Professor, Linguistics Program & English Department; Ph.D., Linguistics, University of Massachusetts at Amherst j.randall@neu.edu
Research areas and interests
Theoretical linguistics (the syntax/semantics interface, argument structure), language acquisition (acquisition of verbs; argument structure; morphology); psycholinguistics; linguistics and grammar in K-12 and linguistics and law. Her 2010 theoretical linguistics monograph, Linking: the geometry of argument structure,explores how verbs’ semantic arguments map to their syntactic positions. Other current projects focus on how linguistic analysis can improve jury instructions and on the “grammar gap”: the teaching (and non-teaching) of grammar. New students are always welcome to join the teams working on these projects. Credit can be given through directed study, experiential education, or honors projects; work/study positions are also available.
Links to Selected Publications
| 2010 | Linking: the geometry of argument structure. Studies in Natural Language & Linguistic Series, Volume 74, Springer, Dordrecht. xv+325 pp. [paperback published in 2011] (PDF of errata list) |
| 2007 | Solving the re- mystery. TeachLing: Lesson plans on language and linguistics in K-12 education. http://teachling.wwu.edu/ |
| 2007 | “Parameterized auxiliary selection: a fine-grained interaction of features and linking rules.” In Aranovich, R., ed., Split Auxiliary Systems: A Cross-linguistic Perspective. Studies in Language Series, John Benjamins, NY. 207-235. |
| 2004 | Acquiring unaccusatives: a cross-linguistic look (with van Hout, A., H. Baayen & J. Weissenborn). In Alexiadou, A., A. Anagnostopoulou & M. Everaert (eds.) Studies in Unaccusativity: the syntax-lexicon interface. Oxford University Press. |
| 1992 | The argument structure and syntactic structure of resultatives. (with J. Carrier) Linguistic Inquiry 23, 173-234. |
| 1990 | Catapults & pendulums: the mechanics of language acquisition. Linguistics 28, 1381-1406. |
| 1985 | Morphological Structure and Language Acquisition. Outstanding Dissertations in Linguistics, Garland. |
| 1984 | Grammatical Information in Word Structure. Quaderni di Semantica. [International Journal of Theoretical and Applied Semantics] 5, 313-330. |
| 1984 | Thematic Structure and Inheritance. Quaderni di Semantica. [International Journal of Theoretical and Applied Semantics] 5, 92-110. |
| 1983 | Filling Gaps: Decision principles and structure in sentence comprehension. (with L. Frazier and C. Clifton) Cognition 13, 187-222. |
| 1982 | Dissertation: “Morphological Structure and Language Acquisition”; Proquest address: http://search.proquest.com/docview/303248360/fulltextPDF?accountid=12826 |
| 1980 | -ity: A study in word formation restrictions. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 6, 524-35. |
Visiting Appointments
| 2012-2013 | Research Fellow, Massachusetts Bar Association |
| 1987-93 | Research Associate, Max-Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics |
| 1990 | Research Scientist, MIT Cognitive Science Center |
| 1989-90 | Visiting Professor, University of Düsseldorf |
| 1985 | Visiting Professor, Brown University |
Honors
| 1993, 1994 | Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship |
| 1981-83 | Killam Postdoctoral Fellowship |