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Linguistics Department Dissertations Collection

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Dissertations from 2023 2023

Long(er) Object Movement in Turkish , Duygu Göksu, Linguistics

'You' Will Always Have 'Me': A Compositional Theory of Person , Kaden T. Holladay, Linguistics

Associative Plurals , Sherry Hucklebridge, Linguistics

Counterdirectionality in the Grammar: Reversals and Restitutions , Jyoti Iyer, Linguistics

The Online Processing of Even's Likelihood Presupposition , Erika Mayer, Linguistics

Dissertations from 2022 2022

On the Semantics of Verbal and Nominal Tense in Mvskoke (Creek) , Kimberly C. Johnson, Linguistics

Restrictive Tier Induction , Seoyoung Kim, Linguistics

DIRECTIONAL HARMONIC SERIALISM , Andrew Lamont, Linguistics

TENSE IN CONDITIONALS: INS AND OUTS , Zahra Mirrazi, Linguistics

Phonotactic Learning with Distributional Representations , Max A. Nelson, Linguistics

The Linearization of V(P)-doubling Constructions , Rong Yin, Linguistics

Dissertations from 2021 2021

Shifting the Perspectival Landscape: Methods for Encoding, Identifying, and Selecting Perspectives , Carolyn Jane Anderson, Linguistics

There and Gone Again: Syntactic Structure In Memory , Caroline Andrews, Linguistics

The Event Structure of Attitudes , Deniz Özyıldız, Linguistics

LEARNING PHONOLOGY WITH SEQUENCE-TO-SEQUENCE NEURAL NETWORKS , Brandon Prickett, Linguistics

The Syntactic and Semantic Atoms of the Spray/load Alternation , Michael A. Wilson, Linguistics

Dissertations from 2020 2020

Representing Context: Presupposition Triggers and Focus-sensitivity , Alexander Goebel, Linguistics

Person-based Prominence in Ojibwe , Christopher Hammerly, Linguistics

Emergent Typological Effects of Agent-Based Learning Models in Maximum Entropy Grammar , Coral Hughto, Linguistics

TALKING ABOUT HER(SELF): AMBIGUITY AVOIDANCE AND PRINCIPLE B. A Theoretical and Psycholinguistic Investigation of Romanian Pronouns , Rudmila-Rodica Ivan, Linguistics

THE EMPTINESS OF THE PRESENT: FRONTING CONSTRUCTIONS AS A WINDOW TO THE SEMANTICS OF TENSE , Petr Kusliy, Linguistics

Optimal Linearization: Prosodic displacement in Khoekhoegowab and Beyond , Leland Kusmer, Linguistics

Dissertations from 2019 2019

Computing Agreement in a Mixed System , Sakshi Bhatia, Linguistics

Binding and Coreference in Vietnamese , Thuy Bui, Linguistics

Divorce Licensing: Separate Criteria for Predicate and Clausal Ellipsis , Tracy Conner, Linguistics

Effects of Phonological Contrast on Within-Category Phonetic Variation , Ivy Hauser, Linguistics

Phrasal and Clausal Exceptive-Additive Constructions Crosslinguistically , Ekaterina Vostrikova, Linguistics

Dissertations from 2018 2018

Typology of bizarre ellipsis varieties , David Erschler, Linguistics

The Head-Quarters of Mandarin Arguments , Hsin-Lun Huang, Linguistics

ATTITUDES DE SE AND LOGOPHORICITY , Yangsook Park, Linguistics

Responding to questions and assertions: embedded Polar Response Particles, ellipsis, and contrast , Jeremy Pasquereau, Linguistics

Dissertations from 2017 2017

The Form and Acquisition of Free Relatives , Michael Clauss, Linguistics

Amount Relatives Redux , Jon Ander Mendia, Linguistics

Movement and the Semantic Type of Traces , Ethan Poole, Linguistics

Preferential early attribution in segmental parsing , Amanda Rysling, Linguistics

When errors aren't: How comprehenders selectively violate Binding Theory , Shayne Sloggett, Linguistics

Dissertations from 2016 2016

Building Meaning in Navajo , Elizabeth A. Bogal-Allbritten, Linguistics

Probes and their Horizons , Stefan Keine, Linguistics

Anaphora, Inversion, and Focus , Nicholas J. LaCara, Linguistics

The Representation of Probabilistic Phonological Patterns: Neurological, Behavioral, and Computational Evidence from the English Stress System , Claire Moore-Cantwell, Linguistics

Extending Hidden Structure Learning: Features, Opacity, and Exceptions , Aleksei I. Nazarov, Linguistics

Dissertations from 2015 2015

Experiencing in Japanese: The Experiencer Restriction across Clausal Types , Masashi Hashimoto, Linguistics

Rightward Movement: A Study in Locality , Jason Overfelt, Linguistics

Investigating Properties of Phonotactic Knowledge Through Web-Based Experimentation , Presley Pizzo, Linguistics

Phonologically Conditioned Allomorphy and UR Constraints , Brian W. Smith, Linguistics

Dissertations from 2014 2014

Contrastive Topic: Meanings and Realizations , Noah Constant, Linguistics

The Grammar of Individuation and Counting , Suzi Lima, Linguistics

Comprehending Each Other: Weak Reciprocity and Processing , Helen Majewski, Linguistics

Computational Modeling of Learning Biases in Stress Typology , Robert D. Staubs, Linguistics

Fragments and Clausal Ellipsis , Andrew Weir, Linguistics

Dissertations from 2013 2013

Gapping in Farsi: A Crosslinguistic Investigation , Annahita Farudi, Linguistics

The Parsing and Interpretation of Comparatives: More than Meets the Eye , Margaret Ann Grant, Linguistics

Dissertations from 2012 2012

Syntax-Prosody Interactions in Irish , Emily Elfner, Linguistics

Processing Perspectives , Jesse Aron Harris, Linguistics

Exhaustivity In Questions & Clefts; And The Quantifier Connection: A Study In German And English , Tanja Heizmann, Linguistics

Phonological And Phonetic Biases In Speech Perception , Michael Parrish Key, Linguistics

The Role of Contextual Restriction in Reference-Tracking , Andrew Robert McKenzie, Linguistics

Stress in Harmonic Serialism , Kathryn Ringler Pruitt, Linguistics

Roots of Modality , Aynat Rubinstein, Linguistics

Goals, Big and Small , Martin Walkow, Linguistics

Dissertations from 2011 2011

Quantification, misc. , Jan Anderssen, Linguistics

Anchoring Pragmatics In Syntax And Semantics , Maria Biezma, Linguistics

Constraining Interpretation: Sentence Final Particles in Japanese , Christopher M. Davis, Linguistics

Cumulative constraint interaction in phonological acquisition and typology , Karen Christine Jesney

Cumulative Constraint Interaction In Phonological Acquisition And Typology , Karen Christine Jesney, Linguistics

Competing Triggers: Transparency And Opacity In Vowel Harmony , Wendell A Kimper, Linguistics

Dissertations from 2010 2010

Topics In The Nez Perce Verb , Amy Rose Deal, Linguistics

Concealed Questions. In Search Of Answers , Ilaria Frana, Linguistics

Dissertations from 2009 2009

Phonological Trends In The Lexicon: The Role Of Constraints , Michael Becker, Linguistics

Natural Selection and the Syntax of Clausal Complementation , Keir Moulton, Linguistics

Two Types of Definites in Natural Language , Florian Schwarz, Linguistics

The Role Of Lexical Contrast In The Perception Of Intonational Prominence In Japanese , Takahito Shinya, Linguistics

The Emergence of DP in the Partitive Structure , Helen Stickney, Linguistics

Optionality and Variability: Syntactic Licensing Meets Morphological Spell-Out , Cherlon Ussery, Linguistics

Word, Phrase, And Clitic Prosody In Bosnian, Serbian, And Croatian , Adam Werle, Linguistics

Dissertations from 2008 2008

Optimal interleaving: Serial phonology -morphology interaction in a constraint-based model , Matthew Adam Wolf

Dissertations from 2007 2007

The sources of phonological markedness , Kathryn Gilbert Flack

The emergence of phonetic naturalness , Shigeto Kawahara

Biases and stages in phonological acquisition , Anne-Michelle Tessier

Acquisition of scalar implicatures , Anna VerBuk

Dissertations from 2006 2006

Disjunction in alternative semantics , Luis Alonso-Ovalle

Acquisition of a natural versus an unnatural stress system , Angela C Carpenter

Asymmetries in the acquisition of consonant clusters , Della Chambless

Telicity and the syntax-semantics of the *object and *subject , Miren J Hodgson

Variables in Natural Language , Meredith Landman, Linguistics

Dissertations from 2005 2005

On the Accessiblity of Possible Worlds: The Role of Tense and Aspect , Ana Cristina Arregui

Perception of foreignness , Ben Gelbart

Prosody and LF interpretation: Processing Japanese wh -questions , Masako Hirotani

The grammar of choice , Paula Menendez-Benito

Mediated *modification: Functional structure and the interpretation of modifier position , Marcin Morzycki

Dissertations from 2004 2004

What it means to be a loser: Non -optimal candidates in optimality theory , Andries W Coetzee

Scope: The View from Indefinites , Ji-Yung Kim

Event-structure and the internally headed relative clause construction in Korean and Japanese , Min-Joo Kim

Spain or bust? Assessment and student perceptions of out-of-class contact and oral proficiency in a study abroad context , Vija Glazer Mendelson

On the articulation of aspectual meaning in African -American English , Jules Michael Eugene Terry

Dissertations from 2003 2003

Deriving Economy: Syncope in Optimality Theory , Maria Gouskova

Gestures and segments: Vowel intrusion as overlap , Nancy Elizabeth Hall

The development of phonological categories in children's perception of final voicing in dialects of English , Caroline Jones

Argument structure and the lexicon /syntax interface , Eva Juarros

Contrast preservation in phonological mappings , Anna Lubowicz

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Linguistics and English Language PhD thesis collection

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This is a selection of some of the more recent theses from the department of Linguistics and English Language.

The material in this collection must be cited in line with the usual academic conventions. These theses are protected under full copyright law. You may download it for your own personal use only.

Recent Submissions

Information structure of complex sentences: an empirical investigation into at-issueness , 'ane end of an auld song': macro and micro perspectives on written scots in correspondence during the union of the parliaments debates , intervention, participation, perception: case studies of language activism in catalonia, norway & scotland , aspects of cross-variety dinka tonal phonology , attitudes and perceptions of saudi students towards their non-native emi instructors , explanatory mixed methods approach to the effects of integrating apology strategies: evidence from saudi arabic , multilingualism in later life: natural history & effects of language learning , first language attrition in late bilingualism: lexical, syntactic and prosodic changes in english-italian bilinguals , syntactic change during the anglicisation of scots: insights from the parsed corpus of scottish correspondence , causation is non-eventive , developmental trajectory of grammatical gender: evidence from arabic , copular clauses in malay: synchronic, diachronic, and typological perspectives , sentence processing in first language attrition: the interplay of language, experience and cognitive load , choosing to presuppose: strategic uses of presupposition triggers , mechanisms underlying pre-school children’s syntactic, morphophonological and referential processing during language production , development and processing of non-canonical word orders in mandarin-speaking children , role of transparency in the acquisition of inflectional morphology: experimental studies testing exponence type using artificial language learning , disability and sociophonetic variation among deaf or hard-of-hearing speakers of taiwan mandarin , structural priming in the grammatical network: a study of english argument structure constructions , how language adapts to the environment: an evolutionary, experimental approach .

Dissertation Archive

To search dissertations by author, keywords, etc., and to view electronic copies of dissertations published since 2008, visit the DigitalGeorgetown repository of Linguistics dissertations .

Recent dissertations are listed alphabetically by author below.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

Abbuhl, Rebekha (PhD – 2005) The effect of feedback and instruction on writing quality: Legal writing and advanced L2 learners Mentor: Alison Mackey & Andrea Tyler

Adams, Rebecca (PhD – 2005) Learner-Learner Interactions: Implications for Second Language Acquisition Mentor: Alison Mackey

Al Khalil, Maymona (PhD – 2011) Second language learning motivation: Its relationship to noticing and production in task-based interaction Mentor: Alison Mackey

Allbritten, Rachael (PhD – 2011) Sounding Southern: Acoustic realities of dialect perceptions Mentor: Natalie Schilling

Al-Zidjaly, Najma (PhD – 2005) Communication across ability-status: A nexus analysis of the co-construction of agency and disability in Oman Mentor: Ron Scollon

Aquil, Rajaa (PhD – 2007) The segmenting/parsing unit in Cairene Arabic spoken language Mentor: Alfonso Morales-Front

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Bauer, Matt (PhD – 2006) Prosodic Strengthening of Consonants in Iron Range English Mentor: Elizabeth Zsiga

Brooks, Rachel (PhD – 2013) Comparing Native and Non-Native Raters of US Federal Government Speaking Tests Mentor: Jeffrey Connor-Linton

Callier, Patrick (PhD – 2013) Linguistic Context and the Social Meaning of Voice Quality Variation Mentor: Natalie Schilling

Campos, Marco (PhD – 2004) Lexical Effects in Bilingual Sentence Processing Mentor: Donna Lardiere

Carpenter, Helen (PhD – 2009) A Behavioral and Electrophysiological Investigation of Different Aptitudes for L2 Grammar in Learners Equated for Proficiency Level Mentor: Michael Ullman

Castillo Ayometzi, Cecilia (PhD – 2004) Discourse, Practice, and Identity Transformation: An Immigrant Experience of Religious Conversion Mentor: Ron Scollon

Choi, Myong Hee (PhD – 2009) The Acquisition of Wh-in-situ Constructions in Second Language Acquisition Mentor: Donna Lardiere

Chou, Wen-Ying Sylvia (PhD – 2005) End-of-Life Discourse: An Analysis of Agency, Coherence, and Questions Mentor: Heidi E. Hamilton

Clagett Williams, Kathleen (PhD – 2012) The Sociolinguistic Language Awareness of Three College Writing Instructors: A Discourse Analysis Mentor: Natalie Schilling

Cochrane, Leslie (PhD – 2014) Telling Disability: Identity Construction in Personal and Vicarious Narratives Mentor: Heidi E. Hamilton

de Saint-Georges, Ingrid (PhD – 2004) Anticipatory Discourse: Producing Futures of Action in a Vocational Program for Long-term Unemployed Mentor: Ron Scollon

Dedaic, Mirjana (PhD – 2005) Discursive Construction of National Identity in American, South African, and Croatian 1999 State of the Nation Addresses Mentor: Deborah Schiffrin

Demo, Doug (PhD – 2007) Interactional competence in gatekeeping encounters: A discourse analysis of cross-cultural employment interviews Mentor: Andrea Tyler

Diercks, Michael (PhD – 2011) Issues in the morphosyntax of Bukusu Mentor: Raffaella Zanuttini

Disler, Edith (PhD – 2005) Talking in the Ranks: Gender and Military Discourse Mentor: Deborah Tannen

Egi, Takako (PhD – 2005) Recasts, Perceptions, and L2 Development Mentor: Alison Mackey

Eom, Soojeong (PhD – 2013) Automatic Presentation Of Sense-Specific Lexical Information In An Intelligent Learning System Mentors: Graham Katz & Markus Dickinson

Everts, Elisa (PhD – 2013) In the Face of Blindness: Modalities of Negotiating Identity and Relationship in Blind/Sighted Interaction Mentor: Heidi E. Hamilton

Feizollahi, Zhaleh (PhD – 2010) Post-Lexical Categorical Changes: Turksih, Yoruba and Norwegian Mentor: Elizabeth Zsiga

Felling, Shiraz (PhD – 2006) Fading Farsi: Language Policy, Ideology, and Shift in the Iranian American Family Mentor: Kendall King

Fidler, Ashley (PhD – 2011) Extending the Language of Spece into Abstract Contexts in Child Hungarian Mentor: Donna Lardiere

Flannery, Mercia (PhD – 2006) Stories of Racial Discrimination in Brazil: Language, Stigma and Identity Mentor: Deborah Schiffrin

Fleischer, Astrid Alkistis (PhD – 2007) The politics of language in Quebec: Language policy and language ideologies in a pluriethnic society Mentors: Ralph Fasold & Monica Heller

Fogle, Evelyn (PhD – 2010) Language socialization in the internationally adoptive family: Identities, second languages, and learning Mentor: Kendall King

Fond, Marissa (PhD – 2013) Orienting to Topic in Clinical Discourse Elicitation of Everyday Conversation Mentor: Heidi E. Hamilton

Fridman Mintz, Boris (PhD – 2006) Tense and aspect inflections in Mexican Sign Language verbs Mentor: Andrea Tyler

