Below is a brief description of some of our long-term projects that we are currently working on as well as a selection of recent papers and presentations of our group members:
Deconstructing Umlaut
One of the most recognizable traits of the morphosyntax and morphophonology of Germanic languages (and beyond) is the concept of umlaut. Umlaut, as commonly understood, involves the fronting (and rounding) of the vowel in lexical roots and stems, i.e., mouse ~ mice. Umlaut progressed in stages across centuries, initially driven by the presence of a high front vowel following the root or stem, which eventually transitioned into morphological environments not initially targeted. Approaching umlaut from a decompositional perspective, we seek to (i) gain a more accurate depiction of the phenomena associated with 'umlaut' (i.e., phonetic, phonological, morphological, and syntactic) (ii) in order to improve our understanding of the diachronic development of umlaut and its synchronic variation. A second phase of this project will involve translating our empirically-based theoretical proposals with experimental work involving phonological and morphological processing in monolingual and multilingual populations. Our research group homepage can be found here.
Pennsylvania Dutch Lexicon & Grammar
Pennsylvania Dutch, aka Pennsylvania German, is the first language (L1) of many conservative Amish and Mennonite congregations throughout the world. Pennsylvania Dutch has its linguistic roots in the Palatinate region of Germany, but it has existed as a minority language outside of Europe for over three centuries. Pennsylvania and other States in the Midwest are home to the highest number of native speakers of Pennsylvania Dutch. We are uniquely situated closely to two of the world's highest concentrated areas of native Pennsylvania Dutch speakers, and we participate in active field work in these areas in researching the structure and development of Pennsylvania Dutch.
Individual papers & presentations
Under construction! Check back soon!
Interested in becoming an RA?
If you are an undergraduate interesting in being involved research projects in our lab group, please research out to Prof. Mike Putnam via email at [email protected]. As an RA, you'll receiving training on designing experiments, coding data, interpreting results, among many other skills.
Deconstructing Umlaut
One of the most recognizable traits of the morphosyntax and morphophonology of Germanic languages (and beyond) is the concept of umlaut. Umlaut, as commonly understood, involves the fronting (and rounding) of the vowel in lexical roots and stems, i.e., mouse ~ mice. Umlaut progressed in stages across centuries, initially driven by the presence of a high front vowel following the root or stem, which eventually transitioned into morphological environments not initially targeted. Approaching umlaut from a decompositional perspective, we seek to (i) gain a more accurate depiction of the phenomena associated with 'umlaut' (i.e., phonetic, phonological, morphological, and syntactic) (ii) in order to improve our understanding of the diachronic development of umlaut and its synchronic variation. A second phase of this project will involve translating our empirically-based theoretical proposals with experimental work involving phonological and morphological processing in monolingual and multilingual populations. Our research group homepage can be found here.
Pennsylvania Dutch Lexicon & Grammar
Pennsylvania Dutch, aka Pennsylvania German, is the first language (L1) of many conservative Amish and Mennonite congregations throughout the world. Pennsylvania Dutch has its linguistic roots in the Palatinate region of Germany, but it has existed as a minority language outside of Europe for over three centuries. Pennsylvania and other States in the Midwest are home to the highest number of native speakers of Pennsylvania Dutch. We are uniquely situated closely to two of the world's highest concentrated areas of native Pennsylvania Dutch speakers, and we participate in active field work in these areas in researching the structure and development of Pennsylvania Dutch.
Individual papers & presentations
Under construction! Check back soon!
Interested in becoming an RA?
If you are an undergraduate interesting in being involved research projects in our lab group, please research out to Prof. Mike Putnam via email at [email protected]. As an RA, you'll receiving training on designing experiments, coding data, interpreting results, among many other skills.
