Linguistics 

Research

As a linguist, I investigate the abstract principles that characterize the language faculty. This  task is accomplished by in-depth comparative analysis of the grammar of different languages, with the aim of discerning what all languages have in common (and thus is a requisite for language to exist) from the ways languages differ from each other. By characterizing our linguistic ability in this way, we can adress the question of why language came to be the way it is.

I am interested in whether the mental principles that govern the human linguistic capacity are specific for language or rather they are shared by, or rooted in, other cognitive capacities; and further if they are exclusively human or rather we can find similar capacities in non-human animals (and thus shed some light on our evolutionary history.)To that effect, it is insightful to examine the language faculty in both monolingual and multilingual humans, as well as studying the minds of non-linguistic (or language-impaired) human and non-human animals.

Finally, I sustain a keen interest in the relationship between the language faculty and other complex mental systems, such as morality (at the intersection of beliefs, desires and judgements).

As a culmination of my training in formal linguistics, in 2003 I wrote a dissertation where I argued for a theory in which the range of the possible argument structures of words is restricted by basic structural principles provided by UG --the same ones that have been used at the level of sentences in contemporary syntactic theory.* I thus showed that the lexicon, far from being the domain of the idiosyncratic (as it is often considered), is instead principled and constrained, like the other modules of grammar. This approach has the advantage that a theory of the interface between lexical and syntactic representations becomes clearer. It moreover posits interesting questions about the relationship between the syntax of words and their semantics, by exploring the ways in which the possible meanings words have might be determined by structural factors.

* See Hale and Keyser (2002) for the main theoretical proposal in which I frame my work.

Writings:

I am currently working on a piece of writing that explains to the world the relevance of a lexical theory based on a few structural (syntactic) primitives, both as for its grammatical usefulness and for its wide consequences for typology, evolutionary linguistics and theories of language acquisition.

Favorite Linguistics Links:

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Teaching

While at the University of Massachusetts I have had the opportunity to teach three kinds of courses, ranging from an introduction to the study of language (Linguistics 101), to a course on Advance Syntax (Linguistics 503), to the one I have taught more times, a course on the methodological approach and current findings of linguistic inquiry (Linguistics 201). I enjoy teaching at any level. The minute I walk into the class, I forget everything else and I get captivated by the experience of intellectual sharing.

When confronting a body of students in a classroom, I have one fundamental objective: to help these students to learn the skill of critical wondering. By this I mean to encourage them to both allow themselves to be seduced by the wonder of the phenomenon of language, and to engage in the search for explanations in a critical way – that is, by learning to identify, analyze and construct empirical and abstract arguments supporting (or refuting) a particular worldview.

While the value of taking a course in linguistics is clear in the case of undergraduates considering a linguistics major, I also believe it to exist for students with a different concentration. This is both because of the intrinsic interest of language as central to the human experience, and because linguistics offers a privileged resource to introduce and practice the analytical skills that modern research in all areas relies on. My main goal in my approach to teaching introductory undergraduate courses is thus focused on emphasizing both the beauty and interest of the object of study, and the attitude and method of serious inquiry and argumentation. It is also important that undergraduates are introduced to the variety of approaches to the study of language that co-exist in the linguistic community, from the cognitive approach to the sociolinguistic one.

For more advanced undergraduates, my approach (say, as in my 503 course) is somehow different. It is important that they read good pieces of original work, which I select either for their influence in the current theory, or because of their finesse in arguing for a particular analysis. It is also important that they search for original data, in their language or in an unfamiliar language, and gain familiarity with grammars, field work techniques and construction of paradigms.

Graduate students, on the other hand, should be coached in their acquisition of the skills that will enable them to find their personal voice as independent specialists in a particular subfield of the discipline. Those include knowledge of the most influential literature, which should be approached with a critical and creative attitude; and a taste for data collection and analysis, which constitutes the building blocks for a strong theory. Equally important with graduate students is to maintain their fascination with the phenomenon of language that brought them to pursue the study into Linguistics.

In my courses I combine open lecture format classes with problem-solving sessions in which students have to work both individually and in group to apply the material learned to new data. During the lectures, I give the students, whenever possible, the chance to interrupt if they have questions; also, I frequently ask students questions to illustrate theoretical or empirical points during lectures; finally, I strive to have students pick their own examples to help them develop their understanding of theoretical points. This teaching style, although being more demanding that a straight forward lecture style, is ultimately more productive for the students in learning the material – their engagement allows them to understand things more quickly and makes the learning experience more rewarding, since it allows them to participate in the process. I complement these methods by frequent class or group discussions, group projects, and student presentations in class. In the problem-solving sessions, I emphasize consistency, both with the data and with whatever general knowledge about language is available to them at that point, over “right” or “wrong” answers. I encourage risk taking and imagination, although I insist on documenting sources and argumenting answers.

Overall, I believe in approaching and treating each student – whenever possible – as an adult individual with specific skills, needs, and goals. I think that teaching always must accommodate to these specificities if it aims to be successful; diverse or conflicting needs of students then have to be negotiated in the praxis of teaching a specific group.

Courses

I can readily teach the following courses

• Introduction to the Study of Language (undergraduate level)
• Introduction to Linguistic Analysis (undergraduate level)
• Syntax (all levels)
• Morphology (all levels)
• Semantics (undergraduate level, intro graduate)
• Phonology (undergraduate level)
• Phonetics (undergraduate level)
• Linguistic Typology (all levels)
• Psycholinguistics (undergraduate level)
• Language Acquisition (all levels)
• Romance/Hispanic Linguistics (all levels)
• Seminar on Generative Grammar (all levels)
• Seminar on Argument Structure (graduate level)
• Seminar on Phrase Structure (graduate level)
• Seminar on Minimalism (graduate level)
• Seminar on Phase Theory (graduate level)
• Seminar on Distributed Morphology (graduate level)
• Seminar on Optimality Theory (graduate level)

Other courses that I would like to teach, all of which reflecting a venue that I have pursued in the past and an interest that, even though it didn’t crystalize in a dissertation, I maintain alive:

• Bilingualism (undergraduate and graduate level)
• Evolution of Language (undergraduate and graduate level)
• Introduction to Computational Linguistics (undergraduate and graduate level)
• Cognitive Science (undergraduate and graduate level)
• Cognitive and Functional Linguistics (graduate level)
• Metaphor and Thought (undergraduate level)
• Linguistic Relativism (undergraduate and graduate level)
• Philosophy of Language (undergraduate level)
• Sociolinguistics (undergraduate and graduate levels)
• Historical Linguistics (undergraduate and graduate levels)
• Feminist Linguistics (undergraduate and graduate levels)
• Animal Communication and Linguistics (undergraduate level)
• Seminar on Linguistic Innatism (graduate level)
• Seminar on Linguistic Creativity (graduate level)

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