semantics Maria Pinango
The structure of meaning as part of the human cognitive system. How language use, which is serial and local in nature, is able to package meaning, which is multidimensional and atemporal. Psycholinguistic and cognitive modeling of core phenomena in lexical and compositional semantics. Readings from the fields of neurocognition and cognitive psychology, model-theoretic and lexico-conceptual semantics, and pragmatics. Prerequisite: 510, 517, 660, 663, or permission of the instructor.
W 9:25am-11:15am
LING 6530a, Syntax I Staff
An introduction to the syntax (sentence structure) of natural language. Introduction to generative syntactic theory and key theoretical concepts. Syntactic description and argumentation. Topics include phrase structure, transformations, and the role of the lexicon.
MW 11:35am-12:50pm
LING 6630a, Semantics I Simon Charlow
Introduction to truth-conditional compositional semantics. Set theory, first- and higher-order logic, and the lambda calculus as they relate to the study of natural language meaning. Some attention to analyzing the meanings of tense/aspect markers, adverbs, and modals.
MW 9am-10:15am
LING 6750b / PHIL 6669b, Pragmatics Simon Charlow
Context-dependent aspects of meaning and inference. Speech act theory, presupposition, implicature. Role of pragmatics in the lexicon and in meaning change. The semantics-pragmatics distinction from different perspectives; the position of pragmatics in linguistic theory.
MW 2:30pm-3:45pm
LING 6790a, Morphology I Jim Wood
In this course, we dive into the fascinating world of morphology, where we uncover the inner workings of words and explore how they’re constructed from smaller building blocks. As theoretical linguists—and morphologists—our objective is to understand what shapes language at the morphological level. This semester, we tackle a wide array of topics, from methods of morphological analysis to the mechanisms that seem to give language its flexibility, including affixation, reduplication, compounding, and cliticization. We also examine how morphology interacts with other areas of grammar, such as phonology and syntax. Prerequisites: None
TTh 1pm-2:15pm
LING 7120a, Historical Linguistics II Claire Bowern
How languages change, how we study change, and how language relates to other areas of society. Applications of historical linguistics to the study of the past (e.g. in linguistic paleontology); quantitative approaches to language change, signed language linguistic change. This course builds on material introduced in Historical Linguistics I.
TTh 9am-10:15am
LING 7289a, Laboratory Phonology Jason Shaw
Experimentation has emerged as an important methodology for studying phonological knowledge, the mental representation of sound patterns in language. This seminar-style course discusses current approaches to analyzing sound patterns of diverse languages using experimental data. We read seminal and recent papers developing methods for relating phonological form, including syllable structure, phonotactics, alternations, stress, and intonation, to its expression in articulatory and acoustic phonetics. Past coursework in phonetics or phonology is required.
M 9:25am-11:15am
LING 7310b, Neurolinguistics Maria Pinango
The study of language as a cognitive neuroscience. The interaction between linguistic theory and neurological evidence from brain damage, degenerative diseases (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease), mental illness (e.g., schizophrenia), neuroimaging, and neurophysiology. The connection of language as a neurocognitive system to other systems such as memory and music.
TTh 2:30pm-3:45pm
LING 7360b, Articulatory Phonology Jason Shaw
Introduction to phonology as a system for combining units of speech (constriction gestures of the vocal organs) into larger structures. Analysis of articulatory movement data; modeling using techniques of dynamical systems. Emphasis on universal vs. language-particular aspects of gestural combination and coordination. Prerequisite: LING 520 or permission of the instructor.
Th 9:25am-11:15am
LING 7410b, Field Methods Staff
Principles of phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics applied to the collection and interpretation of novel linguistic data. Data are collected and analyzed by the class as a group, working directly with a speaker of a relatively undocumented language.
W 9:25am-11:15am
LING 7540b, Syntax II Jim Wood
Recent developments in syntactic theory: government and binding, principles and parameters, and minimalist frameworks. In-depth examination of the basic modules of grammar (lexicon, X-bar theory, theta-theory, case theory, movement theory). Comparison and critical evaluation of specific syntactic analyses. Prerequisite: LING 653.
