Professor, English Department
(617) 373-3678
425 Lake
j.randall@neu.edu
PhD in Linguistics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Areas of Research/Interest:
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.
Selected Publications:
- Linking: the geometry of argument structure*. (2010) Studies in Natural Language & Linguistic Series, Volume 74, Springer, Dordrecht.
*The electronic version requires current Northeastern Username and Password. - (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.
- (2004) “Acquiring unaccusatives: a cross-linguistic look.” (with A. van Hout, H. Baayen & J. Weissenborn) in Alexiadou, A., E. Anagnostopoulou & M. Everaert, Studies in Unaccusativity: the syntax-lexicon interface. Oxford U. Press, NY.
- (1993) Lexical Mapping. (with J. Carrier) In Reuland, E. & W. Abraham, eds., Knowledge and Language vol. 2: lexical and conceptual structure. Kluwer, Dordrecht, 119-142.
- (1992) The argument structure and syntactic structure of resultatives. (with J. Carrier.) Linguistic Inquiry 23, 173-234.
- (1992) The Catapult Hypothesis: an approach to unlearning. In Weissenborn, J., H. Goodluck & T. Roeper, eds., Theoretical issues in language acquisition. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, 93-138.
- (1990) Catapults & pendulums: the mechanics of language acquisition. Linguistics 28, 1381-1406.
- (1988) Inheritance. In Wilkins, W., ed., Thematic Relations. Syntax & Semantics series, Volume 21. Academic Press, New York, 129-146.
- (1985) Morphological Structure and Language Acquisition. Garland Outstanding Dissertations in Linguistics, Garland Publications, NY.
- (1983) Filling gaps: decision principles and structure in language comprehension. (with L. Frazier and C. Clifton) Cognition 13, 187-222.
- (1980) -ity: a study in word formation. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 6, 524-35.