University of Pittsburgh

Developmental Linguistics Concentration

Overview

The concentration in developmental linguistics is designed to provide strong foundations in both linguistics and developmental psychology.

The goal is to train scientists who will be able to advance the field of language development by bringing the strengths of both disciplines to bear on their research.

The program is open to students in the linguistics department or in the Developmental Program in the psychology department. Faculty from the linguistics department, the Developmental Program in psychology, the Cognitive Program in psychology and the Learning, Research and Development Center (LRDC) serve as mentors.

Researchers studying the way children learn to produce and understand language have traditionally had backgrounds in either developmental psychology or in generative linguistics. However, recent investigations suggest that the most fruitful avenues of research into language development lie at the juncture between the disciplines and make use of insights gained from both areas.

Because participants in the concentration must master two very different disciplines, the training program combines a strong emphasis on original research with intensive coursework in both fields.

Students take all of the basic graduate classes required of developmental psychologists and linguists, as well as advanced seminars to increase the depth of their knowledge in their chosen area of specialization. The coursework provides a broad intellectual base in phonetics, phonology, morphology, and syntax, as well as cognitive and social development, language acquisition, and statistics. At the same time, participants will specialize in at least one area of language development through coursework and independent research.

The wide variety of interests and areas of methodological expertise of the faculty associated with the concentration in developmental linguistics provide many opportunities for research and collaboration. Current research foci include: relations between the early development of language and gesture; behavioral genetics and the acquisition of syntax; phonetic and phonological processing in young children; the critical period; word representation in beginning reading.

The concentration in developmental linguistics is supported by a diverse interdisciplinary community which sponsors talks, colloquia, informal student research presentations and informal social gatherings. This rich environment fosters lively intellectual exchange and innovative collaboration.

Program Requirements

Students will be directly admitted into the PhD program in either psychology or linguistics.
Since the goal of the concentration is to train students in both fields, the requirements ensure that students entering the program through linguistics are fully trained as linguists and that students entering through psychology are trained as psychologists. All students in the concentration are required to take the same general courses, with advanced seminars chosen individually by students to provide depth in their primary area.

General Requirements for all PhD  Students in the Concentration

  • 2 advanced courses in statistics
  • Phonetics and Phonemics, LING 2578
  • Phonology, LING 2579
  • Morphology, LING 2773
  • Syntax, LING 2777
  • Proseminar in Developmental Psychology, PSY 2376
  • Cognitive Development, PSY 2330
  • Social Development, PSY 2325
  • First Language Development, LING/PSY 2320

In addition to these requirements, there are specific course requirements that depend on which department students are admitted to:

Linguistics PhD Students

  • Advanced Phonology, LING 3579
  • Advanced Syntax, LING 3777
  • Advanced Seminar in Linguistics—students choice

Psychology PhD Students

  • Advanced Phonology (LING 3579) OR Syntax (LING 3777)
  • Advanced Seminar in Developmental Psychology—students choice
  • Advanced Seminar in either Developmental Psychology or Linguistics—students choice

Milestones

MA: If students enter the PhD program without an MA, then the requirements will depend on the department. For psychology, students will be required to complete a first/second year Project. In linguistics, students will be required to complete a thesis or long paper.

Preliminary Exams: To be taken after the second year. All students in the concentration will be required to take the following components:

  • Three linguistics problems:
  • Phonology
  • Syntax
  • Morphology
  • Essay examination: An essay is to be written in the student's area of specialization: Developmental Linguistics. The topic of the essay will be assigned by the faculty.

In addition to the specialization essay, students entering the concentration through the linguistics department will also be required to write an essay on one aspect of linguistic theory: syntax, phonology, or morphology. The choice of essay questions is provided by the faculty. At least one question will be available for each of the core areas.

Comprehensive Papers/Specialty Exam:

Linguistics PhD students are required to write two comprehensive evaluation papers: One in a core area of linguistics (defined for the purposes of this milestone in earning the PhD as phonetics, phonology, syntax or morphology) and another in developmental linguistics.
There may be some degree of overlap, e.g. a student could write a syntax paper and a paper on the acquisition of syntax, but the papers should be sufficiently different to satisfy the faculty that the student has a broad knowledge of linguistics.

Psychology PhD students are required to write a specialty paper. The paper provides students with their first independent opportunity to think and write about an area of scholarship in some depth. Ideally, the paper is completed and orally defended at the end of the third year, and serves as the conceptual basis and literature review for the dissertation.

Dissertation Proposal: Same as home departmental requirement.

Foreign Language Requirement: Students in the Department of Linguistics will be required to demonstrate knowledge in two languages other than their native language.

Primary Faculty

  • Jennifer Ganger PhD (Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology): Language acquisition & behavior genetics
  • Jana Iverson* PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychology): Nature and development of the relationship between gesture and speech in children with normal language and in children with developmental disorders
  • Scott F. Kiesling* PhD (Assistant Professor of Linguistics): Acquisition of dialect; Western Pennsylvania dialect; sociolinguistics; language and gender/ethnicity; language variation and change; discourse analysis; sociophonetics
  • Charles Perfetti* PhD (Professor of Psychology and Linguistics): Language and reading processes; relations between contexts and linguistic structures in parsing and comprehension; role of implicit speech processes in reading across different writing systems; individual differences in reading ability, learning from texts
  • Tessa Warren* PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychology): Adult language comprehension semantic, syntactic and referential factors affecting linguistic complexity referential processing the interface between cognitive and linguistic development

Affiliated Faculty

  • Celia Brownell* PhD, Department of Psychology
  • Shelome Gooden* PhD, Department of Linguistics
  • Carl Johnson* PhD, Departments of Psychology in Education and Psychology
  • Alan Juffs* PhD, Department of Linguistics
  • Pascual Masullo* PhD, Department of Linguistics
  • Claude Mauk PhD, Department of Linguistics
  • Mark Strauss* PhD, Department of Psychology

* Accepting Graduate Students

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