DISSERTATIONS, QPs, and THESES

Graduate Dissertations

  • Muye (Andy) Zhang (Ph.D.) 2016-2021. Linguistic variation from cognitive variability: the case of English have.
    • Current Position: Linguist at Google, Working with the Human Evaluation and Signals team.
  • Martín Fuchs (Ph.D.) 2015-2020. On the Synchrony and Diachrony of the Spanish Imperfective Domain: Contextual Modulation and Semantic Change.
    • Current Position: Postdoctoral Researcher at Utrecht Institute of Linguistics (UiL – OTS)  working on Time in Translation project.
  • Sara Sanchez-Alonso (Ph.D.) 2011-2018. The Cognitive Sources of Language Change and Variation: Connecting Synchronic Variation and Diachrony in Spanish Copula Use.
    • Current Position: Associate Research Scientist at Haskins Laboratories, Affiliated to Language Learning and Multisensory Brain (LLAMB) Lab.
  • Yao-Ying Lai (Ph.D.) 2010-2017. The complement coercion phenomenon: implications for the model of sentence processing.
    • Current Position: Assistant Professor at the Graduate Institute of Linguistics, National Chengchi University (NCCU), Taiwan.
  • Kelly Nedwick (Ph.D.) 2006-2014. Metalinguistic Negation in English and Arabic, investigated the development of pragmatic interpretations of negatives in different contexts. (Co-supervised with Laurence R. Horn).
  • Petra (Burkhardt) Schumacher (Ph.D.) 2000-2004. Representation and Interpretation at the Syntax-Discourse Interface: Establishing Dependency.
    • Current Position: Professor for German Linguistics (Empirical Methods in Linguistics) at the University of Cologne, Germany.

Graduate Qualifying Papers (QPs)

  • Jiyeong Kim, 2024. Flux in conceptual space: An experimental study on the body part term ‘head’.
  • Maria Teresa Borneo, 2024. Word order modulation of meaning composition cost: A real-time comprehension study.
  • Michael C. Stern, 2023. Context influences linguistic interpretation via neural hysteresis.
  • Comfort Ahenkorah, 2023. The Structure and Dynamic Implementation of Aspectual Verbs in Akan.
  • Martin Fuchs, 2016. The PROG to IMPF shift: contextually modulated variation in two Spanish varieties.
  • Sara Sanchez-Alonso, 2014. The Neural Basis of Light Verb Structure Composition through Focal Brain-Lesion and fMRI.
  • Ilkyu Kim, 2011. Referent Introduction in the Narratives of Korean Children.
  • Argyro Katsika, 2010. Complement Coercion: Evidence from Eye Movements.
  • Jennifer Mack, 2005-2007. Coercion and Predicate Integration in the Dynamic Composition of Event Structure.
  • Junkyu Lee, 2004-2005.
  • Dina Brun, 2001. Comprehension of Quantified Expressions.

