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	Studies in Heritage Languages and Language Processing What are the major cognitive constraints on the processing of language in real time? What makes one a fluent speaker of a language learned since birth? In our lab, we address these questions by studying how native speakers respond to the structure and meaning of their language. We also study the knowledge of language in heritage speakers—those who grew up hearing and even speaking a language other English but who are now more comfortable in English. According to recent statistics about one third of American college undergraduates are heritage speakers. This large demographic group has been virtually neglected until recently, but understanding what they know is crucial to our understanding of language acquisition in general. We use behavioral methods to study native and heritage speakers of a range of languages such as English, Russian, Korean, Mandarin, Spanish, Arabic, and Persian. Announcements: 10/03/08: On October 7th, Dustin Heestand will present ongoing research on resumptive pronouns. The background reading for Dustin's presentation is the first 10 pages of Resumption by Jim McCloskey (2004). 09/25/08: Harvard's Mind, Brain, and Behavior Interfaculty Initiative is presenting two events in October: The State of Cognitive Neuroscience: Accomplishments and Prospects (Oct. 2nd), and Conversations in Mind/Brain/Behavior (Oct. 14th). Both events take place in Yenching Auditorium. More information can be found here. 09/25/08: Next Tuesday, Nayoung will continue her presentation on the processing of gap-filler dependencies in Korean. The background reading is chapter 5 of Nayoung's dissertation. 09/18/08: On Tuesday, Nayoung will talk about the processing of syntactic and anaphoric gap-filler dependencies in Korean. Background reading: chapter 4 of Nayoung's dissertation, which can be downloaded here. 09/16/08: We will have an organizational meeting in the lab on Thursday.
The Polinsky Lab Harvard University Vanserg Building 10 Divinity Ave/ 29 Francis Ave, Rm 130 Cambridge MA 02138 617-496-5426
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Studies in Heritage Languages and Language Processing

What are the major cognitive constraints on the processing of language in real time? What makes one a fluent speaker of a language learned since birth? In our lab, we address these questions by studying how native speakers respond to the structure and meaning of their language. We also study the knowledge of language in heritage speakers—those who grew up hearing and even speaking a language other English but who are now more comfortable in English. According to recent statistics about one third of American college undergraduates are heritage speakers. This large demographic group has been virtually neglected until recently, but understanding what they know is crucial to our understanding of language acquisition in general.

We use behavioral methods to study native and heritage speakers of a range of languages such as English, Russian, Korean, Mandarin, Spanish, Arabic, and Persian.

Announcements:

10/03/08: On October 7th, Dustin Heestand will present ongoing research on resumptive pronouns. The background reading for Dustin's presentation is the first 10 pages of Resumption by Jim McCloskey (2004).

09/25/08: Harvard's Mind, Brain, and Behavior Interfaculty Initiative is presenting two events in October: The State of Cognitive Neuroscience: Accomplishments and Prospects (Oct. 2nd), and Conversations in Mind/Brain/Behavior (Oct. 14th). Both events take place in Yenching Auditorium. More information can be found here.

09/25/08: Next Tuesday, Nayoung will continue her presentation on the processing of gap-filler dependencies in Korean. The background reading is chapter 5 of Nayoung's dissertation.

09/18/08: On Tuesday, Nayoung will talk about the processing of syntactic and anaphoric gap-filler dependencies in Korean. Background reading: chapter 4 of Nayoung's dissertation, which can be downloaded here.

09/16/08: We will have an organizational meeting in the lab on Thursday.