Week of Apr 13

19th Annual Joshua and Verona Taylor Whatmough Lecture

The Department of Linguistics is proud to present the 19th Annual Joshua and Verona Taylor Whatmough Lecture. This year, our speaker is Diane Lillo-Martin, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Linguistics at the University of Connecticut. We encourage you to join us for this exciting talk!

Title: Sign Language Acquisition: A Linguistic Right

Speaker: Diane Lillo-Martin, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Linguistics at the University of Connecticut

Time: Monday, April 13, 2026 at 4:00pm

Location: Fong Auditorium, Boylston Hall

Reception to follow in the Department on the third floor

Abstract: The natural sign languages of deaf communities, such as American Sign Language (ASL), are acquired in the same ways that spoken languages are acquired – that is, when children are exposed to fluent input by their caregivers. This means that deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) children raised by deaf, signing parents go through similar milestones of language development as hearing children do. However, only a small fraction of DHH children have parents who know and use a sign language. The vast majority of DHH children are raised by hearing parents, who usually have no knowledge of a sign language or deaf community when their children are born. Due to various misconceptions about sign languages, and a desire to prioritize the development of spoken languages, many hearing parents are discouraged from signing with their DHH child. However, even with novice signing parents, these children can benefit from an approach that includes ASL and the deaf community in addition to spoken language: an approach known as bimodal bilingualism. This presentation summarizes the evidence that makes the case for the linguistic right to sign.

ASL interpretation provided.

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Diane Lillo-Martin is the Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Linguistics at the University of Connecticut. Her main research interest is to better understand the human language faculty. Primarily, she examines this by studying the structure and acquisition of American Sign Language, and by looking at the process of language acquisition across different languages. 

Upcoming Thesis Defences 

Please save the date for the two upcoming dissertation defences of our PhD students: 

Daria Bikina is defending her thesis 'Fine-tuning (in)definiteness in the absence of articles: Experimental investigation of Russian' on Wednesday, April 22, 2026 at 2:00 pm – 4:30 pm in Sever 202. 

Hande Sevgi is defending her thesis 'Manner Modification Across Modalities: Insights from Gesture, Sign, and Spoken Language' on Thursday, April 30, 2026 at 10:00 am – 12:30 pm in Boylston 105.

Refreshments are served to celebrate their achievements immediately following these defences in the Department of Linguistics lounge in Boylston Hall. 

We look forward to seeing you there! 

LangCog

The next LangCog meeting of the semester will be Tuesday, April 14, from 5:30-7:00pm, in William James Hall, Room 1550 (different room from usual). The speaker is Rhiannon Luyster (Emerson Psychology), and the title and abstract of the talk can be found below. You can find the schedule for the remainder of the semester on the LangCog website. Food will be provided, as always!

Title: Curiosity, creativity, and language in autism

Abstract: The emergence of curiosity, creativity and language are foundational hallmarks of early development. In the context of autism research, language is commonly considered, but creativity and curiosity are not. This presentation will explore examples of curiosity and creativity in autism, particularly in the context of language development, with an eye towards how we might consider a strength-based approach to communication and cognitive development in autism.