News | Department of Linguistics

Older man with glasses and gray hair talking with his hands.

‘Summit’ on LLMs rallies leading AI experts

Linguist Marten van Schijndel co-led a session on “Responsible LLMs & Issues” at the summit.

Milena Šereikaitė joins the Department of Linguistics

Milena Šereikaitė, a theoretical linguist specializing in syntax and morphology, will join the department as Assistant Professor in Fall 2025

Current Graduate Students Win Awards

Burak Öney and John Starr win Arts & Sciences awards. John Starr and Charlotte Logan win Provost Diversity Fellowship. Youngdong Cho, Yao Zhang, and Fengyue Lisa Zhao win East Asia Program fellowships.

Pink flowering tree and a stone colonade with people on the steps

Outstanding faculty win 2025 teaching and advising awards

Among those being recognized for exceptional teaching and mentorship this year are faculty members Begüm Adalet, Claudia Verhoeven, and Marcelo Aguiar.

'I mapped the humanitarian impact of the Wagner Group’s arrival in Mali'

Celia Doherty is majoring in linguistics.

Language House opens to students learning ASL

Students who want an immersive on-campus experience with American Sign Language (ASL) can now sign up to live in the Language House.

Share and hear poetry in many languages at this April 9 event

The event celebrates April as National Poetry Month.

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AI ring tracks spelled words in American Sign Language

A Cornell-led research team has developed an artificial intelligence-powered ring equipped with micro-sonar technology that can continuously and in real time track fingerspelling in American Sign Language.

Jing Gao, Ph.D. '24, Accepts Special Associate Research Fellow Position at the South China Normal University

Jasmim Drigo, Ph.D. ’24, Accepts Postdoctoral Researcher Position at the University of Galway

University Lecture examines ‘The Narrative Brain’

Our minds and the ways we tell stories are closely attuned, research shows, and scholar Fritz Breithaupt will explore how that connection works during a March visit as University Lecturer.

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

19th Annual Cornell Undergraduate Linguistics Colloquium (CULC 19)

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

Fresh spring flowers frame McGraw Tower.

Call for Papers: JK32

The JK32 organizing committee is pleased to invite abstracts for submission to the 32nd Japanese/Korean Linguistics Conference to be held at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, on June 13 – 15, 2025.

Student spotlight: Nianpo Su

Nianpo Su, doctoral candidate in linguistics, studies how syntactic principles determine the structure of sentences in human languages.

Call for Papers: FASL34

The Department of Linguistics at Cornell University is pleased to announce that the 34th annual meeting of Formal Approaches to Slavic Linguistics (FASL) will be held May 16th-19th, 2025 in Ithaca, NY, USA.

person teaching American Sign Language to a group in a circle

ASL program offers performance series, welcomes new faculty

Lisa Sunde also helps to advise the American Sign Language club and manages the weekly ASL conversation hour in the Language Resource Center.

A&S announces membership in MLA Strategic Partnership Network

“We felt this is an important resource that should be available to our humanists at all levels, whether they have the resources to pay for membership or not,” said Peter John Loewen, the Harold Tanner Dean of Arts and Sciences.

Ph.D. Candidate Nielson Hul to Head the University of Washington Khmer Language Program

Congratulations to Nielson Hul, Linguistics Ph.D. candidate, who has been selected to head the Khmer Language Program at the University of Washington at Seattle.

Students in front of Screen that says Cornell World Languages Day

World Languages Days open to public this year

To celebrate Cornell’s commitment to fostering global literacy and cross-cultural understanding, the Language Resource Center in the College of Arts and Sciences will host World Languages Day on Oct. 26.

Graduate Student Charlotte Logan wins Elouise Cobell Dissertation Fellowship

Congratulations to graduate student Charlotte Logan on winning the Elouise Cobell Dissertation Fellowship in 2024.

Detail of a woven cloth showing figures dressed in red and yellow

Language ‘Sustainability through Collaboration’ Conference at Cornell

Cornell, the only institution offering regular multilevel instruction in all six of the major Southeast Asian languages – Burmese, Indonesian, Khmer, Filipino (Tagalog), Thai and Vietnamese – will host a conference on the teaching of these languages on Sept. 19-21.

From portfolios to pizza, fall A&S career events explore diverse fields

"Cornell alumni are generous with their time and efforts to assist students, to answer questions from students, or connect them to people and places."

Dean Peter Loewen posing behind the A.D. White statue on the Arts Quad

New A&S dean relishes ‘life in a university’

Peter John Loewen says he's excited to support faculty in their research, meet students and showcase the value of a liberal arts education.

Congrats to our Grads!

We wish the best of luck to our Class of 2024.

Professor Emeritus Wayles Browne Publishes Book

Professor Emeritus Wayles Browne's book, The Cambridge Handbook of Slavic Linguistics, is now available through Cambridge Publishing.

Peter Loewen named dean of Arts and Sciences

Coming from the University of Toronto, where he was the director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, Loewen began his five-year appointment as the Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Aug. 1.

American Sign Language has found a growing home on the Hill

Now offered as a minor, the study of ASL at Cornell came about through years of student advocacy

'I've met a variety of people with a wide range of interests'

Emily Pecsok is an applied mathematics and linguistics major.

College clock tower rises up beyond a small hill under a lovely blue summery sky

Projects funded by 2024 New Frontier Grants look toward the future

The College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) has awarded five New Frontier Grants to cutting edge projects in science, social science and the humanities led by A&S faculty.

American Sign Language Has Found a Growing Home on the Hill

The ASL Program at Cornell is featured in this article in Cornell's alumni publication, Cornellians.

Hitomi Minamida, Ph.D. ’23, Accepts Assistant Professor Position at Rochester Institute of Technology

Hitomi Minamida, Ph.D. ’23, has accepted an Assistant Professor position in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Treats and poems featured at LRC’s “Sweet Poetry” event

“Any poem, any language” is the theme of the Language Resource Center’s second annual celebration of National Poetry Month, April 17

Summer Experience Grant applications now open

The grants provide funding for students in unpaid or low-paying summer experiences to offset the cost of taking on those positions.

‘Innovative’ linguist Margarita Suñer dies at 82

Margarita Amalia Suñer, professor of linguistics emerita in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), died in Ojai, California on Feb. 29 after a long bout with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 82.

Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫˀ Speakers Work to Restore Language Among Cornell, Nation Communities

Linguistics Professor Sarah Murray and Research Associate Stephen Henhawk are featured in this article by the Cornell Daily Sun.

Endangered Language Alliance Works to Map Languages Spoken in New York City

The Endangered Language Alliance (ELA), co-founded by alum Daniel Kaufman Ph.D. 2010, locates speakers of endangered languages spoken in New York City.

Grad student Annabelle di Lustro Participated in the KAKEHASHI Project

First year Linguistics graduate student Annabelle di Lustro recently participated in the KAKEHASHI Project, an exchange program for young American researchers to visit Japan, sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan (MOFA).

18th Annual Cornell Undergraduate Linguistics Colloquium (CULC 18)

Cornell University's undergraduate linguistics association, The UnderLings, presents its eighteenth annual undergraduate research colloquium. By facilitating communication and discussion between researchers, the conference aims to promote undergraduate research at all levels throughout the linguistics community.

Grad student Yexin Qu at the 2024 LSA Annual Meeting