Linguistics

QS ranks MIT the world’s No. 1 university for 2017-18

Ranked at the top for the sixth straight year, the Institute also places first in 12 of 46 disciplines.

June 8, 2017

The extent to which a child learns grammar by listening appears to change over time, with a large increase occurring around age 2 and a leveling off taking place in subsequent years, according to a new study.

Articles of faith

A new study of the words “a” and “the” sheds light on language acquisition.

April 6, 2017

MIT professor Shigeru Miyagawa’s new book — “Agreement Beyond Phi,” out today from the MIT Press — explores the unexpected structural similarities among languages.

Global agreements

In new book, MIT linguist expands the horizons of language analysis.

March 10, 2017

MIT rates No. 1 in 12 subjects in 2017 QS World University Rankings

MIT ranked within the top 5 for 19 of 46 subject areas.

March 8, 2017

Planned in secret over a year and a half to mark David Pesetsky's 60th birthday, a surprise celebration featured panel discussions on two linguistics topics of keen interest to Pesetsky — case and wh-questions — and was rounded out with poster sessions and a celebratory dinner.

David Pesetsky honored by MIT Linguistics colleagues and alumni

Surprise gathering and "Festschrift" salute Pesetsky's research, influence, and teaching in linguistics.

March 6, 2017

"Song of the Human" made its world premiere at the Winter Garden in New York City. Discovering MIT Professor Shigeru Miyagawa’s research on birdsong was “validating and inspiring,” creator Pete Wyer says.

"Song of the Human": An origin story

New work by composer Pete M. Wyer draws inspiration from MIT linguistic scholar Shigeru Miyagawa's hypothesis on the origins of human language.

December 13, 2016

The creative "Stata-o'-lantern" honors MIT's iconic Stata Center.

Scene at MIT: Stata-o'-lantern

October 27, 2016

Norvin Richards, professor of linguistics at MIT, and the cover of his new book, “Contiguity Theory,” recently published by the MIT Press.

Sound system

In new book, Norvin Richards explores how our voices shape the rules of grammar.

September 20, 2016

QS ranks MIT the world’s top university for 2016-17

Ranked No. 1 for the fifth straight year, the Institute also places first in 12 of 42 disciplines.

September 5, 2016

English is the most used language on the Internet, and globally most of the people who speak or write in English are non-native speakers. A new database of annotated English sentences written by non-native speakers could help improve how computers handle the spoken or written language of non-native English speakers.

First major database of non-native English

Resource could yield linguistic insights, practical applications for non-native English speakers.

July 29, 2016

A unique reflection of MIT's Building 32, the Ray and Maria Stata Center

Scene at MIT: Reflections on Stata

June 29, 2016

“Children seem to interpret disjunction like conjunction,” observes MIT Linguistics Professor Danny Fox. However, Fox adds, although “it has been claimed children are very different from adults in the interpretation of logical words,” the study’s larger implication is almost the opposite — namely that “the child is [otherwise] identical to the adult, but there is a very small paramet...

Why children confuse simple words

Study: Kids have “and/or” problem despite sophisticated reasoning.

May 23, 2016

QS World University Rankings rates MIT No. 1 in 12 subjects for 2016

MIT ranked within the top 5 globally for 19 of 42 subject areas.

April 8, 2016

The Pirahã reside along the Maici River, which branches off the Amazon in Brazil. MIT researchers are now making public the most extensive data set yet accumulated on the Pirahã language.

Bringing more data to language debate

Larger set of translations may shed light on an idiosyncratic Amazonian language.

March 9, 2016

“Why Only Us: Language and Evolution” (MIT Press), by Robert C. Berwick (top left) and Noam Chomsky (bottom left)

Code of the humans

New book by Noam Chomsky and Robert Berwick explores how people acquired unique language skills.

March 1, 2016

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