Fujii, Akiko (PhD – 2006) Individual differences in task performance: Aptitude profiles, orientation to form, and second language production in the EFL classroom Mentor: Alison Mackey

Gallagher, Colleen (PhD – 2012) Emergent Biliteracy in Kindergarten Dual Language Classrooms: Examining Cross-Cultural and Bilingual Developmental Processes through a Narrative Lens Mentor: Kendall King

Goo, Jaemyung (PhD – 2011) Corrective feedback, individual variation in cognitive capacities, and L2 development: Recasts vs. metalinguistic feedback Mentor: Alison Mackey

Grieser, Jessica (PhD – 2015) The Language of Professional Blackness:  African American English at the Intersection of Race, Place, and Class in Southeast Washington, D.C. Mentor: Natalie Schilling

Gruber, James (PhD – 2012) An Articulatory, Acoustic, and Auditory Study of Phonological Tone in Modern Burmese Mentor: Elizabeth Zsiga

Hama, Mika (PhD – 2013) Strategic planning, recasts, noticing, and L2 development Mentor: Alison Mackey

Hamrick, Philip (PhD – 2013) Development of concious knowledge during early incidental learning of L2 syntax Mentor: Alison Mackey

Harner, Hillary (PhD – 2016) Focus and the semantics of desire predicates and directive verbs Mentor: Paul Portner

Hilanto, Kimberly (Teague) (PhD – 2012) The interaction of lexical and discourse-level categories in second language phonetics: Evidence from Mandarin-English pitch Mentor: Elizabeth Zsiga

Ho, Vu (PhD – 2012) Non-native argumentative writing by Vietnamese learners of English: Research and pedagogical implications Mentor: Andrea Tyler

Howald, Blake (PhD – 2012) The Transformation of Spatial Experience in Narrative Discourse Mentor: Graham Katz

Hutchinson, Corinne (PhD – 2013) Morphosyntactic Echoes: Contact Phenomena in Navajo Child English Mentor: Donna Lardiere

Hwang, Sun Hee (PhD – 2013) The acquisition of Korean plural marking by native English speakers Mentor: Donna Lardiere

Jacobsen, Natalia (PhD – 2013) Applying cognitive linguistics and task-supported language teaching to instruction of English conditional phrases Mentor: Andrea Tyler

Jamsu, Jermay Reynolds (PhD – 2012) Language variation and change in an Amdo Tibetan Village: Gender, Education and Resistance Mentor: Robert Podesva

Jeon, K. Seon (PhD – 2004) Interaction-driven learning: Characterizing linguistic development Mentor: Alison Mackey

Jocuns, Andy (PhD – 2005) Knowledge and Discourse: A Study of Knowledge in Social Interaction using the Theories of Mediated Discourse and Distributed Cognition Mentor: Ron Scollon

Kajino, Sakiko (PhD – 2014) Japanese Women’s Language, Regional Variation and Social Meaning Mentor: Natalie Schilling

Kallayanamit, Saovapak (PhD – 2005) Intonation in Standard Thai: Contours, Registers and Boundry Tones Mentor: Elizabeth Zsiga

Kang, Yunkyoug (PhD – 2013) Cognitive Linguistics Approach to Semantics of Spatial Relations in Korean Mentor: Andrea Tyler

Kelly, Justin (PhD – 2013) The Syntax-Semantics Interface in Distributed Morphology Mentor: Paul Portner

Kim, Jeong-eun (PhD – 2013) Explicit form-focused instruction and acquisition of implicit L2 knowledge in adult second language acquisition Mentor: Alison Mackey

Kim, Ki-Tae (PhD – 2006) Discourse of Oriental Medicine: Reference to Western Medicine and Co-construction of the Mind-body Relationship Mentor: Heidi E. Hamilton

Kissling, Elizabeth (PhD – 2012) When and Why to Teach L2 Phonetics and Phonology: Exploring FL Learners’ Perception and Production of Spanish Phones Mentors: Jeff Connor-Linton & Cristina Sanz

Kodama, Yasue (PhD – 2007) Functions of Timeless Sentences in Japanese Oral Narratives Mentor: Deborah Schiffrin

Koutsomitopoulou, Eleni (PhD – 2004) A Neural Network Model for the Representation of Natural Language Mentor: Donald Loritz

Krawczyk, Elizabeth (PhD – 2012) Inferred Propositions And The Expression Of The Evidence Relation In Natural Language: Evidentiality In Central Alaskan Yup’ik Eskimo And English Mentor: Paul Portner

Kripkee, Bernard (PhD – 2006) Perceived Linkage of English Pitch Accents with Syllables Mentor: Donald Loritz

Kuo, Chi-Hsien (PhD – 2006) The Information Status and Discourse Function of Conditionals in Mandarin Mentor: Deborah Schiffrin

Kuong, Io Kei (PhD – 2007) Clausal Peripheries and Resumptives: A Cross-linguistic Study of Topic-Comment Structures Mentor: Hector Campos

Lake, Julie (PhD – 2014) The role of individual differences in L1 and L2 processing of bridging and predictive inferences Mentors: Alison Mackey & Sanja Kotz

Lee, Chong Min (PhD – 2013) A Hybrid Approach to Inferring a Consistent Temporal Relation Set in Natural Language Text Mentor: Graham Katz

Lee, Eunji (PhD – 2015) L2 Acquisition of number marking: a bidirectional study of adult learners of Korean and Indonesian Mentor: Donna Lardiere

Lee, Jinsok (PhD – 2015) Language, Ethnicity And Identity In A New Jersey Korean-American Community Mentor: Natalie Schilling

Lin, Hui-Ju (PhD – 2009) Bilingualism, feedback, cognitive capacity, and learning strategies in L3 development Mentor: Cristina Sanz

Loehr, Daniel (PhD – 2004) Gesture and Intonation Mentor: Elizabeth Zsiga

Logan-Terry, Aubrey (PhD – 2012) Achievement, Assessment, and Learning: A Study of English Language Learners in Mainstream Content Classrooms Mentors: Heidi E. Hamilton & Jeff Connor-Linton

Lou, Jia (PhD – 2009) Situating Linguistic Landscape in Time and Space: A Multidimensional Study of the Discursive Construction of Washington, D.C. Chinatown Mentor: Robert Podesva

Macgregor, David (PhD – 2007) On the relationship between intransitive and causitive verbs in English Mentor: Andrea Tyler

Mahpeykar, Narges (PhD – 2015) A Principled Cognitive Linguistics Account of English Phrasal Verbs Mentor: Andrea Tyler

Marinova, Diana (PhD – 2008) Neutrality in Mediation Hearings: Managing the Mediation Process without Bias Mentor: Heidi E. Hamilton

Matula, Suzanne (PhD – 2007) Incorporating a Cognitive Linguistic Presentation of the Prepositions On, In and At in ESL Instruction: A Quasi Experimental Study Mentor: Andrea Tyler

Mauck, Simon (PhD – 2008) Yehudah Hayyuj and Biblical Hebrew verbs Mentor: Solomon Sara

McFadden, Jennifer (PhD – 2011) Translating selves in public: Intersubjectivity, interaction and ethnography in an urban Bangladeshi market Mentor: Heid E. Hamilton

McQuaid, Goldie Ann (Dooley) (PhD – 2013) Variation at the Morphology-Phonology Interface in Appalachian English Mentor: Elizabeth Zsiga

Mittelstaedt, Jennifer (PhD – 2007) Auxiliary Verb Leveling and Morphological Theory: The Case of Smith Island English Mentor: Natalie Schilling-Estes

Mozgalina, Anastasia (PhD – 2015) Applying an Argument-based Approach for Validating Assessments in Second Language Acquisition Research: The Elicited Imitation Test for Russian Mentor: John Norris

Murph, Karen (PhD – 2009) Negotiating the Master Narratives of Prostitution, Slavery, and Rape in the Testimonies by and Representations of Korean Sex Slaves of the Japanese Military (1939-1945) Mentor: Heidi E. Hamilton

Nakahama, Yuko (PhD – 2004) Cross-linguistic Influence on the Development of Referential Topic Management in L2 Japanese Oral Narratives Mentor: Andrea Tyler

Nielsen, Rasmus (PhD – 2013) Reassembling Identity: Stylistic Variation in African American English Mentor: Natalie Schilling

Nikolaev, Vitaly (PhD – 2013) Za-perfectives of Russian motion verbs Mentor: Andrea Tyler

Nitisaroj, Rattima (PhD – 2006) Effects of Stress and Speaking Rate on Duration and Tone in Thai Mentor: Elizabeth Zsiga

Nylund, Anastasia (PhD – 2013) Phonological Variation at the Intersection of Ethnoracial Identity, Place and Style in Washington, D.C. Mentor: Robert Podesva

Nuevo, Ana-Maria (PhD – 2006) Task complexity and interaction: L2 learning opportunities and development Mentor: Alison Mackey

Or, Winnie (Wing Fung) (PhD – 2004) ‘I’m not selling you vegetables in the market!’: A Sociocultural Analysis of the Discourse of Business Negotiation across Settings in Southern China Mentor: Heidi E. Hamilton

Park, Jong Un (PhD – 2012) Clause Structure and Null Subjects: Referential Dependencies in Korean Mentor: Raffaella Zanuttini

Parrott, Jeffrey (PhD – 2007) Bridging the Gap: Distributed Morphological Mechanisms of Labovian Variation in Morphosyntax Mentor: Donna Lardiere

Petersen, Kenneth (PhD – 2010) Implicit Corrective Feedback in Computer-Guided Interaction: Does Mode Matter? Mentor: Alison Mackey

Premilovac, Aida (PhD – 2006) Voices of Trauma: An Interactional Sociolinguistic Study of Therapeutic Discourse Mentor: Heidi E. Hamilton

Rees, Daniel (PhD – 2009) Towards Proto-Persian: An Optimality Theoretic Historical Reconstruction Mentor: Shaligram Shukla

Rico-Sulayes, Antonio (PhD – 2013) Quantitative Authorship Attribution of Users of Mexican Drug Dealing Related Online Forums Mentor: Natalie Schilling

Ross-Feldma, Lauren (PhD – 2006) Task-Based Interactions Between Second Language Learners: Exploring the Role of Gender Mentor: Alison Mackey

Rubin Damari, Rebecca (PhD – 2012) Stancetaking as identity work: The case of mixed American/Israeli couples Mentor: Robert Podesva

Rus, Dominik (PhD – 2011) The acquisition of verbal inflection in child grammars in a variability model of early morphosyntactic development Mentor: Donna Lardiere

Sachs, Rebecca (PhD – 2011) Individual differences and the effectiveness of visual feedback on reflexive binding in L2 Japanese Mentor: Alison Mackey

Sacknovitz, Aliza (PhD – 2007) Linguistic Means of Orthodox Jewish Identity Construction: Phonological Features, Lexical Features, and the Situated Discourse Mentor: Natalie Schilling-Estes

Sanderson, Jason (PhD – 2013) Breizh Atao?: The Macrosociolinguistics of Word Choice, Language Ideology and Regional Identity in Contemporary Brittany Mentor: Natalie Schilling 

Sclafani, Jennifer (PhD – 2010) Talking Back to Newt Gingrich: Discourse Strategies in the Construction of Language Ideologies Mentor: Deborah Schiffrin

Seals, Corinne (PhD – 2013) Mutilingual Identity Development and Negotiation Amongst Heritage Language Learners: A Study of East European-American Schoolchildren in the United States Mentor: Natalie Schilling

Shah, Sheena (PhD – 2013) Factors Affecting Proficiency among Gujarati Heritage Language Learners on Three Continents Mentor:Alison Mackey

Shaw, Emily (PhD – 2013) Gesture in Multiparty Interaction: A Study of Embodied Discourse in Spoken English and American Sign Language Mentor:Heidi E. Hamilton

Shibuya, Yoshiho (PhD – 2006) Production and Perception of Consonant Clusters in the L2 Phonology of Japanese Learners of English Mentor: Elizabeth Zsiga

Siebecker, Laura (PhD – 2015) The Basque Auxiliary Verb: Morphosyntactic Analysis and Implications for Second Language Acquisition Mentor: Ruth Kramer

Sondermann, Kerstin (PhD – 2013) The ‘Manual’ Way of Informing the Notion of ‘Balanced Bilinguals’ Mentor: Andrea Tyler

Soukup, Barbara (PhD – 2008) The stragegic use of Austrian dialect in interaction: A sociolinguistic study of contextualization, speech perception and language attitudes Mentor: Natalie Schilling-Estes

Stockburger, Ingrid (PhD – 2011) Making Zines, Making Selves: Identity Construction in DIY Autobiography Mentor: Deborah Schiffrin

Suh, Bo Ram (PhD – 2010) Written feedback in Second Language Acquisition: Exploring the roles of type of feedback, tope of linguistic targets, and awareness of a L2 writing task Mentor: Alison Mackey

Tagarelli, Kaitlyn (PhD – 2014) The neurocognition of adult second language learning: an fMRI study Mentor: Michael Ullman

Takada, Mari (PhD – 2007) Synesthetic Metaphor: Perception, Cognition, and Language Mentor: Andrea Tyler

Tlale Boyer, One (PhD – 2006) The Phonetics and Phonology of Sengwato, A Dialect of Setswana Mentor: Elizabeth Zsiga

Tovares, Alla (PhD – 2005) Intertextuality in Family Interation: Repetition of Public Texts in Private Settings Mentor: Deborah Tannen

Toye, Margaret (PhD – 2008) Interaction in the Production and Fanship of Train 48: An Interactional Sociolinguistic Study Mentor: Ron Scollon

Trester, Anna (PhD – 2008) Improvising onstage and off: Combining variationist, discourse, and anthropological approaches to style Mentor: Natalie Schilling-Estes

Van Guilder, Linda (PhD – 2008) Cross-language Perception in Foreign Name Transcription Mentor: Elizabeth Zsiga

Villafaña Dalcher, Christina (PhD – 2006) Consonant Weakening in Florentine Italian Mentor: Elizabeth Zsiga

Wake, Virginia (PhD – 2006) Triadic Interaction in Prenatal Genetic Counseling Mentor: Heidi E. Hamilton

Weger, Heather (PhD – 2008) Learner Motivations and Preferences: Realities in the Language Classroom Mentor: Jeff Connor-Linton

Winke, Paula (PhD – 2005) Individual differences in adult Chinese second language acquisition: The relationship among aptitude, memory and strategies for learning Mentor: Alison Mackey

Wright, Laura (PhD – 2008) Doing, Talking and Writing Science: A Discourse Analysis of the Resemiotization of Laboratory Activities in a Middle School Science Class Mentor: Heidi E. Hamilton

Ziegler, Nicole (PhD – 2013) Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication and Interaction: A Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis Mentor: Alison Mackey

Zubair, Cala (PhD – 2011) Ethnolinguistic Nationalism in Sri Lankan University Subcultures Mentors: Michael Lempert & Robert Podesva

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The Department of Linguistics

Dissertations and publications.

Ph.D. Dissertations A comprehensive list of the Ph.D. dissertations written at UCLA Linguistics over the last 50+ years.

Publications A list of the Working and Occasional Papers published by UCLA Linguistics.

M.A. Recipients & Theses A comprehensive list of the M.A. papers and theses written at UCLA Linguistics over the last 30+ years.

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Home > Linguistics > Graduate Dissertations

Linguistics Graduate Dissertations

Dissertations from 2021 2021.

Linguistic Variation from Cognitive Variability: The Case of English 'Have' , Muye Zhang

Dissertations from 2020 2020

Argument Structure and Argument-marking in Choctaw , Matthew Tyler

Dissertations from 2019 2019

Affix Ordering and Templatic Morphology in Mandan , Ryan Kasak

A Jewel Inlaid: Ergativity and Markedness in Nepali , Luke S. Lindemann

Dissertations from 2016 2016

Forming Wh-Questions in Shona: A Comparative Bantu Perspective , Jason Zentz

Dissertations from 2014 2014

Windesi Wamesa Morphophonology , Emily A. Gasser

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Home > Humanities > Linguistics > Theses and Dissertations

Linguistics Theses and Dissertations

Theses/dissertations from 2022 2022.

