LING6500 - Topics in Natural-Language Syntax

Status
A
Activity
SEM
Section number integer
301
Title (text only)
Topics in Natural-Language Syntax
Term
2024A
Subject area
LING
Section number only
301
Section ID
LING6500301
Course number integer
6500
Meeting times
T 9:45 AM-11:45 AM
Meeting location
WLNT 326C
Level
graduate
Instructors
Julie Legate
Description
Detailed study of topics in syntax and semantics, e.g., pronominalization, negation, complementation. Topics vary from term to term.
Course number only
6500
Use local description
No

LING6170 - Topics in the Cultural Evolution of Language

Status
A
Activity
SEM
Section number integer
301
Title (text only)
Topics in the Cultural Evolution of Language
Term
2024A
Syllabus URL
Subject area
LING
Section number only
301
Section ID
LING6170301
Course number integer
6170
Meeting times
MW 10:15 AM-11:44 AM
Meeting location
WLNT 300C
Level
graduate
Instructors
Gareth Roberts
Description
Readings in the cultural evolution of language. This encompasses research on the contribution of processes of cultural change to the emergence of language in the human species, the emergence of new languages, and language change viewed as a cultural-evolutionary process. There will be an emphasis on research employing empirical methods, particularly experimentation. Otherwise focus varies from term to term.
Course number only
6170
Use local description
No

LING6100 - Seminar in Historical and Comparative Linguistics

Status
A
Activity
SEM
Section number integer
301
Title (text only)
Seminar in Historical and Comparative Linguistics
Term
2024A
Subject area
LING
Section number only
301
Section ID
LING6100301
Course number integer
6100
Level
graduate
Instructors
Donald A Ringe
Description
Selected topics either in Indo-European comparative linguistics or in historical and comparative method.
Course number only
6100
Use local description
No

LING5900 - Deep Learning and Large Language Models in Linguistic Research

Status
A
Activity
SEM
Section number integer
1
Title (text only)
Deep Learning and Large Language Models in Linguistic Research
Term
2024A
Subject area
LING
Section number only
001
Section ID
LING5900001
Course number integer
5900
Meeting times
TR 10:15 AM-11:44 AM
Meeting location
WLNT 313C
Level
graduate
Instructors
Mark Yoffe Liberman
Description
The goal of this course is to give students the concepts and skills they need to apply methods from Deep Learning and Large Language Models in research on speech, language, and communication. We will survey the interesting past, the exciting present, and the promising but uncertain future of these technologies, focusing on their limitations as well as their capabilities.
A key idea is moving from local to contextual features, "situated" relative to patterns learned from large bodies of training material. Instead of words in isolation, we look at patterns of words in text; instead of 10-to-30-msec audio windows in isolation, we look at patterns of signal-derived features in phrase-sized contexts. Used as inputs to a wide variety of prediction and classification systems, these approaches lead to large improvements in performance.
We will also survey the wide range of architectures and training methods, including the spectrum from supervised to lightly-supervised, self-supervised, and unsupervised methods; and also the integration of these systems with other old and new structures from physics, mathematics, and linguistics. We will explore the relevance of the learning models to the central issues in the science of language and how language is situated in the human cognitive system. The details of coverage will depend in part on the interests of participants.
No specific prerequisites are required, though obviously participants will need at least basic programming skills.
Course number only
5900
Cross listings
LING2900001
Use local description
No

LING5860 - Experiments in the Study of Meaning II

Status
A
Activity
SEM
Section number integer
401
Title (text only)
Experiments in the Study of Meaning II
Term
2024A
Syllabus URL
Subject area
LING
Section number only
401
Section ID
LING5860401
Course number integer
5860
Meeting times
MW 3:30 PM-4:59 PM
Meeting location
WLNT 313C
Level
graduate
Instructors
Florian Schwarz
Description
This course continues the introduction to Experiments in the study of meaning in natural language from LING 455. A large focus will be practical aspects of designing and implementing experiments, while covering a range of current topics from the experimental semantics and pragmatics literature (and exploring new avenues) along the way, e.g., pronouns and definite reference, presuppositions, quantifiers and domain restriction, generics. We'll start with some basic aspects of experimental design, including counter-balancing, controlling for confounds, utilizing fillers, as well as a range of key experimental task paradigms, such as simple truth- value judgments and picture sentence matching, acceptability ratings, reading time studies, and visual world eye tracking. For implementation, we will introduce the PCIbex platform at https://farm.pcibex.net and its relevant functionalities. Students will select a topic area, either individually or in small groups, and start from a survey article or recent journal paper to familiarize themselves with current issues. Next, they will formulate their own question, decide on a suitable task paradigm, and begin fleshing out a full experiment implementation, with the goal of collecting data at the end of the semester (if at all possible). The project will then be written up in a term paper. This provides students with the opportunity to engage in a scientific investigation of their own early on in their career in a domain that is easily accessible and yet central to the general enterprise of the cognitive sciences.
Course number only
5860
Cross listings
LING3860401
Use local description
No

