Richard P. Meier
Professor — Ph.D., University of California, San Diego
Department Chair and Robert D. King Centennial Professor of Liberal Arts

Contact
- E-mail: rmeier@austin.utexas.edu
- Phone: +1-512-471-9031
- Office: RLP 4.720
- Campus Mail Code: B5100
Interests
Linguistics of signed languages, American Sign Language, first language acquisition
Biography
Richard P. Meier was educated at the University of Chicago (B.A., Anthropology, 1973), Washington University in St. Louis (M.A., Anthropology, 1975), and the University of California, San Diego (Ph.D., Linguistics, 1982). His postdoctoral work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1982-1984) and at Stanford (1984-86) was in Psychology. He joined the faculty of The University of Texas at Austin in 1986.
Professor Meier's research is inspired by the fact that there are two modalities, or transmission channels, available to human languages: the visual-gestural modality of sign and the oral-aural modality of speech. His publications examine the linguistics of signed languages and their acquisition by deaf children. He seeks insights into the ways in which linguistic organization and child language development are (or are not) shaped by the modality in which a particular language is produced and perceived.
From 1996 through 1998, Professor Meier was Associate Vice President for Research at UT Austin. He is proud of his role in bringing ASL language instruction into the Department of Linguistics, and the College of Liberal Arts. From 2000 to 2010, he directed the ASL language program of the Department of Linguistics. In 2006 he became department chair.
Courses
UGS 302 • Language: A Helping Hand-Wb
60270 • Fall 2020
Meets MWF 10:00AM-11:00AM
Internet; Synchronous
Wr
ID
UGS 302 • Language: A Helping Hand
60530 • Fall 2019
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM MAI 220C
Wr
ID
UGS 302 • Language & Communication
62105 • Fall 2018
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM MAI 220C
Wr
ID
LIN 389V • Rsch In Signed Languages
40605 • Spring 2018
Meets M 9:00AM-12:00PM CLA 4.104
UGS 302 • Language & Communication
62110 • Fall 2017
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM MAI 220C
Wr
ID
LIN 389V • Rsch In Signed Languages
41065 • Spring 2017
Meets M 9:00AM-12:00PM CLA 4.104
ASL 326 • Sign Langs & Signing Communs
40675 • Fall 2016
Meets MWF 1:00PM-2:00PM GAR 0.120
CDWr
(also listed as LIN 350)
LIN 389V • Rsch In Signed Languages
40900 • Fall 2016
Meets M 9:00AM-12:00PM CLA 4.104
LIN 389V • Rsch In Signed Languages
40285 • Spring 2016
Meets TH 3:30PM-6:30PM CLA 4.104
UGS 302 • Language: A Helping Hand
61280 • Fall 2015
Meets TTH 9:30AM-11:00AM GAR 1.134
Wr
ID
UGS 302 • Language: A Helping Hand
64840 • Spring 2014
Meets TTH 9:30AM-11:00AM CLA 0.106
Wr
UGS 302 • Language & Communication
64060 • Spring 2013
Meets TTH 9:30AM-11:00AM CLA 0.108
Wr
ASL 326 • Sign Langs & Signing Communs
40675 • Spring 2012
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM PAR 306
CDWr
C2
(also listed as LIN 350)
LIN 373 • Child Language
40755 • Fall 2010
Meets MWF 1:00PM-2:00PM GAR 2.112
LIN 391 • English Syntax
41250 • Spring 2010
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM CAL 419
LIN 393C • Language Acquisition
41615 • Fall 2009
Meets MW 12:00PM-1:30PM CBA 4.340
ASL 326 • Sign Langs & Signing Communs-W
40365 • Spring 2009
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM PAR 203
C2
LIN 393 • Linguistics Of Signed Langs
41820 • Fall 2008
Meets TTH 9:30AM-11:00AM CBA 4.340
ASL 326 • Sign Langs & Signing Communs-W
41455 • Spring 2008
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM PAR 203
C2
LIN 393 • Language Acquisition
42367 • Fall 2007
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM CBA 4.340
ASL 326 • Sign Langs & Signing Communs-W
40865 • Spring 2007
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM CBA 4.348
C2
LIN 393 • Adv Ling Of Signed Languages
42060 • Fall 2006
Meets M 12:00PM-3:00PM RAS 312
LIN 393 • Language Acquisition
40355 • Spring 2006
Meets TH 3:30PM-6:30PM BEN 1.102
LIN 393 • Linguistics Of Signed Langs
40150 • Fall 2005
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM UTC 4.120
LIN 306 • Intro To The Study Of Language
38610 • Spring 2005
Meets TTH 9:30AM-11:00AM UTC 4.112
SB
LIN 393 • Language Acquisition
38835 • Spring 2005
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM CAL 200
LIN 373 • Child Language
39775 • Fall 2004
Meets MWF 9:00AM-10:00AM MEZ 1.120
(also listed as PSY 333P)
LIN S395 • Conf Course In Linguistics
86240 • Summer 2004
LIN 306 • Intro To The Study Of Language
37070 • Spring 2004
Meets TTH 9:30AM-11:00AM UTC 4.112
SB
LIN 393 • Language Acquisition
37285 • Spring 2004
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM CAL 200
LIN 393 • Linguistics Of Signed Langs
38135 • Fall 2003
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM PAR 8C
LIN 699W • Dissertation
38210 • Fall 2003
LIN W398R • Master's Report
86230 • Summer 2003
LIN 306 • Intro To The Study Of Language
36995 • Spring 2003
Meets TTH 9:30AM-11:00AM UTC 1.130
SB
LIN 393 • Language Acquisition
37300 • Spring 2003
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM PAR 301
LIN 306 • Intro To Study Of Language-Hon
37490 • Fall 2002
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM GAR 111
SB
LIN 392 • Intro To Language Acquisition
37050 • Spring 2002
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM BUR 232
LIN 393 • Linguistics Of Signed Langs
37070 • Spring 2002
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM UTC 1.142
LIN 373 • Child Language
38010 • Fall 2001
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM PAR 1
(also listed as PSY 333P)
LIN 699W • Dissertation
38175 • Fall 2001
LIN 392 • Intro To Language Acquisition
36955 • Spring 2001
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM CBA 4.340
LIN 699W • Dissertation
37750 • Fall 2000
Media Coverage
"What's the Point?": A 2014 podcast about my research, and the research of my students, from Washington University in St. Louis, where I received my master's degree.
