Linguistics

Linguistics at BU enables students to study human language from various perspectives and consider the relationships between linguistics and other disciplines. Our academic programs offer training in linguistic theory and analysis and include a wide range of courses examining the biological, social, cultural, historical, and cognitive bases of language.

News

Conferences

BU Linguistics at ACAL 57

June 10th, 2026

Our department had a great time a few weeks ago at the 57th Annual Conference on African Linguistics (ACAL 57) in Buffalo!

Conferences

BU Linguistics at 13th annual Speech Prosody conference

June 9th, 2026

Speech Prosody 2026 was hosted by the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and our department had quite the representation! Recent PhD graduate Jackson Kellogg was tied for best paper with our former BU undergrad Kendall Lowe, now a PhD student at Michigan. They won out of 174 candidate papers! If that's not enough, Chris Lee […]

Alumni

Alumni Yuhao Dai at SULA-TripleA

June 8th, 2026

BU linguistics alum Yuhao Dai, currently a PhD student at Georgetown, presented at SULA-TripleA on May 12-15 at the University of British Columbia. His poster was entitled "Two perfects in Lhasa Tibetan and the lack of cessation inferences of pa.ree". Here he is pictured with Lisa Matthewson!

Conferences

BU Linguistics at ACAL

May 15th, 2026

The University at Buffalo will host the 57th Annual Conference on African Linguistics (ACAL 57) on May 21–23, 2026! We are proud to have several department members and alumni presenting. - Jackson Kellogg: Considering evidence for word stress via intonational peak alignment in Amharic- Rebecca Dufie Bonney: Talking to Children in their L1 Matters: Lasting […]

Dissertation

Five PhD Candidates pass their dissertation defenses

May 14th, 2026

In 2026, our department has had four PhD candidates pass their dissertation defenses!Andre Batchelder-Schwab: Topics in African Whistled LanguagesLiza Sulkin: Acoustic correlates of gender presentation and sexualityJupitara Ray: Phonetic plasticity in Indian English bilinguals: How L2 accommodation alters L1 production and perceptionJackson Kellogg: Prosodic prominence and phrasal intonation in Amharic We also had one PhD […]

Conferences

Boston Morphology Workshop (BMW)

May 12th, 2026

Thank you to everyone who helped make the Boston Morphology Workshop (BMW) a success! The BU Linguistics department was honored to host.

Phonology

Kate Lindsey at CUNY Graduate Center

May 12th, 2026

Last month, BU Professor Kate Lindsey presented at the CUNY Graduate Center with a colloquium called "Two Lies and a Truth: Uncovering the Facts about Chuvash Stress". Congrats!

Conferences

Professor Coppock at Princeton – Rutgers Semantics workshop

May 3rd, 2026

Last month, Professor Coppock was invited to the Princeton - Rutgers Semantics workshop to provide comments on Hans Kamp's paper! https://philosophy.princeton.edu/events/princeton-rutgers-semantics-workshop-0

View All