Spring 2026 graduate courses

For a full list of graduate courses in linguistics offered in recent years, see: GRS – Linguistics Courses.

“Having” and “Being” across Languages

CAS LX 617

Languages differ startlingly in how they express the apparently basic concepts of “possession” and “essence”. Students explore this variety and its implications, addressing fundamental questions about linguistic relativism, language universals, and the relationship between structure and meaning. (Graduate students must also register for a discussion section, CAS LX 618.)

Prerequisite: CAS LX 250, or consent of instructor.

Syntax: Introduction to Sentential Structure

CAS LX 621

Systematic examination of how meaning is encoded in words and sentences, and how it can emerge from the complexity of the grammar. Also touches on various aspects of pragmatics–the study of how meaning is shaped by context.

Prerequisite: CAS LX 250, or consent of instructor.

Sociolinguistics

CAS LX 641

Introduction to language in its social context. Methodological and theoretical approaches to sociolinguistics. Linguistic variation in relation to situation, gender, socioeconomic class, linguistic context, and ethnicity. Integrating micro- and macro-analysis from conversation to societal language planning.

Prerequisite: CAS LX 250 or CAS AN 351, or consent of instructor.

Historical and Comparative Linguistics

CAS LX 660

Introduction to language change and the methodology of historical linguistic analysis, using data from a wide array of languages. Investigates genetic relatedness among languages, language comparison, historical reconstruction, and patterns and principles of change in phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. Carries humanities divisional studies credit in CAS.

Prerequisites: CAS LX250 or consent of instructor.

History of French

CAS LX 675

Overview of socio-historical and linguistic factors underpinning the emergence, development, and spread of the French language over time. Study of historical, societal, and political events, along with phonetic, morphological, syntactic, and orthographic changes. Representative texts demonstrate stages of language change. Conducted in English.

Prerequisite: CAS LX 250, or consent of instructor.

Topics in Linguistics

CAS LX 690 A1 – Psycholinguistics

Language allows us to understand others’ thoughts and express our own—but how does it work? This course explores the cognitive and neural systems underlying human language and provides hands-on training in psycholinguistic research methods, quantitative analysis, and scientific communication.”

CAS LX 690 B1 – Large Language Models

This course introduces the history, science, engineering, and social implications of generative AI technologies based on large language models (LLMs). Students will practice writing software with LLMs while analyzing their behavior and performance using scientifically rigorous evaluations. No background in AI, machine learning, or data science is necessary.

Prerequisites: LX 394/694 or any course or other prior experience involving computer programming.

Phonological Analysis

CAS LX 703

Survey of phonological theory and analysis, with focus on cross-linguistic typology of phonological systems. Phonological reasoning and argumentation skills are developed. Empirical coverage includes contrast, distinctive features, rules and constraints, opacity, tone, syllabification, stress, and interactions with morphology and syntax.

Prerequisite: CAS LX 301, or consent of instructor.

Advanced Syntax

CAS LX 723

Exploration of advanced topics in syntax, chosen in part based on student interest, through reading and critical discussion of both foundational and recent literature.

Prerequisites: CASLX 422/722 or consent of instructor.

Intermediate Semantics: The Grammatical Construction of Meaning

CAS LX 732

Systematic development of a semantic theory of natural language, using the tools of model-theoretic semantics. In-depth study of the relation between meaning and grammar, and the relation between meaning and context.

Prerequisite: CAS LX 331, or consent of instructor.

Advanced Topics in Semantics and Pragmatics

CAS LX 736

Topic will vary. May be taken more than once for credit with different topics. Topic for Spring 2026: Reduplication and distributivity. In Telugu, for example, “The boys saw two-two monkeys” means that the boys saw two monkeys each, so reduplication of the numeral gives rise to a distributive interpretation. Examination of multiple theoretical perspectives, and investigation of crosslinguistic variation through literature and new data collection.

Prerequisite: CAS LX 432/732, or consent of instructor.

Computational Linguistics

CAS LX 796

Introduction to computational techniques to explore linguistic models and test empirical claims. Serves as an introduction to concepts, algorithms, data structures, and tool libraries. Topics include tagging and classification, parsing models, meaning representation, corpus creation, information extraction.

Prerequisite: CAS LX 250 and either CAS CS 112 or CS LX 394, or consent of instructor.

Seminar in Linguistic Research

CAS LX 802

Advanced graduate students working on their qualifying research papers or thesis present and discuss work in progress. The course is organized thematically based on students’ research areas. Readings each week are determined on the basis of the research discussed. 2 cr. per semester.