Undergraduate Honors Theses

  • 2024. Toni Oluwatade (Cognitive Science). The Heart-Mind Connection: Language Preference and Linguistic Competence Among Yoruba-English Bilinguals.
  • 2024. Lydia Monk (Cognitive Science). You’re Hot and You’re Warm: An Investigation into Scalar Implicature Processing Costs and Time Course.
  • 2024. Kirin DasGupta Mueller (Cognitive Science). Examining the Increased Processing Load of Long-Distance Dependencies and Aspectual Verbs: Toward a Diagnostic Test for Language Deficits in Neuro-Oncology.
  • 2024. Samantha Prince (Cognitive Science). Discovering the Linguistic Semantic Composition System: An fMRI Meta-Analysis and Contrast Study on Linguistic Semantic Composition.
  • 2024. Josephine Holubkov (Linguistics). The thesis that I was tired after finishing/writing was long: Semantics aid in processing and acceptability of syntactically ungrammatical sentences.
  • 2023. Evan Hochstein (Linguistics). Animacy in language and cognition: The effects of motion, volition, and thought on animacy perception.
  • 2021. Karina Di Franco (Linguistics). A Study of ser/estar in Heritage Speakers of Mexican Spanish.
  • 2020. Jisu Sheen (Linguistics). A force-domain analysis of English have.
    • Lab Manager, 2017-2018.
  • 2017. Christopher Paolini (Linguistics). Completed cakes: Experimental evidence for a property-sensitive analysis of [completed] and [finished] in the “coercion” configuration.
  • 2015. Justin Moore (Linguistics). Evaluating Approaches to Light Verb Argument Structure.
  • 2014-2015. Laura DiNardo (Linguistics). Competing Analyses of Complement Coercion: New Evidence from Behavioral and Electropsychophysiological Methods.
    • Lab Manager, 2014-2015. Projects: Conceptual Structure Retrieval (EEG).
  • 2013-2015. Maria Ratskevich (Cognitive Science). The Implications of a Gradient Cognitive Model of Possession and Ownership Concepts for the Theoretical Approach of Developmental Research on Ownership: A Linguistic Critique.   
  • 2013-2015. Andy Zhang. Lab Manager, 2015. Post-BAC, 2015-2016.
    • (Cognitive Science). The Development of Metonymic Processing.
    • (Linguistics). Contextual Effects on the Interpretation of Have: A Self-Paced Reading Study.
  • 2013. Phoebe Gaston (Linguistics). Syntactic error processing in bilingualism: an analysis of the Optional Infinitive stage in child language acquisition.
  • 2013. Cameron Best (Linguistics). Spatial Processing and Pronominal Resolution in American Sign Language (Reaction Time, ERP).
  • 2013. Zachary Maher (Linguistics – BA and MA). Opening a Can of Worms: Idiom Flexibility, Decomposability, and the Mental Lexicon.
  • 2009-2012. Emily Foster-Hanson (Linguistics). The Time-Course of Processing Novel Metonymy: A Self-Paced Reading Study.
    • Lab Manager, 2009-2012. Projects: Context and Lexical Enrichment (fMRI, EEG), Conceptual Structure Retrieval (Self-Paced Reading, fMRI), Processing of Novel Metonymy (EEG)
  • 2008-2010. Amy Li (Psychology). The Processing of Light Verbs: Evidence from Eye Movements.
  • 2008-2009. Emily Finn (Linguistics). An fMRI Investigation of Intermediate Structure.
    • Lab Manager, 2009-2010.
  • 2007-2008. Nancy Liang (Cognitive Science). Morpho-syntactic acquisition in adult second language learners: The distance-difficult relation model.
  • 2007-2008. Jordan Schnaps (Cognitive Science). Nominal Control as Semantic Composition.
  • 2007-2008. Michael Shvartsman (Linguistics). Adjudicating between linguistic theory types based on evidence from priming: the case of successive cyclicity.
  • 2006-2007. Elizabeth D. Johnson [Casserly] (Linguistics). The Phonological Lexicon: Gesture or Feature Based? A Sensorimotor Adaptation Investigation.
  • 2006-2007. Carol Duh (MCDB). The Link Between Semantic Composition and Left Posterior Temporal Damage in Alzheimer’s Disease.
  • 2005-2008. Jessie Ellner (Linguistics). Functional Categories in English and German Broca’s Aphasia Production.
  • 2005-2006. Shevaun Lewis (Cognitive Science). Long-distance dependencies: re-visiting the modularity of the syntactic system hypothesis.
  • 2003-2004. Justin C. Cohen (Cognitive Science). Evaluating language comprehension in dementia of the Alzheimer’s type: Applying evidence from the study of aphasic patients’ conceptual linguistic abilities.
  • 2003-2004. Kively Vezani (Cognitive Science). The object/substance distinction and mental representations: an objective/substantive look at the perceptual-cognitive interface.