TTh 1pm-2:15pm
LING 7610a, Language Acquisition Athulya Aravind
Language learnability, acquisition of the lexicon. Development of syntactic knowledge. Parameter-setting model of language acquisition and maturation. Experimental methods in developmental psycholinguistics.
Th 9:25am-11:15am
LING 7640b, Semantics II Staff
The model-theoretic approach to semantics and its treatment of core linguistic phenomena. Topics include quantification, tense/aspect/modality, context and interpretation, and the semantics-pragmatics interface. Prerequisite: LING 663 or permission of the instructor.
MW 11:35am-12:50pm
LING 7770a, Topics in Syntax: Agreement in Syntax and Semantics Staff
In this course, we take a detailed look at our current understanding of an area of natural language syntax and open questions in that area. This semester, we focus on two aspects of agreement: (a) locality, especially cross-clausal dependencies and what complementation has to do with it, and (b) semantics, especially the usefulness (or not) of the Agree relation at LF (for phenomena such as switch-reference, honorification, and reflexivity, to name a few examples).
T 9:25am-11:15am
LING 7780a, Lexical Semantics Maria Pinango
This course explores the fundamental issues and concepts in the linguistic study of word meaning, as well as the relation between the semantics of words and other aspects of meaning, such as context-dependent (pragmatic) meaning. The course is organized as an overview of the core semantic properties of three syntactic categories in natural languages: verbs, adjectives, and nouns. Topics to be covered include verb classes, aspect, semantic roles, vagueness, gradability, antonymy, sense and reference, and categorization. Primary emphasis is placed on elucidating the fundamental empirical issues that must be accounted for, but we also explore different theoretical approaches to these issues, with an eye towards identifying the role of lexical item meaning in the overall system of meaning in natural language and in the architecture of the language system. Prerequisites: At least one of the following: LING 110, LING 117/PSYCH 137, LING 120/PSYC 318, CGSC 110/PSYC 130, PSYC 110, LING 375 or consent of instructor. 0 Course cr
MW 2:30pm-3:45pm
LING 7790b, Morphology-Syntax Interface Jim Wood
Syntax and morphology are intertwined in many fascinating ways, and in fact, many current theories take the building of words, phrases, and sentences to involve the same mechanisms in the same modules of grammar. Whether this view is correct or not, there are many phenomena where the form of a word and the structure of a phrase or sentence interact in a way that deserves special attention. This seminar focuses on such phenomena. Prerequisite: The equivalent of LING 6530 (Syntax I) or LING 6790 (Morphology I). Either LING 7810 (Morphology II) or LING 7540 (Syntax II) would be a huge plus as well, but are not strictly necessary. Please contact the instructor if you have questions.
TTh 2:30pm-3:45pm
LING 7800a or b, Topics in Computational Linguistics: Topic TBA Staff
Advanced topics in Computational Linguistics; specific topics to be determined each time it is offered. Prerequisites: Python programming, basic calculus and linear algebra, introduction to linguistic theory (LING 106, 110, 116, 217 or equivalent).
HTBA
LING 7840b, Computational Psycholinguistics Staff
When processing language, the human mind can perform remarkable feats. For instance, we can acquire a language from a small amount of data (thousands of times less data than current systems in artificial intelligence), and we can infer what another person means even when that person’s intended message goes beyond the literal meaning of their words. This course explores how computational modeling can help us characterize our incredible capacity for language learning and processing. We focus on three modeling traditions—symbolic algorithms, Bayesian models, and neural networks—and their application to a range of psycholinguistic phenomena, including parsing, pragmatics, speech perception, word learning, and language acquisition. We also discuss how artificial intelligence can inform theories of human language processing and vice versa.
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm
LING 7910a or b / PHIL 6251a or b, Topics in Semantics: Questions in American Sign Language Staff
This course bridges introductory courses (LING 2630, LING 2640) and advanced seminars in semantics. It explores selected topics in some detail, allowing students to appreciate the nuances of semantic argumentation while at the same time emphasizing the foundational issues involved. The goal of this course is to allow students, within a structured format, to become comfortable engaging with open-ended problems and to gain confidence in proposing original solutions to such problems. Topics vary across semesters. Prerequisite: LING 2630/LING 6630 or permission of instructor.
HTBA