LING5820 - Semantics II

Status
A
Activity
LEC
Section number integer
1
Title (text only)
Semantics II
Term
2024A
Syllabus URL
Subject area
LING
Section number only
001
Section ID
LING5820001
Course number integer
5820
Meeting times
MW 10:15 AM-11:44 AM
Meeting location
WLNT 326C
Level
graduate
Instructors
Florian Schwarz
Description
The first part of the course expands the system from LING 580 to include intensional contexts. In particular, we discuss analyses of modals, attitude verbs, and conditionals, as well as the scope of noun phrases in modal environments. The second part of the course discusses a selection of topics from current work in semantics, such as the semantics of questions, tense and aspect, donkey anaphora, indefinites, genericity, degree constructions, events and situations, domain restriction, plurality and focus.
Course number only
5820
Use local description
No

LING5750 - The Acquisition of Meaning

Status
A
Activity
SEM
Section number integer
301
Title (text only)
The Acquisition of Meaning
Term
2024A
Subject area
LING
Section number only
301
Section ID
LING5750301
Course number integer
5750
Meeting times
W 1:45 PM-4:44 PM
Meeting location
WLNT 326C
Level
graduate
Instructors
Anna Papafragou
Description
This is a seminar on the acquisition of a first language by children. We will discuss the acquisition of the meanings of words and sentences, and the pragmatic and social interpretation of sentences in context. We will also consider how language relates to other cognitive systems and to human social reasoning. Particular emphasis will be placed on discovering the mechanisms children possess that enable them to learn and use language.
Course number only
5750
Use local description
No

LING5600 - Language Variation & Change

Status
X
Activity
LEC
Section number integer
1
Title (text only)
Language Variation & Change
Term
2024A
Subject area
LING
Section number only
001
Section ID
LING5600001
Course number integer
5600
Meeting times
CANCELED
Level
graduate
Description
Speech communities as a focus for the understanding of language evolution and change: language variation in time and space. The relationship between language structure and language use; between language change and social change. Populations as differentiated by age, sex, social class, race, and ethnicity, and the relationship of these factors to linguistic differentiation.
Course number only
5600
Use local description
No

LING5520 - Syntax II

Status
A
Activity
LEC
Section number integer
1
Title (text only)
Syntax II
Term
2024A
Subject area
LING
Section number only
001
Section ID
LING5520001
Course number integer
5520
Meeting times
MW 12:00 PM-1:29 PM
Meeting location
WLNT 326C
Level
graduate
Instructors
Filipe Hisao De Salles Kobayashi
Description
The second half of a year-long introduction to the formal study of natural language syntax. Topics to be covered include grammatical architecture; derivational versus representational statement of syntactic principles; movement and locality; the interface of syntax and semantics; argument structure; and other topics. The emphasis is on reading primary literature and discussing theoretical approaches, along with detailed case-studies of specific syntactic phenomena in different languages.
Course number only
5520
Use local description
No

LING5320 - Phonology II

Status
A
Activity
LEC
Section number integer
1
Title (text only)
Phonology II
Term
2024A
Subject area
LING
Section number only
001
Section ID
LING5320001
Course number integer
5320
Meeting times
TR 1:45 PM-3:14 PM
Meeting location
WLNT 326C
Level
graduate
Instructors
Rolf Noyer
Description
Second half of a year-long introduction; continues LING 530. Topics to be surveyed include syllable structure and moraic theory; the prosodic hierarchy; the properties and representation of geminates; templatic and prosodic morphology; reduplication and emergence of the unmarked; and metrical phonology (properties of stress, foot typology, and issues of constituency). Emphasizes hands-on analysis of a wide range of data.
Course number only
5320
Use local description
No