University of Toronto Department of Linguistics Blog
The LSA is hosting a "Meet the Authors" webinar and our very own Katharina Pabst (PhD Candidate) and co-authors will be there to discuss their recent article in Language entitled "Gender Bias in Linguistics Textbooks".
The webinar will take place Friday January 28th, 2022 from 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM EST. Register ASAP as this is not an event you will want to miss!
University College is hosting Professor Elissa Newport for an exciting lecture as part of The Neil Graham Lecture series! Professor Newport is a Director at the Center for Brain Plasticity and Recovery, Departments of Neurology, Psychology, and Linguistics at Georgetown University.
Newport will be speaking on Developmental Plasticity and Language Learning. Specifically discussing how children and adults learn languages when first exposed to them at varying ages, and the outcomes shown when children/adults have strokes to language areas of the brain.
The event will take place Tuesday, February 1st 2022 from 4:30pm-6:30pm EST. Please RSVP by Thursday, January 27th 2022 to secure your spot!
Paul Poirier (MA) is proof that we linguists can also double as superstar athletes!
Paul and his partner Piper Gilles will be representing Canada for ice dancing in the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing!
The Department of Linguistics will be cheering on Paul and Piper as they (ice) dance for the gold!
Michelle Troberg (Faculty, UTM) and Justin Leung (PhD Student) have a syntax article published in The Journal of Historical Syntax. Their paper "On the Unified Change of Directional/Aspectual Verb Particles in French" finds that historical French particles change at a constant rate, which is consistent with analysis whereby the loss of each particle is a reflex of an underlying grammatical change.
This is a can't-miss article for all our Frenchies and historical linguistic lovers!
Troberg, M., & Leung, J. (2021). On the unified change of directional/aspectual verb particles in French. Journal of Historical Syntax, 5(40), 1-76.
Suzi Lima (Faculty) and Tonjes Veenstra have published their semantic article to SciELO - Brasil. The research done in "Complex Structures in Brazilian Indigenous Languages" project helps to advance discussion in theoretical linguistics on various constructions by means of featuring new data or new analyses of complex structures in languages that have so far been underrepresented in literature.
Be sure to check out this article to learn more about the semantics of Brazilian Indigenous Languages!
Laura Rupp and Sali A. Taliamonte (Faculty) have published a paper in the Journal of Pragmatics!
"Loss and emergence: (Double) demonstratives and ‘indefinite this’ in Ontario dialects" examines double demonstrative constructions to demonstrate how tokens can provide key information regarding characteristics of change in conditions of loss!
| (1b) | Oh yes, it was- not too many of them. Them there rocking chairs … (gussweet, 94) |
Rupp, L., & Tagliamonte, S. A. (2022). Loss and emergence:(Double) demonstratives and ‘indefinite this’ in Ontario dialects. Journal of Pragmatics, 189, 66-78.
Pocholo Umbal (PhD Candidate) and Naomi Nagy (Faculty) have published "Heritage Tagalog Phonology and a Variationist Framework of Language Contact" in the journal Languages.
Umbal and Nagy examine Tagalog of Heritage speakers in Toronto and homeland speakers in Manila. They analyze intergenerational and intergroup usages of (r), alternation among taps, trills and approximant variants. They use this as a test case for a method of distinguishing sources of language change.
Umbal, P., & Nagy, N. (2021). Heritage Tagalog Phonology and a Variationist Framework of Language Contact. Languages, 6(4), 201.
We'd like to introduce the newest member of our department: baby Erik (pictured below)! On Sunday January 9th, Angelika Kiss (PhD Candidate) and her partner welcomed their second son into the world and we would like to extend our warmest congratulations to her and her family.
The Linguistic Society of America held their Annual Meeting from January 6th through to January 9th 2022. And of course, there was a UofT presence. Our graduate students, Lex Konnelly (PhD Candidate) and Gregory Antono (PhD Student), were there to share their incredible work!
Archie Crowley, Lex Konnelly Julien De Jesu, j inscoe, Brooke English, and Dozandri (Doza) C. Mendoza presented work on "Advancing Trans Linguistics"!
Gregory Antono presented work on "Meh Contributes VERUM: A study of biased questions in Colloquial Singapore English"!
Be sure to check out their abstracts!
