Linguistics Faculty Research

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https://hdl.handle.net/1794/1901

The Department of Linguistics offers instruction in linguistics leading to a Bachelor of Arts, a Master of Arts in one of two options (general linguistics and applied linguistics) and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Linguistics.

The primary aim of linguistics as a science is to study the use and organization of human language in coding and communicating knowledge. The undergraduate program offers instruction in the nature of human language, the structural variety of individual languages, and the methodology of conducting a linguistic investigation. Although linguists may study specific details of many languages, they do so to gain insight into the properties and processes common to all languages. Such common features may in turn reflect universals of human cognitive, cultural, and social organization.

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Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Visibility for Indigenous Students and Their Languages: Analysis of Home Language Data in Federal Reports across Seven U.S. States
    (Social Sciences, 2024-08-16) Perez Baez, Gabriela; Zyskind, Karen; Dorman, Meagan; Medina, Yessenia
    There is an increasing number of children in the U.S. classified as English Learners (ELs). Accurately identifying and supporting ELs in their academic settings entails understanding their non- English language experiences. This study presents findings from language reporting practices from seven U.S. states by examining how states account for the linguistic diversity of Indigenous Mesoamerican languages. Our findings reveal varied state approaches and underscore the limitations of current federal guidance, which limits the recognition of students’ non-English language experiences. We advocate for updating language identification practices and policies and propose a new framework for accurate language identification and continuous monitoring of student linguistic diversity.
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    ItemOpen Access
    Appendices to "Is Greenberg's "Macro-Carib" viable?"
    (Boletím Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, 2008) Gildea, Spike; Payne, Doris L., 1952-
    Abstract of the published paper from which the posted appendices are takenː In his landmark work Language in the Americas, Greenberg (1987) proposed that Macro-Carib was one of the major low-level stocks of South America, which together with Macro-Panoan and Macro-Ge-Bororo were claimed to comprise the putative Ge-Pano-Carib Phylum. His Macro-Carib includes the isolates Andoke and Kukura, and the Witotoan, Peba-Yaguan, and Cariban families. Greenberg’s primary evidence came from person-marking paradigms in individual languages, plus scattered words from individual languages collected into 79 Macro-Carib “etymologies” and another 64 Amerind “etymologies”. The goal of this paper is to re-evaluate Greenberg’s Macro-Carib claim in the light of the much more extensive and reliable language data that has become available largely since 1987. Based on full person-marking paradigms for Proto-Cariban, Yagua, Bora and Andoke, we conclude that Greenberg’s morphological claims are unfounded. For our lexical comparison, we created lexical lists for Proto-Cariban, Proto-Witotoan, Yagua and Andoke, for both Greenberg’s 143 putative etymologies (Appendix 2) and for the Swadesh 100 list (Appendix 1). From both lists, a total of 23 potential cognates were found, but no consonantal correspondences were repeated even once. We conclude that our greatly expanded and improved database does not provide sufficient evidence to convince the skeptic that the Macro-Carib hypothesis is viable. Appendix 1 presents Swadesh 100 word lists for Proto-Cariban, Andoke, Yagua, Proto-Witotoan and its two sub-branches Proto-Huitoto-Ocaina and Proto-Bora-Muinane. Appendix 2 lists all Greenberg’s (1985) proposed Macro-Carib etymologies, divided into two parts. Part I contains just those putative Macro-Carib forms that he did not propose also extended to Proto-Amerind. Part II contains putative Macro-Carib forms that he believed did pertain to the Proto-Amerind etymologies. For each proposed etymon, Greenberg’s data is given in the first row in bold italics. Our "modern" data is given in the second row. Numbers in the first column refer to Greenberg's Macro-Carib etyma numbers. The first file posted here is a Word document, the second a pdf file of the same appendices.
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    Panare language sound recordings
    (Thomas Edward Payne, 1989) Payne, Thomas Edward, 1951-; Payne, Doris L., 1952-
    Sound recordings of speakers of Panare (a native South American language of the Cariban language family) conversing and reciting indigenous stories between 1985 and 1989 in the town of Caicara del Orinoco, Venezuela.
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    Yagua language sound recordings
    (Thomas Edward Payne, 1983) Payne, Thomas Edward, 1951-; Payne, Doris L., 1952-
    Sound recordings of speakers of Yagua (a native South American language of the Peba-Yaguan language family) reciting Yagua stories, between 1981 and 1983, in various locations in Ucayali and Loreto states in Peru.