Linguistics at Memorial
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguists explore language structure, language variation, language change, the development of language, as well as the psychology and biology of language.
Memorial has the only linguistics department in Atlantic Canada. Our students actively participate in faculty research and have access to facilities such as the Speech Sciences and Language Acquisition Lab and the Indigenous Languages Laboratory and Archive.
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APLA - ALPA
MUN is hosting an online meeting of the Atlantic Provinces Linguistic Association October 25-26.
See details here: https://arcg.is/vyqPT
Visiting Speaker: Alex Chabot
The Department of Linguistics is delighted to announce a colloquium talk by Dr. Alex Chabot from University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. Chabot's research interests are in phonology, cognitive science, neurolinguistics, and philosophy of science. He will be speaking on Scientific Realisim in Phonology. Details below.
Friday, September 20
1:00-2:00
SN2036
Scientific Realism in Phonology: What You Get Is Not What You Hear
Contemporary phonology presents an array of various theories, with some common assumptions as well as many points of incommensurate divergence. Our ultimate goal is to explain why human language is the way it is, instead of being some other way. While most theories are adequate in that they can recapitulate the data collected by linguists in the field and described in grammars, if we believe that phonological theories are explanatory models of something in human brains, then we must be able to select from among them in order to develop a theory which models actual human knowledge. This enterprise is made difficult when theories do not agree on the basal components needed for descriptive and explanatory adequacy. This talk is a discussion of what kinds of properties characterize the three basic parts of a phonological theory: representations, computational operations, and interfaces between phonology and other components of the grammar.
Phonology Workshop
In conjunction with the colloquium talk by Dr. Alex Chabot, the Linguistics Department will be holding a workshop. The schedule is below.
Linguistics Seminar Room (SN3038)
14:20 – 14:45 Shanti Ulfsbjorninn
Schwa, Lenition and Metathesis in Hawu: a virtual length account
14:45 – 15:15 Faris Rababa
Tongue Root Harmony in Urban Jordanian Arabic
15:15 – 15:45 Yvan Rose
Toward a better understanding of the nature and content of UG: If it’s demonstrably learnable, let's assume it’s not innate
15:45 – 16:15 Alex Chabot
Long vowels and reduced vowels at thephonetics/phonology interface