News | Department of Linguistics

Chinese linguist Tsu-Lin Mei dies at 90

Mei was one of the most important Chinese historical linguists of the 20th century.

Registration for Winter Session 2024 is now open

Beginning October 16, students can enroll in a wide range of online courses taught by Cornell faculty.

The Department of Linguistics American Sign Language (ASL)

ASL 1101 American Sign Language I to be Offered in Winter Session

ASL 1101 - American Sign Language I will be offered January 2-19, 2024.

Coming home: Gayogohó:nǫˀ language programs expand reach

This summer, 40 members of the Gayogohó:nǫˀ diaspora came from all over the U.S. for a language camp on their ancestral homeland.

ASL Lecturer Nora Owen receives ASLTA service award

Nora Owen was awarded for her service with the Dr. Barbara Kannapell Project.

person teaching American Sign Language to a group in a circle

New ASL minor, events expand opportunities for students

Students can now minor in ASL, take advantage of an expanded set of upper-level classes, participate in a number of ASL events on campus and be part of an active student club.

The College welcomes new faculty for 2023-24

Our 34 new faculty will enrich the College of Arts & Sciences with creative ideas in a vast array of topics.

New Faculty: Jennifer Kuo

Jennifer Kuo, Linguistics

Robin Karlin, Ph.D. '18, Accepts Assistant Professor Position at University of Missouri

A&S dean Jayawardhana named provost at Johns Hopkins

Rachel Bean, the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor in the Department of Astronomy and senior associate dean for math and science, has been named interim A&S dean.

Morrill Hall, McGraw Hall, and White Hall, with Cayuga Lake behind

Italic Conference July 14-16, 2023

The Cornell Department of Linguistics is hosting a conference on the linguistics of Latin, the Sabellic languages, and Venetic.

Two whales swim in a dark blue underwater scene

Cornell Atkinson awards $1.6M in seed grants

The Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability’s Academic Venture Fund will support 11 new projects across nine colleges; three include Arts & Sciences investigators.

New Grants for Linguistics Faculty

Linguistics faculty have been awarded funding for several new grants in 2023.

Students in the summer in front of Morrill Hall

Linguistics Welcomes Three Nexus Scholars This Summer

Three students in the Nexus Scholars Program will be participating in research projects in the Department of Linguistics in Summer 2023.

Kevin Kwong receives 2023 Lisa Sansoucy Language Scholar Award

The 2023 Lisa Sansoucy Language Scholar Award was awarded to Kevin Kwong, a Ph.D. student in Linguistics who has studied Hungarian, Finnish, Swedish, and Khmer as part of the Shared Course Initiative. The award is named in memory of our friend and colleague Lisa Sansoucy, who passed away in December of 2021. It recognizes a student who excels in learning a less commonly taught language.

Nexus Scholars Program expands research opportunities to 101 students

This summer, 101 students in the College of Arts and Sciences will take part in groundbreaking research on campus with 61 faculty as part of the Nexus Scholars Program.

Forrest Davis, Ph.D. '22, Accepts Assistant Professor Position at Colgate University

Forrest Davis, Ph.D. '22, has accepted an Assistant Professor position in the Computer Science department at Colgate University, beginning Fall 2023. Congratulations, Forrest!

'My professors were always available and helpful when I needed advice'

Cassidy Langenfeld is a linguistics major.

Cornell Center for Social Sciences names spring grantees

These awards include funding for a conference, a superdepartment grant supporting collaboration in psychology, and 17 grants that will jump-start research across campus.

Jennifer Kuo joins the Department of Linguistics

Jennifer Kuo, currently finishing her Ph.D. at the University of California Los Angeles, will join the department as an Assistant Professor in Fall 2023.

American Sign Language (ASL) Offered in Summer 2023

The first two classes of American Sign Language (ASL 1101 and ASL 1102) will be offered in Summer 2023 through the School of Continuing Education.