Temporal Fluency in L2 Self-Assessments: A Cross-Linguistic Study of Spanish, Portuguese, and French , Mandy Case

Biblical Hebrew as a Negative Concord Language , J. Bradley Dukes

Revitalizing the Russian of a Heritage Speaker , Aaron Jordan

Analyzing Patterns of Complexity in Pre-University L2 English Writing , Zachary M. Lambert

Prosodic Modeling for Hymn Translation , Michael Abraham Peck

Interpretive Language and Museum Artwork: How Patrons Respond to Depictions of Native American and White Settler Encounters--A Thematic Analysis , Holli D. Rogerson

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

Trademarks and Genericide: A Corpus and Experimental Approach to Understanding the Semantic Status of Trademarks , Richard B. Bevan

First and Second Language Use of Case, Aspect, and Tense in Finnish and English , Torin Kelley

Lexical Aspect in-sha Verb Chains in Pastaza Kichwa , Azya Dawn Ladd

Text-to-Speech Systems: Learner Perceptions of its Use as a Tool in the Language Classroom , Joseph Chi Man Mak

The Effects of Dynamic Written Corrective Feedback on the Accuracy and Complexity of Writing Produced by L2 Graduate Students , Lisa Rohm

Mental Contrasting with Implementation Intentions as Applied to Motivation in L2 Vocabulary Acquisition , Lindsay Michelle Stephenson

Linguistics of Russian Media During the 2016 US Election: A Corpus-Based Study , Devon K. Terry

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Portuguese and Chinese ESL Reading Behaviors Compared: An Eye-Tracking Study , Logan Kyle Blackwell

Mental Contrasting with Implementation Intentions to Lower Test Anxiety , Asena Cakmakci

The Categorization of Ideophone-Gesture Composites in Quichua Narratives , Maria Graciela Cano

Ranking Aspect-Based Features in Restaurant Reviews , Jacob Ling Hang Chan

Praise in Written Feedback: How L2 Writers Perceive and Value Praise , Karla Coca

Evidence for a Typology of Christ in the Book of Esther , L. Clayton Fausett

Gender Vs. Sex: Defining Meaning in a Modern World through use of Corpora and Semantic Surveys , Mary Elizabeth Garceau

The attributive suffix in Pastaza Kichwa , Barrett Wilson Hamp

An Examination of Motivation Types and Their Influence on English Proficiency for Current High School Students in South Korean , Euiyong Jung

Experienced ESL Teachers' Attitudes Towards Using Phonetic Symbols in Teaching English Pronunciation to Adult ESL Students , Oxana Kodirova

Evidentiality, Epistemic Modality and Mirativity: The Case of Cantonese Utterance Particles Ge3, Laak3, and Lo1 , Ka Fai Law

Application of a Self-Regulation Framework in an ESL Classroom: Effects on IEP International Students , Claudia Mencarelli

Parsing an American Sign Language Corpus with Combinatory Categorial Grammar , Michael Albert Nix

An Exploration of Mental Contrasting and Social Networks of English Language Learners , Adam T. Pinkston

A Corpus-Based Study of the Gender Assignment of Nominal Anglicisms in Brazilian Portuguese , Taryn Marie Skahill

Developing Listening Comprehension in ESL Students at the Intermediate Level by Reading Transcripts While Listening: A Cognitive Load Perspective , Sydney Sohler

The Effect of Language Learning Experience on Motivation and Anxiety of Foreign Language Learning Students , Josie Eileen Thacker

Identifying Language Needs in Community-Based Adult ELLs: Findings from an Ethnography of Four Salvadoran Immigrants in the Western United States , Kathryn Anne Watkins

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

Using Eye Tracking to Examine Working Memory and Verbal Feature Processing in Spanish , Erik William Arnold

Self-Regulation in Transition: A Case Study of Three English Language Learners at an IEP , Allison Wallace Baker

"General Conference talk": Style Variation and the Styling of Identity in Latter-day Saint General Conference Oratory , Stephen Thomas Betts

Implementing Mental Contrasting to Improve English Language Learner Social Networks , Hannah Trimble Brown

Comparing Academic Vocabulary List (AVL) Frequency Bands to Leveled Biology and History Texts , Lynne Crandall

A Comparison of Mobile and Computer Receptive Language ESL Tests , Aislin Pickett Davis

Yea, Yea, Nay, Nay: Uses of the Archaic, Biblical Yea in the Book of Mormon , Michael Edward De Martini

L1 and L2 Reading Behaviors by Proficiency Level: An English-Portuguese Eye-Tracking Study , Larissa Grahl

Immediate Repeated Reading has Positive Effects on Reading Fluency for English Language Learners: An Eye-tracking Study , Jennifer Hemmert Hansen

Perceptions of Malaysian English Teachers Regarding the Importation of Expatriate Native and Nonnative English-speaking Teachers , Syringa Joanah Judd

Sociocultural Identification with the United States and English Pronunciation Comprehensibility and Accent Among International ESL Students , Christinah Paige Mulder

The Effects of Repeated Reading on the Fluency of Intermediate-Level English-as-a-Second-Language Learners: An Eye-Tracking Study , Krista Carlene Rich

Verb Usage in Egyptian Movies, Serials, and Blogs: A Case for Register Variation , Michael G. White

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

Factors Influencing ESL Students' Selection of Intensive English Programs in the Western United States , Katie Briana Blanco

Pun Strategies Across Joke Schemata: A Corpus-Based Study , Robert Nishan Crapo

ESL Students' Reading Behaviors on Multiple-Choice Items at Differing Proficiency Levels: An Eye-Tracking Study , Juan M. Escalante Talavera

Backward Transfer of Apology Strategies from Japanese to English: Do English L1 Speakers Use Japanese-Style Apologies When Speaking English? , Candice April Flowers

Cultural Differences in Russian and English Magazine Advertising: A Pragmatic Approach , Emily Kay Furner

An Analysis of Rehearsed Speech Characteristics on the Oral Proficiency Interview—Computer (OPIc) , Gwyneth Elaine Gates

Predicting Speaking, Listening, and Reading Proficiency Gains During Study Abroad Using Social Network Metrics , Timothy James Hall

Navigating a New Culture: Analyzing Variables that Influence Intensive English Program Students' Cultural Adjustment Process , Sherie Lyn Kwok

Second Language Semantic Retrieval in the Bilingual Mind: The Case of Korean-English Expert Bilinguals , Janice Si-Man Lam

Evaluating the Effectiveness of a Korean Heritage-Speaking Interpreter , Yoonjoo Lee

Reading Idioms: A Comparative Eye-Tracking Study of Native English Speakers and Native Korean Speakers , Sarah Lynne Miner

Applying the Developmental Path of English Negation to the Automated Scoring of Learner Essays , Allen Travis Moore

Performance Self-Appraisal Calibration of ESL Students on a Proficiency Reading Test , Jodi Mikolajcik Petersen

Switch-Reference in Pastaza Kichwa , Alexander Harrison Rice

The Effects of Metacognitive Listening Strategy Instruction on ESL Learners' Listening Motivation , Corbin Kalanikiakahi Rivera

The Effects of Teacher Background on How Teachers Assess Native-Like and Nonnative-Like Grammar Errors: An Eye-Tracking Study , Wesley Makoto Schramm

Rubric Rating with MFRM vs. Randomly Distributed Comparative Judgment: A Comparison of Two Approaches to Second-Language Writing Assessment , Maureen Estelle Sims

Investigating the Perception of Identity Shift in Trilingual Speakers: A Case Study , Elena Vasilachi

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

Preparing Non-Native English Speakers for the Mathematical Vocabulary in the GRE and GMAT , Irina Mikhailovna Baskova

Eye Behavior While Reading Words of Sanskrit and Urdu Origin in Hindi , Tahira Carroll

An Acoustical Analysis of the American English /l, r/ Contrast as Produced by Adult Japanese Learners of English Incorporating Word Position and Task Type , Braden Paul Chase

The Rhetoric Revision Log: A Second Study on a Feedback Tool for ESL Student Writing , Natalie Marie Cole

Quizlet Flashcards for the First 500 Words of the Academic Vocabulary List , Emily R. Crandell

The Impact of Changing TOEFL Cut-Scores on University Admissions , Laura Michelle Decker

A Latent Class Analysis of American English Dialects , Stephanie Nicole Hedges

Comparing the AWL and AVL in Textbooks from an Intensive English Program , Michelle Morgan Hernandez

Faculty and EAL Student Perceptions of Writing Purposes and Challenges in the Business Major , Amy Mae Johnson

Multilingual Trends in Five London Boroughs: A Linguistic Landscape Approach , Shayla Ann Johnson

Nature or Nurture in English Academic Writing: Korean and American Rhetorical Patterns , Sunok Kim

Differences in the Motivations of Chinese Learners of English in Different (Foreign or Second Language) Contexts , Rui Li

Managing Dynamic Written Corrective Feedback: Perceptions of Experienced Teachers , Rachel A. Messenger

Spanish Heritage Bilingual Perception of English-Specific Vowel Contrasts , John B. Nielsen

Taking the "Foreign" Out of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale , Jared Benjamin Sell

Creole Genesis and Universality: Case, Word Order, and Agreement , Gerald Taylor Snow

Idioms or Open Choice? A Corpus Based Analysis , Kaitlyn Alayne VanWagoner

Applying Corpus-Assisted Critical Discourse Analysis to an Unrestricted Corpus: A Case Study in Indonesian and Malay Newspapers , Sara LuAnne White

Investigating the effects of Rater's Second Language Learning Background and Familiarity with Test-Taker's First Language on Speaking Test Scores , Ksenia Zhao

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

The Influence of Online English Language Instruction on ESL Learners' Fluency Development , Rebecca Aaron

The Effect of Prompt Accent on Elicited Imitation Assessments in English as a Second Language , Jacob Garlin Barrows

A Framework for Evaluating Recommender Systems , Michael Gabriel Bean

Program and Classroom Factors Affecting Attendance Patterns For Hispanic Participants In Adult ESL Education , Steven J. Carter

A Longitudinal Analysis of Adult ESL Speakers' Oral Fluency Gains , Kostiantyn Fesenko

Rethinking Vocabulary Size Tests: Frequency Versus Item Difficulty , Brett James Hashimoto

The Onomatopoeic Ideophone-Gesture Relationship in Pastaza Quichua , Sarah Ann Hatton

A Hybrid Approach to Cross-Linguistic Tokenization: Morphology with Statistics , Logan R. Kearsley

Getting All the Ducks in a Row: Towards a Method for the Consolidation of English Idioms , Ethan Michael Lynn

Expecting Excellence: Student and Teacher Attitudes Towards Choosing to Speak English in an IEP , Alhyaba Encinas Moore

Lexical Trends in Young Adult Literature: A Corpus-Based Approach , Kyra McKinzie Nelson

A Corpus-Based Comparison of the Academic Word List and the Academic Vocabulary List , Jacob Andrew Newman

A Self-Regulated Learning Inventory Based on a Six-Dimensional Model of SRL , Christopher Nuttall

The Effectiveness of Using Written Feedback to Improve Adult ESL Learners' Spontaneous Pronunciation of English Suprasegmentals , Chirstin Stephens

Pragmatic Quotation Use in Online Yelp Reviews and its Connection to Author Sentiment , Mary Elisabeth Wright

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Conditional Sentences in Egyptian Colloquial and Modern Standard Arabic: A Corpus Study , Randell S. Bentley

A Corpus-Based Analysis of Russian Word Order Patterns , Stephanie Kay Billings

English to ASL Gloss Machine Translation , Mary Elizabeth Bonham

The Development of an ESP Vocabulary Study Guidefor the Utah State Driver Handbook , Kirsten M. Brown

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College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Department of Linguistics

Dissertations.

Dissertations/Theses

The culmination of the PhD program of study is a doctoral dissertation, prepared with the guidance of a thesis advisor. The dissertation must demonstrate originality and ability for an independent investigation, and the results of the research must constitute a noteworthy contribution to knowledge in the field. The dissertation must exhibit mastery of the literature on the subject and familiarity with the sources, and must be well written.

A PhD candidate files a dissertation proposal form with the University of Minnesota Graduate School shortly after passing the preliminary oral examination.

Students defend their PhD thesis to an oral examination committee consisting of four members, including their advisor and two other members of the Linguistics Graduate Faculty, plus one member external to the Linguistics program. Three members of the final oral examination committee will serve as reviewers of the dissertation, including their thesis advisor, one other member of the linguistics graduate faculty, and one member from the field of the minor or the supporting program. More details on examination committees can be found on Onestop's site. Students must follow all Graduate School requirements for formatting their thesis.

PhD Dissertations

• 2021. Borui Zhang.  Clausal Complementation in Nepal Bhasa
• 2021. Maria Heath.  Tweeting Out Loud: Prosodic Orthography on Social Media
• 2019. Paul Tilleson.  On Bipartite Negation
• 2016. Michael Sullivan. Relativization in Ojibwe
• 2014. Muhammad Abdurrahman. Sociophonetic Perception of African-American English in Minnesota
• 2014. Suzanne van Duym. Informativeness, Category Membership, and the Distribution of Adjectival Past Participles
• 2014. Mahmoud Sadrai. Cognitive Status and ra-Marked Referents of Nominal Expressions in Persian
• 2014. James Stevens. Control and Disposal of Demonstratives, with Electrophysiological Evidence from English and Japanese
• 2013. Hiroki Nomoto. Number in Classifier Languages
• 2012. Mamadou Bassene. Morphophonology of Jóola Eegimaa
• 2012. Kaitlin Johnson. Development of Scalar Implicatures and the Indefinite Article
• 2012. Kateryna Kent. Morphosyntactic Analysis of Surzhyk, a Russian-Ukranian mixed lect
• 2012. Dingcheng Li. Entity Relation Detection with Factorial Hidden Markov Models and Maximum Entropy Discriminant Latent Dirichlet Allocations
• 2012. Ellen Lucast. The Interaction of Structural and Inferential Elements in Characterizing Human Linguistic Communication
• 2012. Mark Wicklund. Use of Referring Expressions by Autistic Children in Spontaneous Conversations: Does Impaired Metarepresentational Ability Affect Reference Production?
• 2011. Paula Chesley. Linguistic, Cognitive, and Social Constraints on Lexical Entrenchment
• 2011. Eden Kaiser. Sociophonetics of Hmong American English in Minnesota
• 2011. Sarah Loss. Iron Range English Long-Distance Reflexives
• 2010. Sharon Gerlach. The Acquisition of Consonant Sequences: Harmony, Metathesis, and Deletion Patterns in Phonological Development
• 2010. Oksana Laleko. The Syntax-Pragmatics Interface in Language Loss: Covert Restructuring of Aspect in Heritage Russian
• 2009. Khalfaoui Amel. A Cognitive Approach to Analyzing Demonstratives in Tunisian Arabic
• 2009. Michiko Buchanan. Ellipsis Involving Verbs in Japanese
• 2009. Linda Humnick. Pronouns in Kumyck Discourse: A Cognitive Perspective
• 2009. Brendan Fairbanks. Ojibwe Discourse Markers
• 2022. Ruyuan Wan. Riddikulus: Detection of Persuasion Techniques in Memes
• 2022. Aandeg Muldrew.  Understanding the e- prefix in NW Ojibwe in terms of veridicality
• 2021.  Chen Yang.  Results, negation and 'understand' verbs in Mandarin Chinese: An aspectual analysis
• 2021.   Zachary Lorang.   Multiple Partitive as a Distinct Phenomenon: Evidence from Russian
• 2021.  Vipasha Bansal. Condition C in White Hmong
• 2021.  Brandon Kieffer.  Glide Clusters in Kinyarwanda: An Optimality Theoretic Analysis
• 2021.  Zoe Brown.  Wh-imperatives in Southwestern Ojibwe
• 2020. Mskwaankwad Rice. The Preterit Mode and Counterfactuality in Ojibwe
• 2020. Ian White. The Argument Structure of Deverbal Nouns
• 2020. Mitchell Klein. Tag, You’re It! An Examination of Pre-Velar Raising in Minnesota English
• 2020.  Nora Livesay.  Ojibwe Passives and VoiceP
• 2019. Alexander Jarnow. Making Questions with Tone: Polar Question Formation in Kinyarwanda
• 2019. Samantha Hamilton.  Prosodically-Driven Reduplication in Maori: An Analysis
• 2018. Mary Christensen. I Always Understood the Past to Exclude Speech Time: Event structure in past tense politeness
• 2018. Hye-Min Kang.  Upper Sorbian Genitive Pronoun within Possessive Adjective Construction
• 2017. Anthoni Fortier. Split Ergativity in Newari
• 2017. Maria Heath. Interpretation of Non-standard Capitalization on Twitter
• 2017. Jesse Scheumann. Hebrew Voicing Assimilation
• 2016. Jonathon Coltz. Expressing dislike in focus groups on food
• 2016. Mark McKay. The MorphoSyntax of Bipartite Negation in Paraguayan Guaraní
• 2016. Yolanda Pushetonequa. Phonological Change in Meskwaki and Effects on Orthography
• 2016. Borui Zhang. Predictions of Entropy Reduction Theory on Chinese Relative Clauses
• 2015. Martha Abramson. Contrast Preservation and Enhancement in Mandarin Chinese
• 2015. Anna Farrell. Official Language Policy and the Linguistic Landscape of an Internationalizing University
• 2015. Wei Song. The Sentence-final de and the Post-verbal de in the shi...de construction in Mandarin
• 2015. Joshua St. George. Features of Language: A Study of Informative Features for Use in a Supervised Non-deterministic Transition-based Dependency Parser over the Latin Dependency Treebank
• 2014. Geoffrey Fischer. Local Constraint Implication in Phonological Opacity
• 2014. Emily Hanson. ‘We’ll take that as a compliment’ Changes in the use of bitch as gender-role enforcement  
• 2014. Jeremy Orosz. Prosody, Semantics and Narrative Structure: Revis(it)ing Labov
• 2013. Paul Tilleson. Bipartite negation in Sgaw Karen
• 2013. Guillermo Carlos Alvarez. Creole Derivational Morphology
• 2013. Alexa Landazuri. Female Swearing Behavior and Usage of the F-word: A Study of Californian and Midwestern Young Adults
• 2013. Hannah Sande. Nouchi as a Distinct Language: The Morphological Evidence
• 2012. Michael Sullivan. Documentation and description of narrative styles between Minnesota and Wisconsin Ojibwe

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Students who enter the Ph.D. program in linguistics with an M.A. in linguistics from Gallaudet University are required to earn an additional 33 credits to complete the Ph.D. in linguistics, followed by dissertation proposal development and dissertation research among other program requirements.

