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Programs

Mission

The Linguistics Research Center strives to create a foundation for intercultural and international exchange in areas of academic research surrounding the evolution and modeling of language and society.

Summary

Since 2013 the Visiting Scholars Program has afforded scholars the opportunity to discuss their own work with top-level researchers affiliated with the LRC, gaining perspective and insight from researchers with decades of experience. Biweekly sessions will introduce visitors to LRC affiliates’ areas of expertise. These sessions and informal individualized discussions will provide ample opportunity to discuss topics of mutual interest and lay the groundwork for collaboration. Monthly sessions throughout the period of the visit will give an introduction to the mechanics of conducting high-level academic research at top institutions, ranging from collecting and analyzing data all the way to preparing conference talks and manuscripts for journal publication.

Plan

Monthly sessions will provide discussions and workshops on critical aspects of the linguistics research toolkit. This will range from basic skills for collecting and managing data all the way to proven practices for disseminating the results of research to the wider academic community. Common offerings include sessions on topics such as

  • Fundamentals of Historical Linguistics,
  • Writing and submitting Linguistics Abstracts in English,
  • Writing and publishing Linguistics Research Papers,
  • Academic English for conferences and writing,
  • Basics of Computational Linguistics.

Each session of the research colloquium will be led by an internationally recognized LRC faculty member. Visiting scholars participating regularly in the research colloquium will receive a Linguistics Research Certificate at the end of the academic semester or year.

LRC History & Atmosphere

The LRC provides a collaborative environment welcoming to scholars from a range of countries and cultures. Founded in 1961, the LRC has had a long and storied history making important contributions across a range of linguistic fields:

  • Machine translation: The METAL project created one of the earliest machine translation systems, based on linguistic rules and still employed in professional translation situations.
  • Mesoamerican languages: The Mesoamerican Languages Project fostered groundbreaking research in a number of Mayan and other indigenous languages of Mesoamerica, and produced important scholarly dictionaries of languages such as Nahuatl.
  • Computer-assisted research and bibliographic collation: The LRC’s Gothic Etymological Dictionary provided one of the first uses of computers to assist the collection and collation of linguistic data and research references to produce an up-to-date scholarly lexicon.
  • Open Educational Resources for linguistics: The Early Indo-European OnLine (EIEOL) project comprises one of the first and most authoritative online collections of lesson series teaching users how to read original ancient documents of the earliest Indo-European languages. Linked to an accompanying Indo-European Lexicon (IELEX), these materials helped inaugurate the nascent field of Digital Humanities.

Beyond these major achievements over the course of the LRC’s history, current affiliated researchers bring together expertise in Linguistics, Middle Eastern Studies, Asian Studies, Germanic Studies, English, French & Italian, and numerous other fields.

Resources

The LRC is located within the Perry-Castañeda Library, the central library of the University of Texas at Austin. The Visiting Scholars program provides access not only to PCL, but to more than half a dozen other UT Library sites located across campus. Each library location is dedicated to a specific knowledge domain, and several contain their own repositories of rare manuscripts and special historical collections.

Visiting scholars will receive their own UT Austin email address, be able to audit a select number of UT linguistics courses (not for credit), and participate in the vibrant linguistics scene at UT Austin.

LRC staff will assist visiting scholars with planning their research and arranging accommodations for their stay in Austin. The LRC can also offer, on a limited basis, a number of personal work spaces for visiting scholars in the LRC’s offices in the Perry-Castañeda Library in the heart of campus. We can also facilitate regular one-on-one mentoring meetings with any of our core LRC faculty to receive feedback on individual research projects.

Core Faculty

The LRC’s faculty and affiliates bring together expertise from a wide array of disciplines within linguistics.

  • Hans C. Boas — Construction Grammar, Frame Semantics, Computational Lexicography, Germanic Linguistics, Language Contact and Variation, Contrastive Linguistics
  • Lars Hinrichs — Sociolinguistics, Language Variation, World Englishes, Corpus Linguistics
  • Danny Law — Historical Linguistics, Language Contact, Mayan Languages, Writing Systems, Sign Language Linguistics
  • Na’ama Pat-El — Syntax, Historical Linguistics, Linguistic Methodology, Semitic Languages
  • Marc Pierce — Historical Linguistics, History of Linguistics, Phonology, Optimality Theory, Germanic Linguistics, Language Contact
  • Cinzia Russi — Romance Linguistics, Historical Linguistics, Grammaticalization, Cognitive Grammar

Beyond the University’s Walls

We of course love being part of the LRC at UT Austin for the breadth and quality of its research, and for its embracing, comfortable, and collegial work environment. But it’s also great just to have the experience of living in Austin, which provides us with access to a range of interesting and engaging experiences for individuals and families. For example, you can find below just a small sample of the wonderful places to see and things to do in Austin or within a day’s drive.

For More Details

If you think you might be interested in applying to the LRC’s Visiting Scholars Program, please send us an email here for further details.