Fall 2025 graduate courses

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

Phonetics & Phonology: Introduction to Sound Systems

CAS LX 601

Introduction to the nature and patterning of sounds in human language. Presents articulatory and acoustic phonetics, and basic phonological analysis, focusing on cross-language typology and comparison. Hands-on development of practical skills, including IPA transcription, field techniques, and digital speech analysis.

Prerequisite: CAS LX 250, or consent of instructor.

Semantics & Pragmatics: Introduction to Linguistic Meaning

CAS LX 631

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.

Variations in Dialects of English

CAS LX 665

Exploration of how dialects of English differ from each other, focusing on grammatical variation in the US, with occasional forays into other dialects. Students come to appreciate how linguists investigate grammatical diversity scientifically, revealing the complex structure of non-standard dialects.  Graduate students must also register for a discussion section LX 666.

Prerequisites: CASLX250 or consent of instructor.

The Structure of Spanish

CAS LX 684

Introduction to Spanish morphology and syntax. Explores the structure of Spanish words, phrases, and sentences from multiple perspectives with a focus on natural language data. Examines Generative, Usage-based, and Lexical-Functional approaches to the analysis of grammatical structure. Conducted in Spanish.

Prerequisites: CASLX250 and one LS 300-level language course; or consent of instructor.

Topics in Linguistics: Child Language Acquisition

CAS LX 690 A1

Prerequisite: CAS LX 250, or consent of instructor.

Topics in Linguistics: Cognitive Science of Language

CAS LX 690 B1

This course serves as an introduction to studying language as a part of broader cognitive science, exploring questions about the nature of linguistic representations, how they are processed and acquired, and how they interact with other cognitive domains

Prerequisite: CAS LX 250, or consent of instructor

Topics in Linguistics: Contemporary Research in Neural Network Models of Language

CAS LX 690 C1

This seminar will discuss contemporary research in computational linguistics and cognitive science, focusing on neural network models. We aim to survey new research directions enabled by recent technological advances, contra things possible e.g., in the second wave of connectionism.

Prerequisites: LX 496/796 or CS 505, or consent of instructor

Linguistic Field Methods

CAS LX 691

A team-based in-depth investigation of the phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and lexicon of an African or other non-Indo-European language. Bi-weekly sessions with language consultant. Weekly trainings on methodology, ethics, analysis, and presentation of results.

Prerequisites: CASLX250 or consent of instructor.

Introduction to Programming for Computational Linguistics

CAS LX 694

Introduction to computational techniques to explore linguistic models and test empirical claims. Serves as an introduction to programming, algorithms, and data structures, focused on modern applications to Natural Language Processing (NLP). Topics include tagging and classification, parsing models, meaning representation, and information extraction. (Not intended for students with a background in programming or computer science.)

Intermediate Syntax: Modeling Syntactic Knowledge

CAS LX 722

Using linguistic data drawn from a wide variety of languages, students develop a precise model of syntactic knowledge through evaluation of hypotheses and arguments. Exploration of major discoveries and phenomena from the linguistic literature.

Prerequisite: CAS LX 321/721, or consent of instructor.

Quantitative Methods in Linguistics

CAS LX 795

Introduces students to quantitative approaches to linguistic data, including visualization, hypothesis testing, and data modeling. Students gain proficiency in R, an open-source statistical environment, and learn the logic behind statistical techniques, as well as practical skills for using them.

Graduate Prerequisites: graduate standing in the Linguistics program, or consent of instructor.

Seminar in Linguistic Research

CAS LX 801

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.