Students who have earned an M.A. degree from another program or university are also eligible for admission to the Ph.D. program in linguistics. These students are required to earn 59 credits to complete the LIN Ph.D., followed by dissertation proposal development and dissertation research among other program requirements. Although these students are not typically awarded an incidental M.A. on the way to the Ph.D. degree, this option is available upon successful completion of the entire MA in linguistics program of study, which includes 5 additional (3-credit) elective courses.

Program of Study

Students who enter the LIN Ph.D. program with a Gallaudet LIN M.A. are required to have a minimum of 36 credits to complete the LIN Ph.D. followed by dissertation research. For these students, the doctoral curriculum consists of a total of 77 credits of coursework plus dissertation research. This means that those who have taken the 41 credits required by the M.A. curriculum must complete another 36 credits of advanced linguistics courses.

Students who enter the LIN Ph.D. program without a Gallaudet LIN M.A. are required to have a minimum of 62 credits to complete the LIN Ph.D., followed by dissertation research. This includes 22 credits of core courses to be taken in the first year, plus 4 credits to be taken in the second year. These students must also successfully complete the Qualifying Exam and Compendium, in addition to other Ph.D. program requirements.

All students must complete the following advanced courses, totaling 24 credit hours: Sociolinguistics in Deaf Communities (LIN 741), Guided Research Project (LIN 880, taken twice), Phonology III (LIN 801), Generative Linguistics III (LIN 802), Cognitive Linguistics III (LIN 827), Concept Paper (LIN 883) and Dissertation Proposal Development (LIN 890). An additional 12 credits of elective courses must also be completed, to be chosen by the student in consultation with the student’s advisor. These courses should focus on aspects of linguistic theory, application, or research related to the student’s professional or academic goals. Some electives may also be taken through the Consortium of Colleges and Universities.

Guided Research Project (LIN 883) and GRP Presentation

Guided Research Project (GRP) LIN 880, 2 semesters. Students design and conduct an independent research project under the guidance of their dissertation advisor. Course requirements include a final paper and the following components, as applicable: development of an appropriate research plan, completion of the IRB human subjects review, and collection and analysis of data. The GRP typically is related to the student’s dissertation topic, but is not required to be. The work done in the GRP is intended to lead to the independence necessary to complete dissertation research. Successful completion of LIN 880 is a prerequisite for LIN 883: Concept Paper. LIN 880 is typically taken during the first and second semesters of the first year.

Students are required to give a presentation on their GRP research. This is a formal presentation, similar to what would be given at a professional conference. It is to be 20 minutes in length with 10 minutes for discussion and/or Q/A. Faculty evaluate the presentation in areas of content, presentation, and language use. Students will receive feedback from the faculty. This is one of three presentations required. Successful completion of the GRP presentation is required to continue in the Ph.D. program.

Concept Paper (LIN 883), Field Exam, and Concept Paper Presentation

LIN 883: Concept Paper serves as a transition from students’ preparatory coursework to their dissertation proposal. Students will complete a concept paper on their proposed dissertation topic. This paper will include a statement of the research question(s) and a review of relevant literature, while it will focus primarily on (a) defining the key concepts relevant to the student’s anticipated research plans and (b) making explicit any underlying theoretical assumptions.

LIN 883 is typically taken during the first semester of the second year. The concept paper must be completed in the first 10 weeks of the semester in order to provide time for the Field Exam and Concept Paper Presentation to occur. Students may register for a second semester of LIN 883 at the discretion of the Linguistics faculty (e.g. in cases where the student has selected a particularly complex topic and is making steady progress, or scores an Unsatisfactory on their Field Exam and is required to revisit and strengthen their Concept Paper).

The Field Exam is administered after the first 10 weeks of LIN 883 and prior to the end of the semester. Content of the exam will be determined by the student’s Concept Paper. Three examiners (the LIN dissertation advisor who led the student’s Concept Paper, a second LIN faculty member with expertise in some area relevant to the student’s Concept Paper, and a third LIN faculty member who does not work in the area of the student’s Concept Paper) will conduct in-depth questioning in areas pertinent to the student’s Concept Paper topic. Student responses will be evaluated by all three examiners together as a Pass with Distinction, Pass, Unsatisfactory or Fail. Students who receive an Unsatisfactory score on the Field Exam will be required to retake the exam; students who Fail the Field Exam will be terminated from the program. Students who retake the Field Exam and receive either a score of Unsatisfactory or Fail will be terminated from the program.

After successful completion of the Field Exam the student will give a presentation on their Concept Paper. This is a formal presentation, similar to what would be given at a professional conference. It is to be 20 minutes in length with 10 minutes for discussion and/or Q/A. Faculty evaluate the presentation in areas of content, presentation, and language use. Students will receive feedback from the faculty. This is one of three presentations required. Successful completion of the Concept Paper Presentation is required to continue in the Ph.D. program. Students must successfully complete the Field Exam and Concept Paper Presentation before taking in LIN 890 Dissertation Proposal Development.

Dissertation Proposal Development (LIN 890) and Proposal Defense

Each student seeking a Ph.D. will be required to complete a research-based dissertation on a topic acceptable to his or her doctoral committee. Students are expected to complete their dissertation proposal in one semester (LIN 890 Dissertation Proposal Development). However, those who fail to do so will be permitted to register for additional semesters of LIN 890 Dissertation Proposal Development, provided they maintain a passing grade each semester.

LIN 890 is the course in which students will develop their dissertation proposal, producing a research plan for answering the research questions posed in their Concept Paper. Emphasis will be on defining a project of appropriate scope, extending the literature review and selecting an appropriate research design and methodology. Students will meet regularly with their dissertation advisor for guidance and discussion, but are expected to pursue the bulk of the work independently. They may receive input from doctoral committee members. Once the full committee deems the proposal defendable, a defense date is set. The dissertation proposal defense is expected to happen at the end of the semester in which LIN 890 is taken. Students may not register for LIN 900: Dissertation Research until the proposal is successfully defended. All Ph.D. coursework must be completed or be on track to be completed by the semester the proposal defense occurs.

Successful defense of one’s dissertation proposal is the candidacy examination for the LIN PhD program.

Dissertation (LIN 900) and Dissertation Defense

Once students have successfully completed and defended their dissertation proposal, they advance to LIN 900 Dissertation Research. LIN 900 may be taken multiple times, provided students earn a passing grade each semester.

Each Ph.D. student is required to prepare a research-based dissertation in an area acceptable to their Doctoral Committee. The dissertation is based on the proposal accepted by the committee, typically in the spring of the second year of Ph.D. study, and work on the dissertation proper typically begins in the fall of the third year. The dissertation is expected to be a research project designed to provide new understanding of the topic, and must include a thorough and thoughtful review of the relevant literature, description of methodology, analysis, and discussion and conclusion elucidating the significance of the findings. The dissertation process is discussed in detail in the Gallaudet University Dissertation and Thesis Handbook (on the intranet GU website and the LIN website). Students will also receive this handbook when they take LIN 890 Dissertation Proposal Development. The maximum time allowed for completion of the dissertation is seven years from the start of the LIN M.A. degree or six years from entrance into the Ph.D. program for those without a LIN M.A. degree. Any extension beyond this deadline will require the approval of the doctoral committee, the Graduate Program Coordinator, the Department Chair, and the Dean of the Graduate School.

Courses & Requirements

Summary of Requirements

For students who completed the Gallaudet M.A. in Linguistics

An examination of the theories and principles of sociolinguistics with specific reference to sign languages and Deaf communities around the world. Topics include multilingualism, bilingualism, and language contact, variation, discourse analysis, language policy and planning and language attitudes.

All first year Linguistics MA courses or by permission of instructor.

This course is an advanced seminar focusing on phonological theory, building on foundational material presented in Phonology I and Phonology II. Topics will vary depending upon current developments in phonological theory, focusing on both spoken and signed languages.

This course is an advanced seminar focusing on generative approaches to syntactic theory, building on foundational material presented in Generative Syntax I and Generative Syntax II. Topics will vary depending upon current developments in syntactic theory, focusing on both spoken and signed languages.

This seminar is the third course in the Cognitive Linguistic sequence of courses in the graduate linguistics program (the first two being LIN 721 and LIN 732). Possible major topics include cognitive grammar, cognitive semantics, conceptual blending, constructional grammar, embodiment, depiction, mental spaces, metaphor, metonymy, and the usage-based approach to language.

This course is required to be taken twice, typically beginning in the fall semester of students' first year in the Ph.D. program and continuing into the following spring semester. Students will design and conduct a research project under the supervision of a faculty member. Course requirements include a final paper by the end of the second semester with the following components, as applicable: development of an appropriate research plan, completion of the IRB human subjects review, and collection and analysis of data. LIN 880 may be repeated a third semester at the discretion of the instructor if requirements cannot be successfully completed in the usual two semesters.

Acceptance to LIN Ph.D. program and successful completion of the LIN Qualifying Exam.

This course serves as a transition from students' preparatory coursework to their dissertation proposal. Under supervision of a faculty member, students will complete a Concept Paper that identifies their research question(s) and defines key concepts that underlie those research questions. The Concept Paper also specifies the theoretical framework(s) to be adopted for research and discusses previous literature assumed as background information. Upon approval of a student's completed Concept Paper by the instructor, the student will then give a Concept Paper Presentation to the full faculty and take the field exam, both of which are developed on the basis of the student's completed Concept Paper. LIN 883 may be repeated one time.

Successful completion of LIN 880 Guided Research Project and LIN Faculty approval of the GRP presentation.

In this course, students will develop their dissertation proposal, producing a research plan for answering the research questions posed in their Concept Paper. Emphasis will be on defining a project of appropriate scope for a dissertation, extending the literature review and selecting an appropriate research design and methodology. Students will meet regularly with their dissertation advisor for guidance and discussion, but are expected to pursue the bulk of the work independently. LIN 890 may be repeated one time.

LIN 883, Field Exam, Concept Paper Presentation, and approval of the GRP paper as having achieved publication quality, as evaluated by an outside reader from the LIN faculty.

Elective Courses in Linguistics (selected sample)

Core Courses in Statistics: Ph.D.

Core Courses in Statistics: These courses are required for students whose Ph.D. specialization requires statistical work. If taken, they replace two elective courses.

This introductory course sequence develops the primary statistical concepts and techniques needed to conduct research. This course presumes no previous statistical background other than college-level algebra or its equivalent. The course goal is to develop many of the basic conceptual theories underlying statistical applications, while also developing a critical perspective toward statistics. Students will develop skills in descriptive statistical analysis, simple correlation procedures, and hypothesis testing. Computer-assisted analysis will complement course work.

College-level algebra

The purpose of this second course in statistics is to develop specific concepts and techniques to conduct basic inferential statistical analysis. The course emphasizes application skills, i.e., the ability to fit the appropriate analysis to a particular data set. Students will learn to conduct and interpret the most often used inferential tests for research and evaluation projects. Computer software will be used to complement course work and analysis.

EDU 720 or equivalent and EDU 801 or equivalent

This course introduces students to the acquisition of a native language by young children (L1 acquisition) and acquisition of a second language after childhood (L2 acquisition), with a focus on sign languages. The first part of the course covers the important milestones of normal L1 development in phonology, morphology, syntax and pragmatics for both spoken and signed languages. The course also explores how delays in exposure affect the acquisition process, related to the main topics of the second part of the course: critical period effects and L2 acquisition. Readings and discussion throughout the course will reflect the perspective that acquisition studies on a broad variety of languages, both signed and spoken, are crucial for developing accurate theories of language structure and use. Application of concepts from lectures and discussion is developed through student analysis of L1 and L2 data.

For UG students: LIN 301, 302; for MASLED GRAD students: B or above in ASL 724 or permission of the instructor and MASLED program coordinator; for other GRAD students, permission of the instructor.

Students are introduced to a descriptive framework with which to identify and analyze iconicity and depiction in ASL and other signed languages and spoken languages as well. The course focuses on depiction typology, examining the structure of role-shifting, constructed action and dialogue, classifier constructions/depicting verbs, aspectual constructions, abstract/metaphorical depictions, and other imagistic uses of space, including different types of gesture.

LIN 101, graduate student status, or permission of the instructor.

This course explores bilingualism, with a special emphasis on bilingualism in the Gallaudet community. We will examine the place of bilingualism and multilingualism in the world, both historically and currently; the linguistic structure and features of bilingualism; social constructions of bilingualism; the acquisition of bilinguality, from the perspectives of both first- and second language acquisition; and we will explore the functions and meanings of bilingualism in communities. For each topic, we will examine the current state of the field, first from the perspective of spoken language bilingualism and then from the perspective of signed language (mixed modality) bilingualism, with special emphasis on the situation at Gallaudet University.

For UG students: LIN 101, 263, 301, 302; for Grad students: Permission of Instructor

This course introduces students to the theories and methods of analyzing prosody in signed and spoken languages. These prosodic features play a critical role in human communication and have a wide range of functions, including expression at linguistic, attitudinal, affective and personal levels.

This course explores the relationships between language and culture from an anthropological and sociolinguistic point of view. Students are introduced to various approaches to qualitative analysis as research tools for understanding the interplay between language and culture in the Deaf community in which they participate.

This course examines general issues in first language acquisition, focusing on the period from birth to five years. It includes critical review of literature on phonological, lexical, morphological and syntactic development for both signed and spoken first languages, from both nativist and usage-based theoretical perspectives.

All first year Linguistics MA courses plus LIN 741, or permission of instructor.

This course will review current theory and research in second language acquisition (SLA) from linguistic and psychological perspectives, focusing on the influences of various theoretical models. Students will be introduced to the principal areas of SLA research and the major methodologies available for their study. Course material will focus on acquisition of a spoken second language, but also discuss recent studies and analyze data related to second language acquisition of a sign language.

The focus of this course is a comparison among six dominant approaches to the analysis of discourse: pragmatics, speech act theory, conversational analysis, interactional sociolinguistics, ethnography of communication, and variation analysis, with close examination of different kinds of sign language discourse.

All first year Linguistics MA courses, or permission of instructor

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to theories and methods of discourse analysis. This is a companion course, not a sequel, to Discourse Analysis: Narrative. Whereas Discourse Analysis: Narrative is concerned with discourse produced primarily by one speaker. Discourse Analysis: Conversation is concerned with dialogic or multi-party discourse.

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to theories and methods of discourse analysis. Narrative is chosen for study because it is primarily monologic (at least in U.S. culture) as distinct from dialogic or multi-party discourse which is covered in Discourse Analysis: Conversation. This course will focus on the analysis of ASL narratives.

All first year Linguistics MA courses plus LIN 741, or permission of the instructor

An examination of analytical methods used in the study of variation and change in language structure and use, with a focus on sign language variation. Practice in the exploratory analysis and interpretation of sociolinguistics and discourse data, and introduction to quantitative tools, including the Varbrul program.

For students who did not complete the Gallaudet M.A. in Linguistics

This course will provide students with experience in gathering and analyzing data from a sign language other than ASL. The particular language selected will vary from year to year, with preference given to under-investigated sign languages. Students will study the lexicon, phonology, morphology, and syntax of this language; each student will focus on one topic for an in-depth research project.

