News and Events

The CUNY Linguistics Colloquium is a series of lectures on any topic of linguistic inquiry given by specialists in their fields. The talks appeal to a broad audience of linguistics students and faculty. Speakers typically feature an introduction in which their specific subject matter is situated in the context of linguistic research. They outline the background of the specific proposal(s) thereby allowing non-specialists to maximally benefit.

Talks are held on Thursday from 4:15 p.m. - 6:15 p.m. and include a question-and-answer session, followed by a post-talk reception in room 7400. We highly recommend in-person attendance, but remote attendance option is available.

See upcoming Linguistics Colloquia

Fall 2023 Speakers

• October 19: Speaker: Wiliam Sakas (Hunter College-CUNY)
  Title: tba
  Modality: in person and online. Rm: tba
  Zoom: https://gc-cuny-edu.zoom.us/j/81488734400?pwd=aU0rb3ljb0JmRnB6WE90WElNcGhyQT09
• November 9: Speaker: Ruth Kramer (Georgetown)
  Title: tba
  Modality: in person and online. Rm: tba
  Zoom: https://gc-cuny-edu.zoom.us/j/86537561407?          pwd=MmtpRlNYSDMvM0FpUitQY3drNU91Zz09
• December 7: Speaker: Jon Gajewski (UConn)
  Title: tba
  Modality: in person and online. Rm: tba
  https://gc-cuny-edu.zoom.us/j/88070453155?pwd=Y2VSMjRVSW1UVU9CQlRHRmxMMjBMQT09
  
  A 4th speaker will be added to this schedule shortly!

SpRing 2023 Speakers

We expect all events to be in-person for the Spring 2023 semester.

• Sharese King, University of Chicago, Area: Sociolinguistics
• Jason Shaw, Yale, Area: Phonetics/Phonology
• Jon Nissenbaum, Brooklyn College, Area: Syntax

Fall 2022 Speakers

• Lisa Davidson, New York University
• William Haddican, CUNY, Queens College
• Gennaro Chierchia, Harvard University
• Francisco Ordonez, SUNY, Stony Brook

The Professional Development Series focuses on a variety of skills needed to have a successful career in Linguistics. Guest speakers – faculty, students, or non-academics – will be invited to provide expertise on both practical and theoretical matters. 

Topics include, but are not limited to:

• Written Materials (creating a CV; writing research statements, cover letters, conference abstracts; paper writing skills)
• Linguistics Research Methods (introductions to empirical methods that can be used in linguistics and psycholinguistics studies; meant for students already interested in a certain methodology, but all students are encouraged to attend to learn about these methodologies and potential applications in their future careers)
• Technical Skills (discussions of statistical methods and programs; database and other analyses software),
• General Career Topics (preparing for the academic job market; making the most of conferences and conference presentations; research ethics and the IRB; issues of diversity and inclusivity in careers; finding good mentors and advisors)

Students are invited to suggest specific topics and speakers for future sessions. This series is not open to the public.

FALL 2023 Schedule: TBA

SPRING 2023 Schedule
5/12, 2pm-3:30pm:
Interdisciplinary discussion of the article-based 
The article-based dissertation is used in Ph.D. programs across the Graduate Center (Economics, Political Science, and Sociology among others). Article-based dissertations, often consisting of 3-4 published or publishable articles on distinct but loosely connected topics plus an intro and conclusion, are permissible in Linguistics and LAILAC providing that your advisor and your committee approve.
This panel discussion features a recent Ph.D. in linguistics, and Ph.D. candidates from both Linguistics and LAILAC who opted for or are considering an article-based dissertation. It is an opportunity for students in Linguistics and LAILAC to learn more about this option.
Our panelists include: Ernesto Cuba (LAILAC), Enas Albasiri (Linguistics), LeeAnn Stover (Linguistics), Cass Lowry (Linguistics), and Kelsey Swift (‘22, Linguistics).

