We usually assume that the linear order of language is driven by the grammatical categories. This assumption is widely held in both syntax (e.g. SOV, Det N Adj) and morphology (e.g. N-Num-Case, V-Tns). However ordering may also deviate from this assumption, for example where words or morphemes have item-specific orderings that are not determined by […]

Language acquisition is often viewed as a problem of inference, in which the child—like a “mini-linguist”— tries to piece together the abstract grammar of her native language from incomplete and noisy input. This “language-as-knowledge” viewpoint contrasts with a more recent alternative, in which the challenge of language acquisition is practical, not theoretical: by practicing across […]

Theoretical accounts of argument structure typically try to explain meaning differences between alternating argument structures in terms of general semantic notions, such as affectedness, directionality or agency. The underlying idea is that these notions allow us to explain meaning differences using only few theoretical assumptions, i.e. that they provide parsimonious explanations. However, corpus linguists often […]

Despite a long and important history of cross-linguistic research on language acquisition (e.g., MacWhinney & Bates 1989; Slobin 1985-1997), it is estimated that acquisition data is available for only around 1-2% of the world’s 7.000+ languages (e.g., Kidd 2020; Lieven & Stoll 2010). In particular, our empirical database is heavily skewed towards the acquisition of […]

Typology uncovers universals of language through cross-linguistic comparison; many such universals have been found since Greenberg’s word order universals. But what do typological universals have to do with analyzing a single language, such as your native language, or a language you are doing fieldwork on? After all, analyzing the syntactic structure of a single language […]

The key to understanding the nature and origins of language lies in the interplay of the biological and cultural factors that shaped, and continue to shape, its evolution. Untangling this interplay is hard because we can only access a degenerate snapshot of the linguistic diversity and design space in our species’ history. I will begin […]

My program of research uses a systems neuroscience approach to study the computations, maturational constraints, and plasticity underlying speech perception. Speech signals are multidimensional, acoustically variable, and temporally ephemeral. A significant computational challenge in speech perception (and more broadly, audition) is categorization, that is, mapping continuous, multidimensional, and variable acoustic signals into discrete, behavioral equivalence […]

Esta mesa sobre o movimento #FicaEspanhol propõe debater sobre essa iniciativa de intervenção política, empreendida por estudantes de graduação e professoras/es da Educação Básica e Superior, para garantir a continuidade da oferta do ensino de língua espanhola em diversos Estados do Brasil. Em 2016, uma Medida Provisória (MP) propôs a reforma do Ensino Médio e […]

Much research has focused on how the prosodic and distributional effects of child-directed speech (CDS) can facilitate language development and how these effects may differ across cultures. In this talk, I will explore what drives caregivers and alloparents to use CDS in the first place. I will consider two possible factors that could potentially shape […]

The expression of syllable weight in terms of moras leads to two major descriptive problems for phonological metrical theory using iambs and trochees to describe stress. On the one hand, there are languages with long vowels and geminates, such as iambic Pacific Yupik (Hayes 1995: 302) or trochaic Wolof (Bell 2003), where only the long […]