Pre- or co-requisites: For UG students: LIN 301, 302; or Permission of Instructor; for Grad students: Permission of Instructor.

An introduction to the principles of linguistic study, with a concentrated focus on phonology and phonological theory as applied to English and ASL. Topics will include: phonetics, phonemics, phonological processes, syllables and syllabification, distinctive features, phonological rules, and an overview of current phonological theory.

This course provides an introduction to generative linguistics and principles of syntactic argumentation within the generative tradition. Topics include Parts of Speech, Phrase Structure rules, X-bar rules, the role of the Lexicon, and various types of syntactic movement related to verbal morphology, questions and passive constructions. The course focuses initially on English and other spoken languages, but also includes application to ASL towards the end of the course.

This course will introduce students to the profession of linguistics, its history and subfields, as well as the research specializations of department faculty. Students will also receive general training in a variety of skills relevant to graduate studies in linguistics, such as technical writing, using library resources to locate literature, using computer and editing techniques needed for carrying out sign linguistics projects, and applying for research grants and IRB approval for student research projects.

This is the first of a three-course sequence focusing on a cognitive linguistics approach to ASL. Examination of semiotic diversity in ASL from the perspective of Cognitive Grammar, with an emphasis on analysis of data. The primary focus of the course is on depiction, establishing a typology of depiction that includes many imagistic phenomena in ASL and other spoken and signed languages, such as enactments, manual depictive forms, and ideophones. Notions in Cognitive Grammar benefiting depiction analysis, such as constructions and construal, are also introduced.

This course builds on foundational material presented in Phonology I. Students will investigate the phonological structure of signs in American Sign Language. Part one (I) presents a comparison of notation systems for signs and provides extensive training in sign notation. Part two (II) deals with phonological contrast. Part three (III) is concerned with the phonotactic properties of lexical signs. Part four (IV) deals with phonological processes and historical change.

LIN 701 or permission of instructor.

This course is a continuation of LIN 721, with discussion of the tenets of cognitive linguistics, particularly the view that lexicon and grammar are a continuum of form-meaning pairings with varying degrees of abstraction and complexity. This discussion provides the theoretical background with which to investigate grammatical structures in ASL, English, and other languages, including metaphor, grammatical classes (e.g., noun and verb categories), and complex expressions (e.g., morphology, compounding, grammatical relations, and grammatical constructions).

LIN 721 or permission of instructor

This course builds on foundational material presented in Generative Linguistics I and extends them to the study of ASL and other sign languages. Lectures include continued opportunity for hands-on practice in deriving various syntactic structures, and also develop students' abilities to independently read and understand articles in generative linguistics.

LIN 702 or permission of instructor

Year III - Fall

Year III - Spring

Present Guided Research Project:Pre-requisite to LIN 883

Complete Qualifying Paper and Present Qualifying Paper:may occur earlier or later; pre-requisite to LIN 890

Year IV - Fall

Field Exam andConcept Paper Presentation:pre-requisite to LIN 890

Year IV - Spring

Year V - Fall

This course is for ABD students conducting any aspect of their dissertation research and writing.

Successful completion of LIN 890 and dissertation proposal defense, LIN 741, LIN 801, LIN 802, and LIN 827, and all four electives required for the doctoral program.

Year V - Spring (and onward)

Year I - Fall

Year I - Spring

Year II - Fall

Year II - Spring

Present Guided Research Project: Pre-requisite to LIN 883

Complete Qualifying Paper and Present Qualifying Paper: may occur earlier or later; pre-requisite to LIN 890

Field Exam and Concept Paper Presentation: pre-requisite to LIN 890

Year IV - Spring (and onward)

Information

Ph.d. in linguistics requirements.

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Browsing FAS Theses and Dissertations by FAS Department "Linguistics"

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Any Questions? Polarity as a Window into the Structure of Questions 

Diachronic poetics and language history: studies in archaic greek poetry , feature mismatch: deponency in indo-european languages , interpreting questions with non-exhaustive answers , linking form to meaning: reevaluating the evidence for the unaccusative hypothesis , a modular theory of radical pro drop , nominal arguments and language variation , prosodic noun incorporation and verb-initial syntax , the semantics of measurement , the sense of self: topics in the semantics of de se expressions , soft but strong. neg-raising, soft triggers, and exhaustification , split intransitivity in ranmo , studies in tocharian adjective formation , the syntax-phonology interface in native and near-native korean , the caland system in the north: archaism and innovation in property-concept/state morphology in balto-slavic , the linguistic and conceptual representation of scalar alternatives: number and 'only' as case studies , toward a theory of mandarin quantification , unnatural phonology: a synchrony-diachrony interface approach .

Recent Dissertations

Dissertations written by doctoral candidates in Applied Linguistics and TESOL are listed in reverse chronological order. Dissertations can be obtained from  ProQuest  by purchase or with a subscription. Columbia affiliates can access ProQuest  here .

Diversity in the adult ESL classroom  by Nadja Tadic, Ed.D., Teachers College, Columbia University, 2020. 

Managing multiple demands in the adult ESL classroom  by Elizabeth Reddington, Ed.D., Teachers College, Columbia University, 2020.

Working on understanding in the adult ESL classroom: A collaborative endeavor  by Nancy Boblett, Ed.D., Teachers College, Columbia University, 2020.

Han, Z-H. (2020). Usage-based instruction, systems thinking, and the role of Language Mining in second language development.  Language Teaching,  1-16. FirstView, doi:10.1017/S0261444820000282

Han, Qie (Chelsea). (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics). (2020).  Investigating the Combined Effects of Rater Expertise, Working Memory Capacity, and Cognitive Functionality on the Scoring of Second Language Speaking Performance.

Getman, Edward. (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics). (2020).  Age, task characteristics, and acoustic indicators of engagement: Investigations into the validity of a technology-enhanced speaking test for young language learners.

A conversation analytic study on participation practices in the American graduate classroom: East Asian students vs. L1 English-speaking students  by Junko Takahashi, Ed.D., Teachers College, Columbia University, 2019.

Person reference in Korean  by Gahye Song, Ed.D., Teachers College, Columbia University, 2019.

Han, Z-H. (2019). Researching CDST: Promises and pitfalls. In Han, Z-H. (ed.)  Profiling l earner language as a dynamic system . Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. 

Han, Z-H. & Liu, J. (2019). Profiling learner language from a complex dynamic system perspective: An introduction. In Han, Z-H. (ed.) Profiling learner language as a dynamic system. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. 

Han, Z-H. (2019). Special issue. Thirty-five years of instructed second language acquisition.  Language Teaching Research, 23( 4) .

Liu Banerjee, Han-Ting (Heidi). (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics). (2019).  Investigating the Construct of Topical Knowledge in a Scenario-Based Assessment Designed to Simulate Real-Life Second Language Use.

Chen, Chen-Ling (Alice) (Ed.D. in TESOL).  The Effects of Second-Language Repeated Reading on Reading Comprehension and Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition . (Sponsor: ZhaoHong Han)

Le, Rong Rong (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  The Pragmatic-Discursive Structure of Chinese Compliments in Naturally-Occurring Conversation . (Sponsor: Hansun Waring)

Oh, Saerhim (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Investigating Test-Takers' Use of Linguistic Tools in Second Language Academic Writing Assessment . (Sponsor: Jim Purpura)

Box,   Catherine (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Navigating Competing Demands in Pre-Service TESOL Supervision . (Sponsor: Hansun Waring)

Kang, EunYoung (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  The Effects of Narrow Reading on L2 Text Comprehension and Vocabulary Acquisition . (Sponsor: ZhaoHong Han)

Sok, Sarah (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Incidental and Intentional L2 Vocabulary Acquisition . (Sponsor: ZhaoHong Han)

Creider, Sarah (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Encouraging Student Participation in a French-Immersion Kindergarten Class: A Multimodal Conversation Analytic Study.   (Sponsor: Hansung Waring)

Hall, Timothy (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Learning Chunks in Second Language Acquisition.   (Sponsor: ZhaoHong Han)

DelPrete, Domenica (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Mother-Adolescent Daughter Interaction: How Maternal Roles Affect Discursive Outcomes.  (Sponsor: Leslie Beebe)

Choong, Kun-Wang Philip (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  The Effects of Task Complexity on Written Production in L2 English.  (Sponsor: ZhaoHong Han)

Fagan, Drew (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Managing Learner Contributions in the Adult ESL Classroom: A Conversation Analytic and Ethnographic Examination of Teacher Practices and Cognition.  (Sponsor: Hansun Waring)

Wai, June (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  School Science or Disciplinary Science? Discourse Encountered and Practiced by English Language Learners in Two International High School Science Classroms.  (Sponsor: Michael Kieffer)

Cheon, Heesook (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Linguistic Affordances of Korean-English Tandem Learning . (Sponsor: Carolin Fuchs)

Di Gennaro, Kristen K. (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  An Exploration into the Writing Ability of Generation 1.5 and International Second Language Writers.   (Sponsor: James E. Purpura)

Johnson, Rebekah Joanne (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Discursive Practices in Family Discourse: Co-Constructing the Identity of Adult Children.   (Sponsor: Leslie Beebe)

Kim, Ah Young (Alicia) (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Examining Second Language Reading Components in Relation to Reading Test Performance for Diagnostic Purposes: A Fusion Model Approach.   (Sponsor: James E. Purpura)

Kim, Hyun Jung (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Investigating Raters' Development of Rating Ability on a Second Language Speaking Assessment.   (Sponsor: James E. Purpura)

Dakin, Jee Wha (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Investigating the Simultaneous Growth of and Relationship between Grammatical Knowledge and Civics Content Knowledge of Low-Proficiency Adult ESL Learner s. (Sponsor: James E. Purpura)

Ekiert, Monika (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Investigating Articles as Expressions of Definiteness in English as a Second Language.   (Sponsor: ZhaoHong Han)

Perrone, Michael (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  The Impact of the First Certificate of English (FCE) on the EFL Classroom: A Washback Study.   (Sponsor: James E. Purpura)

Purdy, John D. (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Unaccusativity and Neurocognitive Indices of Second Language Acquisition: An ERP Study.   (Sponsor: Karen Froud)

Ameriks, Yoko (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Investigating Validity Across Two Test Forms of the Examination of Proficiency in English (ECPE): Multi-group Structural Equation Modeling Approach.   (Sponsor: James E. Purpura)

Grabowski, Kirby (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Investigating the Construct Validity of a Test Designed to Measure Grammatical and Pragmatic Knowledge in the Context of Speaking.   (Sponsor: James E. Purpura)

Jacknick, Christine M. (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  A Conversation-Analytic Account of Student-Initiated Participation in an ESL Classroom.   (Sponsor: Leslie M. Beebe)

Jung, Ji-Young (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Discourse Markers in Contrast: But, Actually and Well in Native-Nonnative English Conversations Between Friends.   (Sponsor: Leslie Beebe)

Kim, Hyunjoo (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Investigating the Effects of Context and Language Speaking Ability.  (Sponsor: James E. Purpura)

Liao, Yen-Fen (Alick) (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Construct Validation Study of the GEPT Reading and Listening Sections: Re-examining the Models of L2 Reading and Listening Abilities and Their Relations to Lexico-grammatical Knowledge.   (Sponsor: James E. Purpura)

Song, Sunhee (Ed.D. in TESOL).  Recasts, Grammatical Morphemes, and L2 Learning: A Longitudinal Case study of Korean L2 Learners.   (Sponsor: ZhaoHong Han)

Year, Jungeun (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Korean Speakers' Acquisition of the English Ditransitive Construction: The Role of Input Frequency and Distribution.   (Sponsor: ZhaoHong Han)

Wagner, Santoi (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Disputants' Talk in Mediation: A Single Case Study.   (Sponsor: Leslie Beebe)

Kim, Ji Hyun (Ed.D. in TESOL).  Focus on Form in Communicative EFL Classrooms: A Study of Learner Recognition of Recasts.   (Sponsor: ZhaoHong Han)

Kwon, Eun-Young (Ed.D. in TESOL).  Cross-linguistic Influence and "universal" developmental patterns in child second language acquisition: A longitudinal study.   (Sponsor: ZhaoHong Han)

Wiseman, Cynthia (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Examining Rater Effects and Process of Using a Holistic and Analytic Rubric.   (Sponsor: James E. Purpura)

Krohn, Nitza (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  An Examination of the Hebrew Language Needs of Students in the Jewish Theological Seminary  (Sponsor: James E. Purpura).

Yeu-Ting (Ed.D. in TESOL).  Phonological Recoding in Sentence-Level Chinese character recognition by advanced adult L2 Chinese learners  (Sponsor: ZhaoHong Han).

Park, Taejoon (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Investigating the Construct Validity of the Community Language Program English Writing Test  (Sponsor: James E. Purpura).

Park, Eun Sung (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Learner-Generated Noticing of L2 Input: An Exploratory Study  (Sponsor: ZhaoHong Han).

Revesz, Andrea (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Focus on Form in Task-Based Language Teaching: Recasts, Task Complexity, and L2 Learning  (Sponsor: ZhaoHong Han).

Seol, Heekyung (Ed.D. in TESOL).  The Impact of Age and L1 Influence of L2 Ultimate Attainment  (Sponsor: ZhaoHong Han).

Suzuki, Mikiko (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Learner Uptake and Second Language Learning  (Sponsor: ZhaoHong Han).

Seol, Hee-Kyung (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  The Impact of Age and L1 Influence on L2 Ultimate Attainment  (Sponsor: ZhaoHong Han).

Wagner, Mathew (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Utilizing the Visual Channel: An Investigation of the Use of Videotexts on Tests of Second Language Listening Ability  (Sponsor: James E. Purpura).

Suh, Joowon (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Other-Initiated Repair in English Lingua Franca Business Negotiation (Sponsor: Leslie Beebe).

Chang, Jaehak (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Examining Models of Second Language Knowledge with Specific Reference to Relative Clauses: A Model-Comparison Approach  (Sponsor: James E. Purpura) .

Tsai, Constance (Ed.D. in TESOL).  Investigating the Relationships between ESL Learners' Writing Strategy Use and Writing Ability  (Sponsor: James E. Purpura).

Beaumont, John (Ed.D. in TESOL).  Passing as a Teacher: An Ethnographic Account of Entering the TESOL Profession (Sponsor: Herve Varenne).

Cho, Yunkyoung (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  An Examination of Epistemic Markers in Korean  (Sponsor: Leslie Beebe).

Dimitrova, Evelina. (Ed.D. in TESOL).  A Discourse Analysis of the Paired Interview in the University of Cambridge First Certificate of English Proficiency Exam  (Sponsor: Leslie Beebe).

Korsko, Paula (Ed.D. in TESOL).  The Narrative Shape of a Two-Party Complaint: A Discourse Analytic Study of European Portuguese  (Sponsor: Leslie Beebe).

Nottono, Miharu (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Japanese Hedging in Friend-Friend Discourse  (Sponsor: Leslie Beebe).

Fen, Ho-Ping (Ed.D. in TESOL).  An Analysis of the Relationships between Source Material and EFL Writing Ability (Sponsor: James E. Purpura).

Fujita, Naomi (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Investigating Japanese Politeness Strategies in School Meetings  (Sponsor: Leslie Beebe).

Mori, Reiko (Ed.D. in TESOL).  Two Post-Secondary ESL Teachers' Beliefs about Classroom Instruction and How their Beliefs are Reflected in their Classroom   Practice  (Sponsor: James E. Purpura).

Waring, Hansun Zhang (Ed.D. in Applied Linguistics).  Conversational Analysis of Academic Discussion Skills  (Sponsor: Leslie Beebe).

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Ph.D. in Linguistics

Ph.d. in linguistics (general linguistics track) .

Note that the required courses and language requirement differ between the curriculum instituted Sept. 2018 and the prior curriculum. All other requirements are the same.

1A. Required courses (30 credits): Curriculum instituted Sept. 2018 

One graduate-level course in each of the following sub-disciplines:

• Syntax: LING 507 “Syntactic Theory I”
• Sociolinguistics: LING 532 “Sociolinguistics I”
• Language Processing and Development: LING 541 or 542 (“Language Processing and development I or II”)
• Phonology LING 552 (“Phonology II”)
• Phonetics LING 550 (“Introduction to Linguistic Phonetics”)
• Semantics LING 479 or 579 ("Semantic Theory I or II")

1B. Required courses (35 credits): Prior to Sept. 2018 

• LING 507 ("Syntax I")
• LING 508 ("Syntax II")
• LING 532 ("Sociolinguistics I")
• LING 551 ("Phonology I")
• LING 552 ("Phonology II")
• LING 550 or 553 ("Phonetics I or II")
• LING 578 or 579 ("Semantics I or II")

If a student has taken an equivalent course elsewhere, the requirement to take this course can be waived. The waiver needs to approved by the faculty in the relevant area and the GPC. Such waivers do not change the total number of credits required by the Graduate School for graduation.