Professor Emerita Sally McConnell-Ginet featured on LINGUIST List

Professor Emerita Sally McConnell-Ginet describes her Linguistics experiences and what she hopes for the future of Linguistics.

New book helps students learn ancient Tocharian language

A new book by linguist Michael Weiss provides the first pedagogical grammar ever compiled for Tocharian B, an ancient Indo-European language.

New College Scholars research climate, health care, legal interpretation

"A theme of the Harrison College Scholar Program is that our students are independent but not isolated."

The Arts Quad in summer. With views of Morrill Hall, McGraw Hall and Cayuga Lake.

17th Annual Cornell Undergraduate Linguistics Colloquium (CULC17)

Cornell University's undergraduate linguistics association, The UnderLings, presents its seventeenth annual undergraduate research colloquium.

ASL professor Matilda Prestano performing sign language

Students can learn ASL during summer, winter sessions

Interest in ASL is growing, prompting Cornell to increase opportunities for students to explore the language.

Researchers use computational tools to understand linguistic processing

Two recently-hired faculty in the Department of Linguistics are expanding the use of computer modeling and experimental techniques as they forge new paths of research in the discipline.

Sireemas Maspong Accepts Postdoctoral Fellow Position at the Institute for Phonetics and Speech Processing (IPS), LMU Munich

Sireemas Maspong has accepted a position as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Phonetics and Speech Processing (IPS) at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. She will be working with Prof. James Kirby, Professor of Spoken Language Processing. She will be joining the department in April 2023, after having successfully defended her dissertation in November 2022.

Francesco Burroni Accepts Postdoctoral Fellow Position at the Institute for Phonetics and Speech Processing (IPS), LMU Munich

Two A&S alums honored for volunteer efforts

The two are among five winners of the inaugural Robert S. Harrison ’76 Recent Alumni Volunteer Awards.

Linda Heimisdottir, Ph.D. '15, is the New COO at Miðeind ehf

Becky Butler, Ph.D. '14, Helps Secure Grant for UNC's Southeast Asian Studies

First-years share their transformational journeys ... so far

"Welcoming students to campus and providing them with the opportunity to connect to faculty and each other is a joy."

Seung-Eun Kim Accepts Postdoctoral Fellow Position at Northwestern University

Seung-Eun Kim has accepted a position as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Linguistics at Northwestern University.

Visiting Storyteller to Perform Narrations in American Sign Language

Storyteller and comedian Cassie Simmons will perform narrations centered around her growing up as an African-American, Deaf woman in Detroit in a Nov. 28 American Sign Language Literature Series event in Klarman Hall.

ASL at Cornell: It’s More Than a Language

Opinion piece by Halle Swasing in the Cornell Daily Sun: ASL at Cornell: It’s More Than a Language.

Students can now choose new minor in data science

The minor is distinctive in including courses from many disciplines, from across Cornell’s schools and colleges.

Nexus Scholar applications open for summer 2023

The program matches undergraduate students with summer opportunities to work side by side with faculty from across the College.

Two people performing with dramatic hand gestures and facial expressions

American Sign Language (ASL) Literature Series features ASL Poets/Storytellers

Six American Sign Language (ASL) poets and storytellers will visit Cornell between Oct. 12 and Nov. 28, in conjunction with this semester’s ASL Literature course.

Green lawn intersected by gray paths, seen from the air

A&S opens application portal for Klarman postdoc fellowships

Klarman Fellows pursue research in any discipline in the College, including natural sciences, social sciences, humanities and the creative arts as well as cross-disciplinary fields. The application deadline is October 14.

'Words Matter' recognized as Outstanding Academic Title

At the end of 2021, Words Matter: Meaning and Power (Cambridge, 2020) by Sally McConnell-Ginet, Professor Emerita of Linguistics, was selected by Choice Reviews as one of the best academic books of 2021. In late July 2022, the Choice website highlighted five of its “Outstanding Academic Titles” on the topic of words and language, and Words Matter headed the list.