4/21 & 4/28:   
LaTeX Workshops led by our very own, Martine Harrison
This 2-part series of workshops is for anyone who is looking for a hands-on way to familiarize themselves with LaTeX for the first time, or improve existing LaTeX skills. Martine will give attendees a brief tour of the basics before diving into an example handout. Rather than reading from the handout, attendees will develop their own in LaTeX using Overleaf. Attendees can expect to get acquainted with document design, drafting mathematical/linguistic examples, assembling tables and figures, compiling and implementing bibliographic information for in-text citations, as well as utilizing various useful third-party tools. Skills gained in this workshop series can be applied towards developing documents such as articles, theses, term papers, CVs, and beyond. Have your laptop handy in order to begin drafting in Overleaf with the group when you arrive, and get ready to expand your LaTeX repertoire!
April 21 part 1,  12pm-2pm, room: 8402 
April 28 part 2, 12pm-2pm, room: 8402 

2/24: 
Non-Academic Job Market for Linguists
Dr. Cynthia Blanco, Duolingo

Contact Dr. Suzanne van der Feest for more information.

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Fall 2022 Schedule
September 9: Panel Discussion: Getting published
Advice from a panel of linguistics faculty and students
September 30: Discussion: Going on the Academic Job Market,
GC Linguistics Alumni
October 14: Preparing Written Materials for the (Academic) Job Market
Dr. Suzanne van der Feest, GC SLHS & Linguistics
December 9th Postponed  to 2/24/23
Non-Academic Job Market for Linguists
Dr. Cynthia Blanco, Duolingo

ALL ARE WELCOME!

View upcoming Professional Development sessions

Sociolinguistics Lunches are a series of talks on sociolinguistics and anthropological linguistics given by students, faculty, and visiting scholars usually from local institutions.

Three talks are held each semester, on select Fridays from 2:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m. The format includes ample time for discussion and is an excellent venue for presenting on-going research or research in preparation for publication. All are welcome. We highly recommend in-person attendance, but remote attendance option is available.

Students and faculty of the Linguistics Program are welcome to present their work at the Sociolinguistics Lunch. For more information or to suggest a speaker contact Cecelia Cutler, Michael Newman or Miki Makihara.

View upcoming Sociolinguistics Lunches

Fall 2023 Speakers

• Oct 6: Haroun Melgani (Oum El Bouaghi University)
  Title: Words on the brink of the death': Arabic-Chaouia contact, ethnic networks, and lexical change in Batna City 
  Room: 9505, 2pm-4pm
  (Zoom: https://gc-cuny-edu.zoom.us/j/85725878134?pwd=K2ltS2JCMTBWQ1ZESTdQMy9McW5rUT09 
  Meeting ID: 857 2587 8134, Passcode: 735416)
• Nov 10: Paul McPherron (Hunter College) & Kyle McIntosh (University of Tampa)
  Title: English in a time of resurgent nationalism
  Room: tba, 2pm-4pm
  (Zoom: https://gc-cuny-edu.zoom.us/j/86046266919?pwd=QlZjaml3M3Myelh5Mzd6YmE2TEFKZz09 
  Meeting ID: 860 4626 6919, Passcode: 746352)
• Dec 8: Javier Moreno Rivero (John Jay College) 
  Title:Translation for minoritized languages: An ethnographic study
  Room: 8402, 2pm-4pm
  (Zoom:https://gc-cuny-edu.zoom.us/j/81725281941?pwd=SHBQK3JFRjJQSVhCRjROcEhvazhodz09 
  Meeting ID: 817 2528 1941, Passcode: 629203)

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Spring 2023 Speakers

• Elana Shohamy (Tel Aviv University)
  Talk title: LL research in education: Awareness, activism and change as social justice

• Xochitl Marsilli-Vargas (Emory University)
  Talk title: The reverberating of words: Resonance and the constitution of genres of listening

• Joseph Comer (Universität Bern/CUNY Graduate Center)
  Talk title: Passport portfolios, global citizens, and the ‘ultimate Plan B’: Synergising head, heart and back-pocket in the discourse of citizenship-by-investment

• Aris M. Clemons (University of Tennessee, Knoxville)
  Talk title: A-political linguistics doesn’t exist, and it shouldn’t: Setting the framework for Liberatory Linguistics

• Anthony J. Harb (CUNY Graduate Center)
  Talk title: ¡Yo también soy!: Broadcasting community for antiracist organizing

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Fall 2022 Speakers

• Ernesto Cuba, CUNY Graduate Center
  Talk title: “To You, What Does It Mean to Talk Like a Woman?” Ideologies of Gendered Language Among Trans Women in the City of Lima, Peru

• Paolo Niño Valdez, De La Salle University
  Talk title: Phillipine English for Sale: The Linguistic Market and Commodity Formation

• Ignacio Montoya, University of Nevada, Reno
  Talk title: Interrogating the Colonial Legacy of Linguistics and Adopting Principles of Decolonization

The Connecting Innovative Research in CUNY Linguistics (CIRCL) series is designed primarily for students, and faculty to share research ideas and get useful feedback in a supportive and stimulating environment. 