2. Credits of study:

Additional courses for a minimum of 90 credits (27 of which are LING 800) to be determined by specialization and consultation with the advisory committee.

3A. Language knowledge requirement: Curriculum instituted Sept. 2018

General Linguistics Track students must satisfy one natural language requirement for the PhD. The choice of the language needs to be approved by the student’s advisory committee. The language requirement may be satisfied in one of the following three ways:

• One year of study at the university or community college level. Students who are language instructors in other UW departments can use their language teaching experience to satisfy one language requirement.
• A major research project that involves significant primary data collection that includes substantial structural analysis and results in a major paper such as a generals paper.

3B. Language knowledge requirement: Prior to   Sept. 2018

General Linguistics Track students must satisfy two natural language requirements for the PhD. Those may be satisfied in the following ways:

• Translation exam to demonstrate the ability to read linguistic literature in a foreign language; only one of the two language requirements for the PhD can be satisfied through the translation exam.

4. Colloquium conference talks:

Two papers delivered at a colloquium or conference.

5. Constitution of PhD committee:

By the end of the second year of study.

6. Generals Papers:

Two generals papers in different areas (normally 10cr LING 600). What counts as a different area is determined and needs to be approved by the student's committee.

7. General Examination:

An oral examination, in which the candidate is questioned on the two papers. The oral examination may not be scheduled until the committee has read the two papers and approved them as passing.

8. Dissertation Prospectus:

Within 6 months of the oral examination, the student will present a formal dissertation proposal to the subset of PhD committee members who constitute the reading committee, along with a proposed calendar for completion of the dissertation.

9. Final Exam:

A Final Exam on the dissertation attended by the candidate’s Supervisory Committee and open to others interested.

10. Dissertation:

A dissertation suitable for publication.

11. ABD (all but dissertation) requirement:

All degree requirements except for the dissertation and the two colloquia must be completed before the General Exam.

Ph.D. in Linguistics (Computational Linguistics Track)

The requirements for students on the computational linguistics track will meet all the same requirements as students in other specializations except :

1. Required courses:

• 2 syntax courses from among: LING 566, 507, 508
• 2 phonetics/phonology courses from among: LING 550, 551, 552, 553
• 1 semantics course from among: 578, 579
• 1 sociolinguistics course from among: LING 532, 533
• 3 Computational Linguistics courses from among: 567, 570, 571, 572, 573

3. Language knowledge requirement:

Students in Computational Linguistics must fulfill only one language requirement, but may not use a translation exam to do so. The language must be typologically substantially distinct from the student's native language; for example, a native English-speaking student would need to select a non-Indo-European language. Please refer to Language Requirements for details.

6. Generals papers:

Same as for the General Linguistics program except a Master’s thesis completed as part of the CLMS program may count as one of the two generals papers.

How to make the CLMS to PhD transition

M.A. in Linguistics

The M.A. is not required as a prerequisite to Ph.D. study.  Students enrolled in the PhD program may get an MA degree when they pass the general exam and file a request for an MA degree with the graduate school.  Students who have taken all the required courses for the PhD CompLing track may analogously file a request for an MS degree with the Graduate School, under either model A or B below. Students who would like to get an MS degree have to get their advisor's approval before filing an official request with the Graduate School.

A. Non-thesis model:

The Generals papers and Exam constitute the capstone project necessary for a master’s degree (or the student may complete the thesis model below).

B. Thesis model: 

• Required courses: Same as the required courses in PhD General Linguistics Track. 
• Language requirement: Same as the language requirement in PhD General Linguistics Track. 
• Thesis:  A thesis, written under the supervision of a Linguistics faculty member, and accepted by a second faculty reader. Normally the work is completed in 10 credits of LING 700.

Remarks on Graduate School Requirements

Students are advised to become familiar with Graduate School requirements, as well as those described on this website. If there are any questions, the student should contact the Graduate School, the Graduate Program Coordinator or the chair of the Supervisory Committee. Once admitted to the program, students should make it a regular practice to see the Graduate Program Coordinator about their progress at least once a year. All graduate students must be either registered or officially on leave. Failure to register or go on leave is interpreted as resignation from the Graduate School. Information on the Graduate School is available at http://www.grad.washington.edu . If you have any further questions or comments please contact us at [email protected]

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Recent projects, theses, and dissertations

The following are recently completed PhD dissertations and MA Linguistics/MA Applied Linguistics theses, as well as MILR projects and theses. You can access any of these  UVic's Research and Learning repository (UVicSpace) .

PhD Dissertations

Yu, Chen. 2023.  The perception and production of Mandarin citation tones by prelingually deaf adults.

Khatri, Raj. 2022.  Supporting B.C.’s expanding international education: The efficacy of academic reading strategy instruction among adult English-as-an-additional-language students.

Deng, Jie. 2022.  L2, L3 and Heritage Acquisition of Chinese T3 Sandhi: Comprehensibility and Accentedness

Friesen, Dianne. 2022.  A Grammar of Relationship: How Mi’kmaw verbs indicate the relationship between participants in a sentence.

Yousefi, Marziyeh. 2020.  Investigating the Effect of Corrective Feedback on Second Language Pragmatics: Face-to Face vs. Technology-Mediated Communication.

Anisman, Adar. 2019.  When 'if' is 'when' and 'when' is 'then': The particle nı̨dè in Tłı̨chǫ.

Hart-Blundon, Patricia. 2019.   Learning Standard English in addition to a Local English Variety.

Ceong, Hailey Hyekyeong. 2019.   The morphosyntax of clause typing: single, double periphrastic, and multifunctional complementizers in Korean.

Liu, Jianxun. 2019.  The syntax of V-V resultatives in Mandarin Chinese .

Leonard, Janet. 2019.  The Phonological Representation and Distribution of Vowels in SENĆOŦEN (Saanich).

Alkutbi, Douaa. 2018.  Bridging the Gap: A Study of Academic Language-Learning Needs of Saudi International Students.

Onosson, D. Sky. 2018.  An Acoustic Study of Canadian Raising in Three Dialects of North American English.

Lucarevschi, Claudio Rezende. 2018.  The Role of Storytelling in the Development of Pronunciation of Brazilian Learners of English as a Foreign Language.

Qian, Xiaojuan. 2017. Novice, Paraprofessional, and Professional Translators' Strategy Use in Chinese-English Translation Processes: Retrospective Reflections, Concurrent Screen-capturing, and Key-stroke Logging.

Travers, Nicholas. 2017. English-as-an-Additional-Language Job Interviews: Pragmatics Training for Candidates and Analyzing Performance on Both Sides of the Table.

Nogita, Akitsugu. 2016. L2 Letter-Sound Correspondence: Mapping Between English Vowel Graphemes and Phonomes by Japanese EAL Learners.

Luo, Shan. 2015. Gestural overlap across word boundaries: Evidence from English and Mandarin speakers.

Li, Ya. 2015. Timing and Melody: An Acoustic Study of Rhythmic Patterns of Chinese Dialects .

Karim, Khaled. 2013. The Effects of Direct and Indirect Corrective Feedback (CF) on English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) Students' Revision Accuracy and Writing Skills.

Nicolson, Marianne. 2013. Yexa Uḱwine’, yexa Gukw, dłuwida Awinagwis” The Body, the House, and the Land: The Conceptualization of Space in Kwakwaka’wakw Language and Culture   [INTD: Linguistics and Anthropology]

Moisik, Scott. 2013. The Epilarynx in Speech .

Lee, Sunghwa. 2013. Multiple Exponence in Non-inflectional Morphology.

Robertson, David Douglas. 2012. Kamloops Chinuk Wawa, Chinuk pipa, and the vitality of pidgins .

Tian, Jun. 2012. The Effects of peer editing versus co-writing on writing in Chinese-as-a-foreign language .

Pytlyk, Carolyn. 2012. Expanding the scope of orthographic effects: evidence from phoneme counting in first, second, and unfamiliar languages .

MA Linguistics Theses

Farr, Chloë. 2024.  Unmasking ChatGPT: The Challenges of Using Artificial Intelligence for Learning Vocabulary in English as an Additional Language.

Li, Mitchell, 2024.  Statistical Power for Small Effect Sizes: An investigation of backward priming in Mandarin-English bilinguals.

Campbell, Jessalyn. 2023.  Serial Verb Constructions in SENĆOŦEN.

Loughlin, Aiden. 2022.  Who is they? Pronoun use across time and social structure.

Allen, Caroline. 2022.  GET over time: a longitudinal variationist analysis of passive voice in contemporary English.

Moser, Christiana. 2021.  Heterogeneity in the structure of Icelandic -st figure reflexives.

Buaillon, Emmanuelle. 2021.  À Paris/sur Paris: A Variationist Account of Prepositional Alternation Before City Names in Hexagonal French.

Fortier, Kyra. 2019.  An Acoustic Investigation of Vowel Variation in Gitksan .

Comeau, Emily. 2018.  Literacy and Language Revitalization: Leaving a Visible Trace.

Dworak, Catherine. 2018.  Limxhl Hlgu Wo'omhlxw Song of the Newborn: Knowledge and Stories Surrounding Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn. A Collaborative Language Project.

Richards, Matthew. 2018.  Prosodic Structure of the Foxtrot.

Hilderman, Dustin. 2018.  Codeswitching in the Multilingual Mind.

Nolan, Tess. 2017. A Phonetic Investigation of Vowel Variation in Lekwungen.

Enriquez Garcia, Ildara. 2017.  Variation and Clitic Placement among Galician Neofalantes.

Jenni, Barbara. 2017. Self-Narrative Following Acquired Brain Injury: An Exploration of Linguistic, Subjective, and Other Associated Factors.

Hildebrand-Edgar, Nicole. 2016. Creaky Voice: An Interactional Resource for Indexing Authority.

Huijsmans, Marianne. 2015. Linearization and Prosodic Phrasing: The Case of SENĆOŦEN Second-Position Clitics.

Saunders, Susan Jane. 2015. A Language Survey of Northern Metis Languages: A Community-Based Language Revitalization Project.

Litvin, Natalia. 2014.  An Ultrasound Investigation of Secondary Velarization in Russian.

Xing, Nan. 2014. English /l/s as Produced by Native English and Mandarin Chinese Speakers.

McKishnie, Andrew. 2013.  Depictives and Wh-Movement of Depictives in East Slavic.

McCreery, Dale. 2013. Challenges and Solutions in Adult Acquisition of Cree as a Second Language .

Liu, Jianxun. 2012. An applicative approach to “oblique object” constructions and DOCs in Chinese.

Ceong, Hailey Hyekyeong. 2012. The Syntax of Korean polar alternative questions: A-not-A.

MA Applied Linguistics Theses

Mao, Siyu (Rain). 2024.  Chinese-as-a-First-Language (CL1) and English-as-a-First-Language (EL1)Undergraduate Students' Business Writing in Canadian Universities:A Corpus-Based Contrastive Study of Linguistic Features.

Somerville, Matthew. 2023.  Nihonjin Kyoushi Dake?: The Perceptions and Beliefs of a Non-Native Speaking Teacher in a High-intermediate Japanese Language Class.

O'Toole, Erin. 2023.  A critical examination of Core French curriculum, teaching methods, and learning motivational factors in British Columbia.

Aleassa, Lana. 2023.  Apology Strategies in High vs. Low Context Cultures.

Cervantes, Eloisa. 2023.  Heritage Language Anxiety in Canadian Post-Secondary Learners of Spanish.

Serpas, Gill. 2023.  Mainly English, Some Japanese: Exploring the Opinions of EFL Students and EFL Teachers on Using Translanguaging in EFL Classrooms in Japan.

Shirani, Reza. 2020.  Explicit versus Implicit Corrective Feedback During Videoconferencing: Effects on the Accuracy and Fluency of L2 Speech.

Blackstone, Pam. 2019.   An investigation of pedagogical approaches and methods used in a French university French-as-a-foreign-language program: teacher and student perspectives.

Bagherbeigi, Vahid. 2019.  The Impact of Computer-mediated Communication on EFL Learners' Oral Performance.

Kim, Keun. 2019. The efficacy of lexical stress diacritics in the English comprehensibility and accentedness of Korean speakers.

Zhang, Yiran. 2018.  A Comparative Study of the Language Content of Employment-Related Units in Government-Funded Language Programs for Newcomers in Canada and Australia.

Suessenbach, Lisa. 2018.  A Phonetic and Phonological Investigation of North American English (NAE) Segments in the Interlanguage Grammar of a Native Speaker of German (SHG).

Romig, Silas. 2017. The Production and Perception of English Vowels by Native Speakers of Brazilian Portuguese Living in Victoria, Canada.

Thompson Wagner, Christiani Pinheiro. Preliminary Study of the Role of Eye Contact, Gestures, and Smiles Produced by Chinese-as-a-First-Language Test-Takers on Ratings Assigned by English-as-a-First-Language Examiners During IELTS Speaking Tests.

Hill, Carrie. 2015. Exploring Mandarin-speaking English-as-an-Additional-Language graduate students' academic reading strategies in three reading modes: paper, e-reading without hypertext, and e-reading with embedded hypertext.

Zariski, Ross. 2014. World of Warcraft as a medium for Intermediate-Level English Language Acquisition: Leveling up Accuracy, Fluency, and Lexical Complexity.

Cai, Mengyue. 2014. Undergraduate EAL (English-as-an-Additional-Language) Students' Reported Use of Vocabulary Learning Strategies and its Relationship vis-a-vis Language Proficency, Vocabulary Size, and Gender.

Kim, Jongmin. 2014. Incidental Focus-on-Form and Learner Extraversion.

Parker, Aliana Violet. 2013. Learning the language of the land .

Malec, Alesia. 2013. Examining emotional responses to written feedback and the role emotions play on second language writing performance .

Chen, Sibo. 2013. Genre Features of Personal Statements by Chinese English-as-an-Additional-Language Writers: A Corpus-Driven Study .

Hannigan, Patricia. 2013. Promoting awareness and regulation of social and affective behaviours during L2 speaking tasks through written reflection .

Park, Seon-Young. 2012 . Korean parents', kindergarten teachers', and kindergarten students' perceptions of early English-language education .

Yu, Zhaoru. 2012. The production and the perception of English vowels by Mandarin speakers .

Fu, Tingfen. 2012. Corrective feedback and learner uptake in a Chinese as a foreign language class: do perceptions and the reality match?

Guo, Xiaoqian. 2012. L1 and L2 writing strategies: a study of Chinese graduate writers using concurrent think-aloud.

Kaneko, Kyoko. 2012. A comparative study of the use of request strategies by learners and native speakers of Japanese.

Fan, Yanan. 2012. Articulatory timing of English consonant clusters in the coda positions: a study of Chinese-English interlanguage.

MA Applied Linguistics Non-Thesis

Aalam, Niloofar. 2019. The role of playing collabortive online games in mediating vocabulary learning.

Cathers, Bryan. 2019.  A Survey of Michif Language Use and Attitudes of Métis in Victoria .

Sinha, Tara-Shankar. 2017. ESL Learners' Perception and the Efficacy of Written Corrective Feedback.

MILR Projects and Theses

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A generalizable framework for measuring emotion's role in social decision-making

A Systematic Investigation of Feature-Based Visual Learning: Mechanisms and Application

A visual model of collective behavior in crowds

Accent Perception and Adaptation During Lexical Access: Expand, Shift, or Pathway

Action Training Facilitates Perception and Cognition

Ad hoc color–concept mapping and interpreting visual representations

Adults’ and Children’s Sampling Strategy in Active Function Learning

Age-Related Changes in Bottom-Up and Top-Down Processing Mediating Object Recognition

Aging Effects on Task-Evoked Pupillary Responses

An Online Behavioral Research Paradigm Using Amazon Mechanical Turk, JSPsych & PsiTurk: A Pilot Study Assessing Hierarchical Abstract Sequential Processing

Anaphoric Expressions in A'ingae

Are You 'Shore' It Looks Farther Away: Does the Energetic Cost of Walking On Sand Influence Perception of the Spatial Layout or the Affordance for Action?

Attractor Dynamics in Large Scale Recurrent Neural Networks

Behavioral opportunism: Neural and behavioral adaptations to adverse early life environments

Bottom-Up and Top-Down Processes Underlying LC-NA System Activity Revealed by Simultaneous Pupillometry and EEG

Brown University Class of 2023

Can you follow your friends? Effects of ensemble averaging, attention, and grouping when following a crowd.

