Synchronic study of the phonology and morphology of modern Russian.
Investigation of research and ideas on a specialized topic within cognitive psychology, including the psychology of language, visual perception and cognitive memory, decision, and learning. The discussion and exchange of scholarly information in a small group setting, papers and student presentations.
Current theory and data on first language acquisition with special focus on research that relates linguistic theory and learnability theory to empirical studies of children's linguistic abilities. Requirements include a written paper on a subject pertinent to topic area.
Recent advances in the area of psycholinguistics, with an emphasis on sentence processing and the contribution of linguistic theory to an understanding of psychological mechanisms.
This graduate seminar provides an in-depth exploration of research on brain and language. In the first half of the semester, students will survey foundational and contemporary debates on how the mind and brain support the perception and production of written (reading) and spoken (speech) language, lexical and sentence-level meaning, morphological and syntactic structure, discourse and conversation, and multilingualism. The second half of the course focuses on how language interacts with other cognitive and affective systems, such as memory, emotion, executive control, learning and education, and aging. Implications from recent developments in large-scale language models will be discussed. Students are expected to complete weekly readings - consisting of book chapters and/or journal articles - and actively engage in class discussions. Assignments are designed to develop key research skills, including identifying relevant literature, critically evaluating existing findings, and designing original experiments aligned with course themes and individual interests. The final project may be empirical or theoretical, co-determined by each student and the course instructor.
Recent advances in analysis of the neural bases of cognitive functions, such as learning, memory, and thinking.
Examines the processing systems that underlie human learning, memory and cognition; emphasizing cognitive, neuroscientific and computational approaches to research and theory. Graduate-level requirements include an in-depth research paper on human memory and cognition.
Survey of basic issues in the philosophy of language such as: speech acts, reference, meaning, logical form. Graduate-level requirements include an in-depth research paper on a central theme or topic of the course. Courses for which students receive the grade of P (Pass) do not satisfy requirements for the M.A. or Ph.D. or minor in philosophy.
This course offers a foundation in the approaches, theories and methods of teaching Middle Eastern (ME) languages as second/foreign languages. With focus on Arabic, Persian and Turkish, the course introduces students to second language acquisition research, task-based, standards-based, and proficiency-oriented language pedagogies from linguistic, psychological, and sociocultural perspectives. Through focused readings, in-class discussions, presentations, group collaborations, students develop foundational and critical knowledge about theoretical basis of teaching methods in their respective languages. Also, they will be introduced to critical pedagogies and social justice issues in the context of ME languages. Recent trends about translanguaging pedagogies, multilingualism, study abroad, and the integration of dialects in the curriculum will be also addressed. They gain tangible experiences by completing activities and teaching projects including classroom observation, action research, lesson planning, and material and curriculum design and review, and language assessment. Also, students will be mentored to develop a teaching portfolio with a teaching philosophy grounded in recent practices of language pedagogy. The course is envisioned to be open to teaching and research assistants of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish. Other graduate students in less-commonly taught languages can take the course with the approval of their own departments.
Explores the social and linguistic aspects of the languages and cultures of Middle Eastern countries with the central goal of introducing students to the correlation between social and linguistic variables from a contemporary sociolinguistic perspective. Graduate-level requirements include additional readings and meeting with the instructor biweekly to discuss the readings of which written critiques will be submitted.