News from the College of Liberal Arts web site about our work (Shield, Meier, & Tager-Flusberg 2015) on the use of ASL pronouns by native-signing deaf children with autism.
Discussion of Shield, Meier, & Tager-Flusberg (2015) in the June 2015 ASHA Leader.
Dissertations Directed
Azuma, Shoji. 1991. Processing and Intrasentential Code-Switching. [Dr. Azuma is Professor of Japanese in the Department of Languages and Literatures at the University of Utah.]
Chung, Gyeonghee No. 1994. Case and Its Acquisition in Korean. [This dissertation received an Honorable Mention for the Outstanding Dissertation Award from UT’s Graduate School. Dr. Chung is currently a professor at Seoul National University of Education in Seoul, Korea.]
Repp, Ann M. 1994. The Emergence of a Naive Linguistics: Tracking Change in Children's Explanations of Language. Department of Psychology. [Dr. Repp is now a senior lecturer in Psychology at UT Austin.]
Hartmann, C. Connie. 1997. Prosodic Cues to Syntactic Structure in Foreigner Talk. Program in Foreign Language Education.
Currie, Anne-Marie G. 1999. A Crosslinguistic Analysis of a Mexican Sign Language Lexicon, co-directed with Keith Walters.
Holzrichter, Amanda S. 2000. Interactions Between Deaf Mothers and Their Deaf Infants: A Crosslinguistic Study. [Dr. Holzrichter is an associate professor of Spanish in the Department of World Languages and Cultures at Gallaudet University.]
Cheek (Miles), Adrianne. 2001. Phonetics and Phonology of Handshape in ASL, co-directed with Scott Myers. [Dr. Miles is Assistant Professor of English and Linguistics at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.]
Cormier, Kearsy A. 2002. Grammaticization of Index Signs: How American Sign Language Expresses Numerosity, co-directed with Steve Weschler. [Currently, Dr. Cormier is senior research scientist in the Deafness, Cognition & Language Centre of University College London.]
Quinto-Pozos, David G. 2002. Language Contact in Deaf Communities Along the U.S.-Mexico Border. [Dr. Quinto-Pozos is an associate professor in the Department of Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin. His promotion to associate professor with tenure takes effect on September 1, 2015.]
Mauk, Claude E. 2003. Undershoot in Two Modalities: Evidence from Fast Speech and Fast Signing. [Dr. Mauk is lecturer and director of the Less-Commonly Taught Languages Program in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Pittsburgh.]
Rathmann, Christian. 2005. Temporal Aspect in American Sign Language, co-directed with Carlota Smith. [Dr. Rathmann is University Professor for Sign Languages and Sign Interpreting at the University of Hamburg, Germany, where he is director of the Institute for German Sign Language and Communication of the Deaf.]
Mirus, Gene R. 2008. Cued English and Its Deaf & Hearing Community. Department of Anthropology (co-directed with Elizabeth Keating). [Dr. Mirus is an associate professor in the Department of ASL and Deaf Studies at Gallaudet University.]
Pizer, Ginger B. 2008. Sign and Speech in Family Interaction: Language Choices of Deaf Parents and Their Hearing Children, co-directed with Keith Walters. [Dr. Pizer is an associate professor of linguistics, Department of English, Mississippi State University.]
Mahalingappa, Laura. 2009. The Acquisition of Split-Ergativity in Kurmanji Kurdish. [Dr. Mahalingappa is an assistant professor, Department of Instruction and Leadership in Education, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh.]
Shield, Aaron. 2010. Sign Language Development in Deaf and Hearing Autistic Children. [This dissertation won the Outstanding Dissertation Award from the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Shield is currently a assistant professor at Miami University of Ohio, Oxford, OH.]
Lyu, Heeyoung. 2011. A Grammatical Approach to Topic and Focus: A Syntactic Analysis with Preliminary Evidence from Language Acquisition, co-directed with Lisa Green (University of Massachusetts Amherst). [Dr. Lyu is currently an assistant professor at the Defense Foreign Languages Institute, Monterey, CA.]
White-Sustaita, Jessica. 2012. The Development of Dialectal Variation in Child African American English, co-directed with Lisa Green (University of Massachusetts Amherst).
Wright, Tony. 2014. Strict Versus Flexible Accomplishment Predicates, co-directed with David Beaver. [Dr. Wright is an academic advisor at Austin Community College.]
Chen, Po-ting Stacy. 2014. Typicality in Chinese Sentence Comprehension: Evidence from Offline Judgments and Online Self-Paced Reading, co-directed with Nicole Wicha (UTSA). [Dr. Chen is a lecturer in the Department of Statistics & Data Science, UT Austin.]
Publications
Meier, Richard P. 1981. Icons and morphemes: Models of the acquisition of verb agreement in ASL. Papers and Reports on Child Language Development 20:92-99.