Categorizing Dogs’ Real World Visual Statistics

Children's Selective Learning Based on Informants’ Informativeness

Cognitive Control under Reward and Penalty: Mechanisms Underlying Variability within and across Individuals

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Department of Linguistics

• Recent Dissertation Titles

Alternatives and Exhaustification: Non-Interrogative Uses of Chinese wh - words

Any Questions? Polarity as a Window into the Structure of Questions

The Caland System in the North: Archaism and Innovation in Property-Concept/State Morphology in Balto-Slavic

Diachronic Poetics and Language History: Studies in Archaic Greek Poetry

Feature Mismatch: Deponency in Indo-European Languages

The Hidden Structure of Thai Noun Phrases

Interpreting Questions with Non-Exhaustive Answers

Local Instability the Syntax of ‘Spilt Topics’

A Modular Theory of Radical 'Pro' Drop

Nominal Arguments and Language Variation

The Origin of Variation in Norwegian Retroflexion

Phasing in Full Interpretation

Prosodic Noun Incorporation and Verb-Initial Syntax

The Role of Alternatives and Strength in Grammar

The Semantics of Measurement

The Sense of Self: Topics in the Semantics of ‘De Se’ Expressions

Soft but Strong. Neg-Raising, Soft Triggers, and Exhaustification

Split Intransitivity in Ranmo

Studies in Tocharian Adjective Formation

The Syntax-Phonology Interface in Native and Near-Native Korean

Topics at the PF Interface of Turkish

Toward a Theory of Mandarin Quantification

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Syntax and Semantics

• The Tok Pisin noun phrase
• Towards an investigation of socially-conditioned semantic variation
• Definite article reduction in a religious community of practice
• The definiteness effect in Chinese 'you'-existential constructions: A corpus based study
• Topics and pronouns in the clausal left periphery in Old English
• Scalar implicatures in polar (yes/no) questions
• Quantification, alternative semantics and phases
• The syntax and semantics of V2 – 'weil' in German 
• An analysis of Chinese quantifiers 'ge', 'dou' and 'quan' and their co-occurrence
• Distribution and licensing condititions of Negative Polarity Items in Mandarin Chinese
• The NP/DP Distinction in Slavic: A comparative approach
• A complex predicational analysis of the 'ba'-construction in Mandarin Chinese
• Two types of raising in Korean
• Serial verb constructions in Mandarin Chinese
• From Turncoats to Backstabbers:  How headedness and word order determine the productivity of agentive and instrumental compounding in English

Forensic Phonetics

• An Investigation into the Perceived Similarity of the Speech of Identical Twins and Same Sex Siblings
• Detecting Authenticity of Audio Files Compressed by Social Media Platforms
• Investigating Changes from Neutral to Soft and Whispered Speech and their Impact on Automatic Speaker Recognition
• The Effect of Anger and Fear on Forensic Authomatic Speaker Recognition System Performance
• The Impact of Face Coverings on Speech Comprehension and Perceptions of Speaker Attributes
• Tracking Linguistic Differences in the Ultrasound Images of the Tongue in Spoken and Silent Speech Conditions Using Pose Estimation

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Related information How to apply Why York? For international students Frequently asked questions Recent PhD dissertations

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Lauren Clark defends doctoral dissertation

Lauren Clark successfully defended her doctoral dissertation, “An Extended Replication Theory Approach to Taiwan Mandarin Syntax.” Congratulations, Dr. Clark!

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• Aini Li successfully defends her dissertation!

On April 12  Aini Li  successfully defended her PhD dissertation entitled "Inferring dynamics of sociolinguistic variation in speech perception”. She was supervised by Meredith Tamminga, who was joined in her dissertation committee by David Embick and Laurel MacKenzie (NYU).

This dissertation examines whether and how  psycholinguistic priming, and social knowledge are integrated in the identification of sociolinguistic variants. Using the English variable (ING), the alternation between  -ing  and  -in'  (e.g.  thinking  vs.  thinkin' ) as a testing ground, this dissertation probes whether and how individuals utilize constraints of different types when they perceive variation in real time. I combine existing experimental paradigms in a novel way to probe how listeners make inferences about the identity of sociolinguistic variants under circumstances of uncertainty through six perception experiments. Listeners hear synthesized stimuli in which there is ambiguity between two sociolinguistic variants,  -ing  and  -in' , and are placed in situations that require them to resolve this ambiguity through categorization.

In Chapter 3, I demonstrate the effectiveness of the methods I will use to introduce uncertainty at the word level and the sentence level. I show in Chapter4 that phonological variant identification in perception is subject to psycholinguistic priming. All else being equal, hearing a clear  -ing  makes listeners more likely to choose  -ing  again, given an ambiguous target for categorization. This phonological variant priming effect, however, decays rapidly over time, after only one monosyllabic word, suggesting that phonological variant priming is activation-based. In Chapter 5, I further investigate whether phonological variant priming is sensitive to social expectations. Results show that psycholinguistic priming and talker accent both come into play when listeners categorize ambiguous variants, and crucially, they interact by way of prime variant relative frequency, suggesting that social and linguistic unexpectedness jointly modulate priming. In Chapter 6, I establish that listeners possess and make use of dynamic social factors such as stylistic covariation during phonological variant identification. Additionally, target whole-word frequency can be revealing of the perceptual consequences of different types of s-conditioning. Finally, Chapter 7 discusses implications of these empirical results in the context of the typology of conditioning on variation in individuals. Overall, this dissertation establishes  that psycholinguistic, social and linguistic factors all play a role when listeners perceive variation. However, different factors and processes are not integrated in the same way, suggesting that individuals have sophisticated knowledge of how variation is conditioned but how this knowledge is used is context-dependent. By combining the framework of variationist sociolinguistics with the methods and theories of psycholinguistics, the results of my dissertation shed light on how sociolinguistic variation is processed in real-time language use. This ultimately has the potential to develop a better understanding of the structure and systematicity of language at the community level.

How to tackle the PhD dissertation

Finding time to write can be a challenge for graduate students who often juggle multiple roles and responsibilities. Mabel Ho provides some tips to make the process less daunting

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Writing helps you share your work with the wider community. Your scholarship is important and you are making a valuable contribution to the field. While it might be intimidating to face a blank screen, remember, your first draft is not your final draft! The difficult part is getting something on the page to begin with. 

As the adage goes, a good dissertation is a done dissertation, and the goal is for you to find balance in your writing and establish the steps you can take to make the process smoother. Here are some practical strategies for tackling the PhD dissertation.

Write daily

This is a time to have honest conversations with yourself about your writing and work habits. Do you tackle the most challenging work in the morning? Or do you usually start with emails? Knowing your work routine will help you set parameters for the writing process, which includes various elements, from brainstorming ideas to setting outlines and editing. Once you are aware of your energy and focus levels, you’ll be ready to dedicate those times to writing.

While it might be tempting to block a substantial chunk of time to write and assume anything shorter is not useful, that is not the case. Writing daily, whether it’s a paragraph or several pages, keeps you in conversation with your writing practice. If you schedule two hours to write, remember to take a break during that time and reset. You can try:

• The Pomodoro Technique: a time management technique that breaks down your work into intervals
• Taking breaks: go outside for a walk or have a snack so you can come back to your writing rejuvenated
• Focus apps: it is easy to get distracted by devices and lose direction. Here are some app suggestions: Focus Bear (no free version); Forest (free version available); Cold Turkey website blocker (free version available) and Serene (no free version). 

This is a valuable opportunity to hone your time management and task prioritisation skills. Find out what works for you and put systems in place to support your practice. 

• Resources on academic writing for higher education professionals
• Stretch your work further by ‘triple writing’
• What is your academic writing temperament?

Create a community

While writing can be an isolating endeavour, there are ways to start forming a community (in-person or virtual) to help you set goals and stay accountable. There might be someone in your cohort who is also at the writing stage with whom you can set up a weekly check-in. Alternatively, explore your university’s resources and centres because there may be units and departments on campus that offer helpful opportunities, such as a writing week or retreat. Taking advantage of these opportunities helps combat isolation, foster accountability and grow networks. They can even lead to collaborations further down the line.

• Check in with your advisers and mentors. Reach out to your networks to find out about other people’s writing processes and additional resources.
• Don’t be afraid to share your work. Writing requires constant revisions and edits and finding people who you trust with feedback will help you grow as a writer. Plus, you can also read their work and help them with their editing process.
• Your community does not have to be just about writing!  If you enjoy going on hikes or trying new coffee shops, make that part of your weekly habit.  Sharing your work in different environments will help clarify your thoughts and ideas.

Address the why

The PhD dissertation writing process is often lengthy and it is sometimes easy to forget why you started. In these moments, it can be helpful to think back to what got you excited about your research and scholarship in the first place. Remember it is not just the work but also the people who propelled you forward. One idea is to start writing your “acknowledgements” section. Here are questions to get you started:

• Do you want to dedicate your work to someone? 
• What ideas sparked your interest in this journey? 
• Who cheered you on? 

This practice can help build momentum, as well as serve as a good reminder to carve out time to spend with your community. 

You got this!

Writing is a process. Give yourself grace, as you might not feel motivated all the time. Be consistent in your approach and reward yourself along the way. There is no single strategy when it comes to writing or maintaining motivation, so experiment and find out what works for you. 

Suggested readings

• Thriving as a Graduate Writer by Rachel Cayley (2023)
• Destination Dissertation by Sonja K. Foss and William Waters (2015)
• The PhD Writing Handbook by Desmond Thomas (2016).

Mabel Ho is director of professional development and student engagement at Dalhousie University.

If you would like advice and insight from academics and university staff delivered direct to your inbox each week,  sign up for the Campus newsletter .

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• If you are a current Liberty University student completing your undergraduate degree, you will need to submit a Degree/Certificate Completion Application .
• Send in an additional, final official transcript with a conferral date on it by the end of your first semester of enrollment in the new master’s degree.

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(M.A.) Major in Anthropology (Cultural Anthropology Concentration Thesis option)

Program overview.

The purpose of the Master of Arts (M.A.) degree with a major in Anthropology at Texas State is to

• give students the highest quality graduate-level education possible,
• provide students interested in continuing their graduate education in Anthropology at the Ph.D. level the appropriate basis to successfully compete for entrance into top-tier programs,
• provide students interested in non-academic careers that require, or are facilitated by, an advanced degree in Anthropology the education, tools and training necessary to secure employment, and
• produce professional, ethical, and productive graduates.

Application Requirements

The items listed below are required for admission consideration for applicable semesters of entry during the current academic year. Submission instructions, additional details, and changes to admission requirements for semesters other than the current academic year can be found on The Graduate College's website . International students should review the International Admission Documents page for additional requirements.

• completed online application
• $55 nonrefundable application fee

          or

• $90 nonrefundable application fee for applications with international credentials
• baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited university (Non-U.S. degrees must be equivalent to a four-year U.S. Bachelor’s degree. In most cases, three-year degrees are not considered. Visit our  International FAQs  for more information.)
• official transcripts from  each institution  where course credit was granted
• minimum 3.0  overall  GPA  or a 3.0 GPA  in the last 60 hours of undergraduate course work (plus any completed graduate courses)
• GRE not required
• statement of purpose detailing the student’s academic interests in one of the concentrations and identifying possible areas of anthropological research. If applicable, include any crossover areas of research from the other anthropological concentrations.
• three letters of recommendation

Approved English Proficiency Exam Scores

Applicants are required to submit an approved English proficiency exam score that meets the minimum program requirements below unless they have earned a bachelor’s degree or higher from a regionally accredited U.S. institution or the equivalent from a country on our  exempt countries list .

• official TOEFL iBT scores required with a 78 overall
• official PTE scores required with a 52 overall
• official IELTS (academic) scores required with a 6.5 overall and minimum individual module scores of 6.0
• official Duolingo scores required with a 110 overall
• official TOEFL Essentials scores required with an 8.5 overall

This program does  not  offer admission if the scores above are not met.

Degree Requirements

The Master of Arts (M.A.) degree with a major in Anthropology concentration in Cultural Anthropology requires 36 semester credit hours, including a thesis. To graduate, students are required to earn a 3.3 cumulative grade-point average (GPA) for all courses listed as Course Requirements.

Course Requirement

Comprehensive examination requirement.

An oral thesis defense is required. This oral defense will serve as the comprehensive examination requirement.  If the thesis committee is not satisfied with a graduate student’s oral defense, they specify all deficiencies the student must resolve. The thesis committee will not sign the Master’s Comprehensive Examination Report Form and the Thesis Submission Approval Form until all specified deficiencies have been resolved. Should the thesis committee decide to hold a second oral defense, the chair of the thesis committee shall not schedule the second defense until the student has resolved all specified deficiencies.  

Students who do not successfully complete the requirements for the degree within the timelines specified will be dismissed from the program.

If a student elects to follow the thesis option for the degree, a committee to direct the written thesis will be established. The thesis must demonstrate the student’s capability for research and independent thought. Preparation of the thesis must be in conformity with the  Graduate College Guide to Preparing and Submitting a Thesis or Dissertation .

Thesis Proposal

The student must submit an official  Thesis Proposal Form  and proposal to his or her thesis committee. Thesis proposals vary by department and discipline. Please see your department for proposal guidelines and requirements. After signing the form and obtaining committee members’ signatures, the graduate advisor’s signature if required by the program and the department chair’s signature, the student must submit the Thesis Proposal Form with one copy of the proposal attached to the dean of The Graduate College for approval before proceeding with research on the thesis. If the thesis research involves human subjects, the student must obtain exemption or approval from the Texas State Institutional Review Board prior to submitting the proposal form to The Graduate College. The IRB approval letter should be included with the proposal form. If the thesis research involves vertebrate animals, the proposal form must include the Texas State IACUC approval code. It is recommended that the thesis proposal form be submitted to the dean of The Graduate College by the end of the student’s enrollment in 5399A. Failure to submit the thesis proposal in a timely fashion may result in delayed graduation.

Thesis Committee

The thesis committee must be composed of a minimum of three approved graduate faculty members.

Thesis Enrollment and Credit

The completion of a minimum of six hours of thesis enrollment is required. For a student's initial thesis course enrollment, the student will need to register for thesis course number 5399A.  After that, the student will enroll in thesis B courses, in each subsequent semester until the thesis is defended with the department and approved by The Graduate College. Preliminary discussions regarding the selection of a topic and assignment to a research supervisor will not require enrollment for the thesis course.

Students must be enrolled in thesis credits if they are receiving supervision and/or are using university resources related to their thesis work.  The number of thesis credit hours students enroll in must reflect the amount of work being done on the thesis that semester.  It is the responsibility of the committee chair to ensure that students are making adequate progress toward their degree throughout the thesis process.  Failure to register for the thesis course during a term in which supervision is received may result in postponement of graduation. After initial enrollment in 5399A, the student will continue to enroll in a thesis B course as long as it takes to complete the thesis. Thesis projects are by definition original and individualized projects.  As such, depending on the topic, methodology, and other factors, some projects may take longer than others to complete.  If the thesis requires work beyond the minimum number of thesis credits needed for the degree, the student may enroll in additional thesis credits at the committee chair's discretion. In the rare case when a student has not previously enrolled in thesis and plans to work on and complete the thesis in one term, the student will enroll in both 5399A and 5399B.

The only grades assigned for thesis courses are PR (progress), CR (credit), W (withdrew), and F (failing). If acceptable progress is not being made in a thesis course, the instructor may issue a grade of F. If the student is making acceptable progress, a grade of PR is assigned until the thesis is completed. The minimum number of hours of thesis credit (“CR”) will be awarded only after the thesis has been both approved by The Graduate College and released to Alkek Library.

A student who has selected the thesis option must be registered for the thesis course during the term or Summer I (during the summer, the thesis course runs ten weeks for both sessions) in which the degree will be conferred.

Thesis Deadlines and Approval Process

Thesis deadlines are posted on  The Graduate College  website under "Current Students." The completed thesis must be submitted to the chair of the thesis committee on or before the deadlines listed on The Graduate College website.

The following must be submitted to The Graduate College by the thesis deadline listed on The Graduate College website:

• The Thesis Submission Approval Form bearing original (wet) and/or electronic signatures of the student and all committee members.
• One (1) PDF of the thesis in final form, approved by all committee members, uploaded in the online Vireo submission system.  

After the dean of The Graduate College approves the thesis, Alkek Library will harvest the document from the Vireo submission system for publishing in the Digital Collections database (according to the student's embargo selection).  NOTE: MFA Creative Writing theses will have a permanent embargo and will never be published to Digital Collections.  