CIRCL meets on Tuesdays from 6:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m., online and in person in room 7102.

This series is open only to current members of the Linguistics program at the GC.

 Spring 2023 

• April 25: Aidan Malanoski. Title: Contraction and repetition in English inverted conditionals
• May 9: CL-MA thesis presentation by Maria Karamihaylova.  Title: Neural Network vs. Rule-Based G2P: A Hybrid Approach to Stress Prediction and Related Vowel Reduction in Bulgarian

The CUNY Computational Linguistics Lecture Series hosts talks by external experts in computational linguistics, including speech and natural language processing. Contact Prof. Kyle Gorman at kgorman@gc.cuny.edu for more information about these talks.

See upcoming Computational Linguistics Lectures

Fall 2023: Stay tuned!

Spring 2023 Speakers

• 5/3, 3pm Daniel Kaufman & Raphael A. Finkel, (in person only, room 7400.18): Presenting the Phonomaton
  In this talk we present the Phonomaton, a freely available browser-based program that allows users to implement derivational analysis of phonological and morphological phenomena using standard notation. The program serves to ensure that complex analyses yield the expected results and provides a valuable method of exploring alternatives in real time. The Phonomaton handles all aspects of SPE-style notation (with a modified SPE feature system) as well as autosegmental representations and can even make the full trip from underlying representation to sound wave. It is designed for both experts and as a teaching tool for students, and thus facilitates problem solving. Finally, it contains a library of phonological phenomena that serves as an interactive reference and theoretical sandbox. We will offer a hands-on presentation where everyone can explore the program's features as we present them.

• 4/19, 3pm Sandy Ritchie (Google) Room 7102 (in-person & online)
  Connecting Language Technologies with Rich, Diverse Data Sources Covering Thousands of Languages 
  Abstract: Contrary to common belief, there are rich and diverse data sources available for many thousands of languages, which can be used to develop technologies for these languages. This talk will provide an overview of some of the major online data sources, the types of data that they provide access to, potential applications of this data, and the number of languages that they cover. Even this covers only a small fraction of the data that exists; for example, printed books are published in many languages, but few online aggregators exist.
  
  Registration Link: https://gc-cuny-edu.zoom.us/j/89700537480?pwd=d2JsN3IwZkpWR1FnNGkwR2hQdE5jZz09

• 3/1: Sarah Payne, 3:00 pm -4:00 pm, Room: 7400.13, (in-person)
  Getting the Right Stuff Wrong: Modeling the Acquisition of Morphological Marking
  Abstract: Children's production errors during morphological acquisition can be as informative as what they get right. In this talk, I will focus on two well-attested error patterns: overregularization and omission of inflectional affixes. Despite significant improvements in architecture and accuracy, neural models struggle to account for these error patterns, especially when trained on developmentally-plausible data. I will present two original models that make use of rule-based, recursive search procedures: one that learns inflectional classes and one that maps these classes to form. I will demonstrate that when trained on developmentally-plausible data, these models give mechanistic accounts of omission and overregularization errors, respectively.
• 2/3: Dr. Nava Shaked, Holon Institute of Technology
  Conversational AI: a new role for CL
  Abstract: A huge amount of time is spent in the virtual worlds of gaming, social and entertainment. Artificial intelligence "improves" all of these interactions to the point that sometimes it is hard to determine which is the machine and who is the human. In the digital world, language is undergoing a change effected by the technologies available to users in order to create a special interaction between humans and machines. This interaction is part of a new linguistic grid, a grid based on dialogue involving intentions, inferences, and knowledge. Its occurrence in the virtual world is very much based on the pragmatics of the real world. Conversational AI is an area that is rapidly developing, where language processing of both text and speech enables a smart and effective conversations between users and machines. In light of recent developments in generative AI, including new engines and deep learning algorithms, we will discuss on the role of computational linguistics and how we can improve human-machine dialogue and discuss examples, challenges and opportunities.

Fall 2022 Speakers

• Yang Zhang, Nvidia
• Nanjoung Kim, New York University & Google
• Alvin Grissom II, Haverford College