Program in Linguistics

Director

Leonard H. Babby

Executive Committee

Leonard H. Babby, Slavic Languages and Literatures

Marguerite A. Browning, Council of the Humanities

Robert P. Ebert, German

Michael Fara, Philosophy

Robert A. Freidin, Council of the Humanities

Mirjam Fried, Slavic Languages and Literatures

Adele E. Goldberg, Council of the Humanities

Delia Graff Fara, Philosophy

Gilbert H. Harman, Philosophy

Joshua T. Katz, Classics

Sarah-Jane Leslie, Philosophy

Daniel N. Osherson, Psychology

Gideon A. Rosen, Philosophy, ex officio

Edwin S. Williams III, Council of the Humanities

 

Faculty members associated with the Program in Linguistics investigate the rules that govern the structure of particular languages, and the general laws and principles governing all natural languages within the framework of generative grammar. A signature feature of this framework is the view that humans have an innate “language faculty” and that the universal principles of human language reflect intrinsic properties of this language faculty. The basic areas of study include phonology (the study of sound patterns of language), morphology (the study of the structure and meaning of words), syntax (the study of the structure of sentences), and semantics (the study of linguistic meaning). An understanding of these basic properties of human language provides a valuable analytical perspective to the work of students in anthropology, computer science, language and literature departments, philosophy, and psychology.

Joint Degree Option in Theoretical Linguistics

Doctoral students may petition to take a course of study leading to a combined Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in their home department and theoretical linguistics. Requests to pursue the joint degree option are reviewed and approved by the Program in Linguistics, the student’s home department, and the Graduate School. Approved students have a portion of their general examination devoted to theoretical linguistics and must have at least one member of the Program in Linguistics serve as a joint director and a reader of the dissertation. In preparation for the general examination in theoretical linguistics students would typically have taken at least the following courses at the graduate level: syntax, semantics, morphology, advanced syntax, and the proseminar.

Currently this option is available only to students in the linguistics section of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures.

Courses

LIN 501, 502, 503, 506, and 512 are often taught as reading courses for graduate students enrolled in LIN 301, 302, 306, or 412, respectively. They are offered as graduate seminars when enrollment allows.

LIN 501 Phonetics and Phonology

Staff

Introduction to the analysis of sound patterns of human languages. Examines articulatory phonetics as they are incorporated into a system of phonological rules accounting for these patterns and surveys basic concepts and relations, including levels of representation (phonetic versus phonemic), types and ordering of rules, and phonological change.

LIN 502 Syntax

Staff

Introduces methods of syntactic analysis of natural language. The foundations of a theory of generative grammar, covering phrase structure, transformations, and conditions on rules and representations are discussed. The general principles of syntactic structure that determine the form and interpretation of sentences are a major focus. Languages analyzed depend upon the interests of the instructor and the students.

LIN 503 Semantics

Staff

Examines the central issues and leading theories of linguistic semantics for natural languages. Analyses of specific linguistic phenomena are used to illustrate the interaction of syntax and semantics, the relation between language and the world, and the role of linguistic meaning in communication and understanding.

LIN 506 Morphology

Staff

Morphology is the study of the structure of words and the overall lexicon for human languages. Topics include word formation rules; the relation between syntax and the lexicon; the psychology of the lexicon, especially word storage and access; the semantics of complex words; the phonology of word formation; and lexical redundancy and the learning of the lexicon.

LIN 510 Proseminar

Staff

Students read papers that have the status of recent classics in linguistic theory and present evaluative papers of their own. The goals of the course are to acquaint the students with a selection of the primary literature that forms the basis for current research; to give them experience in analyzing, evaluating, and presenting linguistic arguments; and, in the relevant cases, to prepare them for the general examinations in linguistics.

LIN 512 Advanced Syntax

Staff

Discusses the development of a modular theory of grammar involving subtheories of case, government, predicate/argument structure, and binding. Cases of parametric variation across languages as a means of understanding the universal principles of grammar are investigated.

LIN 550 Current Topics in Linguistic Theory

Staff

Current issues in syntax, semantics, morphology, or phonology. Topics vary from year to year, depending upon the special interests of the instructor and the students.

LIN 575, 576 Introduction to Sanskrit (see CLA 575, 576)

Pertinent Courses in Allied Departments

Classics

561 Historical/Comparative Grammar of Latin

562 Historical/Comparative Grammar of Greek

564 Problems in Indo-European Linguistics

English

508 Studies in the English Language: 1400 to the Present

510 Old Norse

French and Italian

581 Introduction to Romance Linguistics and Cultures

583 Seminar in Romance Linguistics and/or Literary Theory

German

505 Structure and History of the German Language

506 Second Language Acquisition and Pedagogy

Philosophy

527 Philosophy of the Social Sciences

534 Philosophy of Language

539 Theory of Knowledge

Psychology

544 Psychology of Language

545 Selected Topics in the Psychology of Language

Slavic Languages and Literatures

501, 502 Russian Morphosyntax

503, 504 The History of the Russian Language I, II

505 Common and Comparative Slavic

507 Old Russian Texts

Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Cultures

581 History of the Spanish Language

Undergraduate courses (elementary, intermediate, and, in most cases, advanced) in the following languages also can be elected by graduate students: Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Persian, Portuguese, and Turkish.