While original (wet) signatures are preferred, there may be situations as determined by the chair of the committee in which obtaining original signatures is inefficient or has the potential to delay the student's progress. In those situations, the following methods of signing are acceptable:

• signing and faxing the form
• signing, scanning, and emailing the form
• notifying the department in an email from their university's or institution's email account that the committee chair can sign the form on their behalf
• electronically signing the form using the university's licensed signature platform.

If this process results in more than one document with signatures, all documents need to be submitted to The Graduate College together.

No copies are required to be submitted to Alkek Library. However, the library will bind copies submitted that the student wants bound for personal use. Personal copies are not required to be printed on archival quality paper. The student will take the personal copies to Alkek Library and pay the binding fee for personal copies.

Master's level courses in Anthropology: ANTH

Courses Offered

Anthropology (anth).

ANTH 5199B. Thesis.

This course represents a student's continuing thesis enrollments. The student continues to enroll in this course until the thesis is submitted for binding. Graded on a credit (CR), progress (PR), no credit (F) basis.

ANTH 5299B. Thesis.

ANTH 5301. Advanced Principles of Cultural Anthropology.

This course is an ethnographically-based analysis of major theoretical positions and debates in contemporary anthropology. (Stacked course with ANTH 3301 .).

ANTH 5302. Practicum in Teaching Anthropology.

An introduction to key concepts and practices in the teaching of college-level Anthropology. The course provides training in the practical aspects of classroom instruction. Required for first-year teaching and instructional assistants in the Anthropology Department. This course does not earn graduate degree credit.

ANTH 5303. Speech Analysis.

The focus of this course is the analysis of human speech sounds. It includes description of the acoustic properties of speech sounds, transcription of sounds using the International Phonetic Alphabet system, an understanding of the acoustic theories of speech, and practical experience in forensic speakers' identification.

ANTH 5304. Sociolinguistics.

The focus of this course is on the complex interrelationships between language and other aspects of culture. Methods of sociolinguistics, theories of sociolinguistics, and current issues regarding the nature of language variation and change will be emphasized. (MULT).

ANTH 5305. Anthropological Statistics.

In this course students will learn how to statistically analyze anthropological data. Students will gain a firm understanding of basic quantitative statistics, will be able to evaluate quantitative methods presented in anthropological research papers, and will be prepared for classes in more advanced statistical methods.

ANTH 5306. Anthropology and Art.

In this course students will investigate the function of art and symbolism in pre-literate archaeological cultures that existed at the tribal and chiefdom levels of political and social development. A multidisciplinary focus will use anthropology and art historical approaches as research tools.

ANTH 5307. History of Evolutionary Thought.

This course discusses the impact of evolutionary discourse within the context of its history. Students will develop a thorough understanding of evolution and its importance to anthropology, as well as to other scientific disciplines.

ANTH 5308. Cultural Resource Management and Archaeology.

In this course students will examine various topics relevant to cultural resource management including state and federal laws, survey, testing, mitigation, and developing final reports.

ANTH 5309. Culture, Medicine and the Body.

This course explores how the human body, functions of the body, and the practices of medicine and healing are situated and contextualized within cultural frameworks. Case studies cover body and health-related topics over the life course, from birth to death.

ANTH 5310. Theories and Issues in Anthropology.

This course explores major theoretical and historical developments in anthropology, highlighting the discipline’s unique four-field perspective that includes archaeology, biological and cultural anthropology, and anthropological linguistics. Topics stress the importance of anthropological thought in key scientific discoveries and cultural debates.

ANTH 5311. Seminar in Cultural Anthropology.

In this course, students will learn the historical foundations of cultural anthropology, its key theories and methods, and examples of its contemporary practice. Topics will include evolutionism, functionalism, structuralism, ethnoscience, neo-Marxism, postmodernism, and modernity.

ANTH 5312. Seminar in Biological Anthropology.

In this course, students will learn the historical foundations of biological anthropology, its key theories and methods, and examples of its contemporary practice in evolutionary theory, human variation, paleoanthropology, primatology, and skeletal biology.

ANTH 5313. Seminar in Archaeology.

In this course, students will learn the historical foundations of archaeology, its key theories and methods, and examples of its contemporary practice in New World and Old World archaeology.

ANTH 5314. Latin American Cultures.

Comprehensive study of cultures from Latin America. (Stacked course with ANTH 3314 .) (MULT).

ANTH 5315. Archaeological Artifact Identification and Analysis.

This course will provide students with the skills, knowledge and ability to describe, characterize, and analyze artifacts commonly recovered from archaeological sites. Current theories covering the production and analysis of chipped and ground stone tools, ceramics, bone and other materials will be presented, and scientific analytical methods discussed.

ANTH 5316. The Origin and Evolution of Human Behavior.

This course presents our current understanding of Old World Paleolithic Archaeology. The origin and evolution of hominid behavior, the initial colonization of the Old World, and the development of modern human behavior will be discussed for each continent. (Stacked course with ANTH 3316 ).

ANTH 5317. Rock Art Field Methods.

This course will train students in rock art field methods. They will gain first-hand experience recording rock art sites through photography, field sketches, mapping, and written inventories. Students will generate a visual and written description of the art, which they will use to infer and explain past human behavior. (Stacked course with ANTH 3317 ).

ANTH 5318. Texas Archaeology.

This course will present our current understanding of Texas archaeology. The environmental and social contexts of prehistoric, protohistoric, and historic records of Native American and Spanish occupations in Texas are discussed. (Stacked course with ANTH 3318 .) (MULT).

ANTH 5320. Rise of Civilization.

This course examines the components that led to the dynamic state societies in Egypt, Sumeria, the Indus Valley, and China in the Old World and that of the Olmecin Mexico and Chavin in Peru. (Stacked course with ANTH 4320 .).

ANTH 5322. Peoples and Cultures of Africa.

This course is a general introduction to the contemporary peoples and cultures of Africa. Students will examine the social structure, economy, political systems, and religions of African cultures in the context of the radical economic and social transformations affecting the area. (MULT).

ANTH 5324. Mexican American Culture.

This class is an exploration of Mexican American culture with an emphasis on the US-Mexico transborder region. The course integrates history, anthropology, and ethnic studies to capture the broad diversity of Mexican American experiences. Some of the topics covered include identity, social movements, Chicana feminism, transnational migration, spirituality, and cultural expressions such as visual art, film, music, and performance. (Stacked course with ANTH 3324 .) (MULT).

ANTH 5325. Medical Anthropology.

This course focuses on how illness identities are culturally constructed, how adaptations or maladaptations to local environments affect health, how political and economic forces influence health and health behaviors, and how the practice of medical anthropology can contribute to solving urgent health issues around the world.

ANTH 5326. Field Methods in Forensic Anthropology.

In this course students will learn how to locate, excavate and recover human remains, associated personal effects, and other materials in order to ensure legal credibility for all recoveries.

ANTH 5330. Curation of Archaeological Materials.

This course provides students with the skills to prepare archaeological materials for curation, which includes the processes and techniques used to stabilize and preserve organic and inorganic materials. This training can be used to gain certification in the field of archaeological curation.

ANTH 5332. Myths and Mound Builders.

This course presents an anthropological approach to the iconography of the Native Americans of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. (Stacked course with ANTH 3332 .) (MULT).

ANTH 5333. Research Design in Biological Anthropology.

This course provides students with an introduction to the principles and processes by which research projects in biological anthropology are devised and executed. It focuses on the issues of finding a topic to research, defining its scope and limitations, developing a research bibliography, and elaborating a research design.

ANTH 5335. The Anthropology of Native American Belief Systems.

In this course students use anthropological approaches to investigate past and present Native American belief systems in order to determine the temporal range and evolving complexity of Native American religious and ritual expression.

ANTH 5336. Community Research Project.

This course gives students the opportunity to conduct hands-on anthropological research on a variety of topics in local communities.

ANTH 5337. Theory in Linguistics Anthropology.

In this course students will be introduced to the major theories of linguistics through reading and discussing classic and contemporary literatures. Particular attention will be given to how the various theories have influenced linguistic anthropology.

ANTH 5338. Geoarchaeology.

This course will provide students with the knowledge and ability to interpret sediments and the nature of sediment accumulation at archaeological sites. The course will provide students with a foundation in sedimentology, natural depositional environments, weathering processes and soil development, stratigraphic analysis, archaeological site formation processes. (Stacked course with ANTH 3338 ).

ANTH 5339. Theoretical Concepts in Archaeology.

This course provides a broad survey of theory in archaeology as it is practiced throughout the world. It includes both historical perspectives and contemporary usage.

ANTH 5340. Paleoanthropology.

Critical review of the human fossil record from the appearance of the earliest hominins to the appearance of modern human forms. (Stacked course with ANTH 3340 .).

ANTH 5341. Gross Anatomy.

Students in this course examine the macroscopic structure of organs and soft and hard tissues in the human body. The course is divided into these units: back and thorax, neck and head, and upper and lower limb. Cadaver-based dissection labs accompany lecture topics.

ANTH 5342. Primate Behavior.

An organized course that examines current research in nonhuman primate studies from an anthropological perspective. (Stacked course with ANTH 3342 .).

ANTH 5343. Human Variation and Adaptation.

An organized course that examines human physical variation and adaptation from an evolutionary perspective.

ANTH 5345. Archaeology of Mesoamerica.

This course examines the development of early huntergatherers through the appearance of agriculture to the rise of civilization in Mesoamerica. (Stacked course with ANTH 3345 .) (MULT).

ANTH 5346. Bioarchaeology.

Bioarchaeology is the study of human skeletal remains in relation to the archaeological record. In this course students study theories and methods used in the analysis of archaeologically derived human skeletal remains to reconstruct patterns of subsistence, diet, disease, demography, biological relatedness, and the funerary activities of past populations. Prerequisite: ANTH 3381 with a grade of "C" or better or instructor approval.

ANTH 5347. Archaeology of North America.

This course examines human settlement of North America from the end of the Pleistocene to European discovery. (Stacked course with ANTH 3347 .).

ANTH 5349. The Incas.

The Incas were the largest Pre-Columbian empire in the Americas. This course will explore the origins of this civilization and how they conquered such a large area of South America. Using archaeological and historic information the class will examine various aspects of Inca society including religion, economics, and kingship. (Stacked course with ANTH 3349 ). (MULT).

ANTH 5350. Gender and Sexuality in Cross Cultural Perspective.

This course examines the relationships between women and men in societies around the world. (Stacked course with ANTH 3350 .) (MULT).

ANTH 5351. Anthropology of Peace and Violence.

This class explores anthropological perspectives on peace and violence. It focuses on understanding violent practices within both traditional and current day societies including everyday violence and warfare. It explores the contributions of social structure, gender, religion, race, and ethnicity to violence. It examines efforts to build peace and reconciliation.

ANTH 5353. Applied Cultural Anthropology.

This class focuses on how anthropology can solve practical problems in various disciplines, including behavioral health, education, human rights, community development, and business. Students will learn about client development, contract negotiations, project design, proposal writing, preparing deliverables, communicating results to a variety of stakeholders, teamwork, networking, and navigating ethical issues.

ANTH 5355. Seminar in Culture Theory.

An intensive examination of the principal theoretical positions in cultural anthropology, with an emphasis on the preparation of students with ethnographic analysis and fieldwork. (MULT).

ANTH 5356. Andean Civilizations.

This course is a survey of civilizations in the Andean region of South America. Using archaeological data the class will examine cultural developments in the region from the earliest hunters and gatherers to the Inca Empire, the largest state in the Americas at the time of European contact. (MULT).

ANTH 5357. Historical Archaeology.

This course is an advanced survey of historical archaeology methods and theories that will intensively examine current trends in historical archaeology. Students will also be exposed to the material culture from historic period archaeological sites in Texas and North America.

ANTH 5361. Qualitative Methods.

This course provides instruction on qualitative methods and analysis. Students will learn through a combination of lecture and hands-on activities how to design qualitative research projects; collect qualitative data through methods such as interviews, focus groups and observations; analyze this data; and present qualitative results.

ANTH 5363. The Art and Archaeology of the Olmec.

This course will present our current understanding of the art and archaeology of the Olmec culture, the earliest known civilization in North America. The Olmec culture is considered the influential foundation for later Mesoamerican civilizations such as the Maya and the Aztec. (Stacked course with ANTH 3363 .) (MULT).

ANTH 5373G. Research Design and Proposal Writing in Cultural Anthropology.

This course will familiarize students with the basic principles and practices of effective research design and proposal writing in cultural anthropology. Students will acquire a practical experience in formulating a feasible and creative research project, performing a rigorous literature review, planning to protect human research subjects, and giving/receiving constructive peer reviews.

ANTH 5373I. Anthropology in Practice.

This course introduces students to the application of anthropological ideas, methods, and skills in multiple employment sectors. Students will develop key job skills in communication, team work, networking, professional development, and project management.

ANTH 5373J. Dental Anthropology and Oral Biology.

The biological development of the cranio-facial structures will be presented with emphasis on hard tissue anatomy and diseases. Dental traits will be discussed in relation to human evolutionary concepts. Forensic methods that support identification of human remains are emphasized. This course is appropriate for anthropology students and pre-professional dentistry.

ANTH 5373K. Nonverbal Communication-Gestures.

Communication involves the use of ‘invisible’ words and gestures, or ‘visible actions.’ This course focuses on gestures, what they are, how they are used, what role they play in communication and in thinking, and their cultural underpinning. Students will learn the theoretical and methodological issues involved in studying different gestures across societies.

ANTH 5373L. Cultural Heritage Management.

This course introduces students to current problems and methods in the stewardship of cultural heritage, tangible and intangible, national and international. We will explore topics including ethics and law, development, tourism, public outreach and opinion, and ongoing threats to cultural heritage.

ANTH 5373M. Design + Anthropology.

This course will begin by exploring the anthropology of design, including the practices, implications, and expansion of design under contemporary capitalism. Students will then use this knowledge to examine the growing field of design anthropology and learn how anthropologists provide actionable insights and research for design work today.

ANTH 5373O. Seminar on Race in Biological Anthropology.

In this course students will learn where race concepts originated, examining the worldview and scientific mindsets that guided us into the 21st century. Students will explore how social race has become biological, drawing on literature from biological anthropology. Most importantly, students will explore pragmatic solutions in the context of anthropology research. Students will leave the course with an in-depth understanding of the role anthropology has played in current concepts of race and develop an informed scientific practice that they can apply.

ANTH 5374Y. Human Evolutionary Anatomy.

This course is designed to give students an anatomical background to the study of human evolution with a focus on the comparative anatomy of apes, living humans, and fossil hominins.

ANTH 5374Z. Curation of Archaeological Materials.

This course will examine the phenomenon or fundamentalism in a variety of religious traditions, both present and historical. Students will explore the political and social ramifications of fundamentalism in a world characterized by multiculturalism and globalization.

ANTH 5375. Advanced Methods in Skeletal Biology, Part I.

This course focuses on laboratory analytical techniques and data collection methods used to estimate the biological profile of modern, historic, or prehistoric human skeletal remains.

ANTH 5376. Advanced Methods in Skeletal Biology, Part II.

This course focuses on technical case report writing and evidentiary best practices in forensic anthropological analysis of human skeletal remains. In addition to biological profile estimation techniques, research methods and theoretical foundations used for trauma analysis and taphonomic interpretation will be reviewed. Prerequisite: ANTH 5375 with a grade of "C" or better.

ANTH 5381. Paleopathology.

Paleopathology is the study of ancient diseases and is an important tool for understanding of past populations. In this course we will survey the range of pathology on human skeletons such as trauma, infection, syphilis, tuberculosis, leprosy, anemia, metabolic disturbances, arthritis, and tumors.

ANTH 5382. Archaeology of the Earliest Americans.

This course focuses on the scientific story of the first Americans: where they came from, when they arrived, and how they met the challenges of moving across the vast, unknown landscapes of North America. Topics include exploring the hemisphere's oldest sites and how people coped with changing global climates.

ANTH 5385. Seminar in Anthropology.

This course introduces students to specialized areas of anthropological inquiry.

ANTH 5390. Directed Study.

Course of independent study open to individual students at the invitation of the faculty member with the approval of the department chair and the graduate advisor. Repeatable for credit.

ANTH 5395. Internship.

Under the direction of the thesis advisor and/or the internship coordinator, a student will conduct supervised work or research, related to a student’s professional development, at a public or private organization. This course may be repeated once for credit. Prerequisite: Instructor approval.

ANTH 5399A. Thesis.

This course represents a student's initial thesis enrollment. No thesis credit is awarded until the student has completed their thesis proposal.

ANTH 5399B. Thesis.

This course represents a student's continuing thesis enrollments. The student continues to enroll in this course until the thesis is submitted for binding.

ANTH 5599B. Thesis.

ANTH 5999B. Thesis.

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