Category: News

52nd Algonquian Conference – Registration Open

Registration is now open for the 52nd Algonquian Conference!   1) CONFERENCE DETAILS The conference will be held October 23–25, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference will be entirely online via Zoom.   2) CONFERENCE WEBSITE Visit our website for the most up-to-date program, Zoom access information, and more. Many details are still developing, …

LangSci at the Algonquian Conference

A number of Language Sciences students and faculty will be presenting their work at the upcoming 52nd Algonquian Conference, hosted online this year from October 23-25 at UW–Madison. Ryan Henke (LangSci faculty) – Marking number and obviation for possessors: Child and child-directed speech in Northern East Cree Liz Vaala (Linguistics undergraduate student) – Numeral Classifiers …

Linguistic Discrimination Working Group

A group of us are starting a working group on Language ideology and linguistic discrimination. We’ll read some articles and discuss issues, but the ultimate goal is to figure out how to communicate better with the public about language ideology and linguistic discrimination. We’re planning to meet every two weeks, virtually of course. The first …

Linguistics Fridays are back

Fridays @ 4:00 We continue our tradition of coming together each week for some stimulating linguistic discussion on Friday afternoons. Linguistics Fridays will be online this semester, but they will still be happening! As in previous years, the program will include a mixture of colloquium talks and reading groups. Here is the schedule that has …

COVID update: LangSci office closed

Reminder that the upper floors of Van Hise Hall are closed to students and the public at this time. Only pre-authorized essential personnel may enter floors 6 and up. The LangSci physical spaces on the 11th floor are all closed, including the Language Sciences administrative office (1168), our conference/seminar room (1151), the academic advisor’s office …

Editorial PA-ship Opportunity

Language Sciences Professors Macaulay and Salmons are seeking a 50% Project Assistant for the 2020-2021 academic year (12 months) to serve as editorial assistant for the book series Current Issues in Linguistic Theory and the annual volume Papers of the Algonquian Conference. Qualifications: Excellent organizational skills, writing and proofreading skills in English, word processing, and …

Welcome to New Faculty Member Ryan Henke

Language Sciences is happy to announce the addition of new tenure-track faculty member Ryan Henke to our program! Professor Henke joins us from the University of Hawaiʻi, where he recently defended his thesis The first language acquisition of nominal inflection in Northern East Cree: Possessives and nouns. His research has focused on the first language …

Interview with Professor Wanner in Alumni Magazine

Professor Anja Wanner, Language Sciences faculty member and Chair of the Department of English, was featured in a recent story in On Wisconsin, UW–Madison’s alumni magazine. In her interview “We Are Not the Grammar Police,” she explains the descriptive and open-minded approach that linguists take when conducting research on human language. Read the full article …

Forthcoming Faculty Publications

A couple of our faculty have forthcoming edited volumes in interesting areas of linguistic research: Rajiv Rao (2020) – Spanish Phonetics and Phonology in Contact: Studies from Africa, the Americas, and Spain. Grant Armstrong (2021) (with co-editor J.E. MacDonald) – Unraveling the Complexity of SE. This book makes a novel contribution to our understanding of …

Student Prizes and Honors

Congratulations are in order to several Linguistics majors who were awarded scholarships, prizes, and honor society memberships in 2020. Special merit scholarships: The following students were inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society: Phi Beta Kappa is one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor societies. Approximately 10% of college graduates are invited …