Humanities Program Spotlight

First Annual Ohio State Language Network Symposium Held

In April, the Department of Linguistics hosted the first annual Ohio State University Language Network Spring Symposium, a day-long event designed to foster new links and strengthen existing ones among members of the university community doing research on language. Over 60 people from Ohio State and other Ohio universities were in attendance.

The innovative and interdisciplinary nature of this type of research was highlighted at the symposium through presentations from research groups from a diverse array of disciplines: Computer Science and Engineering; Entomology; French and Italian; Linguistics; Psychology; Spanish and Portuguese; and Speech and Hearing.

Presentation topics ranged from "Linguistics and Biology: Exploring the Parallels" to "Referring in Conversation: Using Eye Movement Monitoring to Investigate Spoken Language Processing." The latter described research involving colleagues from Linguistics and Computer Science and Engineering that uses head-mounted eye-movement monitoring to understand how listeners respond in conversation. This research will lead to a more accurate model of spoken language production and comprehension, providing a more specific base for future engineering and clinical applications.

"By all accounts, the symposium was a great success," said Beth Hume, chair of the Department of Linguistics. "OSU is home to over 60 researchers in the language sciences. We are delighted to have been able to bring so many members of this community together for the day. Not only did it give us an opportunity to learn about exciting language research taking place on campus, it served to kick off the OSU Language Network, an organization intended to encourage and facilitate initiatives linked to the study of language."

The OSU Language Network is part of the Department of Linguistics Targeted Investment in Excellence (TIE) initiative, Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Language. It is one of three TIE programs designed to take advantage of existing intellectual strengths and add significant new pedagogical and research opportunities for faculty and students.

In addition to the symposium, the Linguistic TIE initiative is supporting a series of workshops and international conferences on Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Language, interdisciplinary research fellowships for graduate students, and a postdoctoral fellows program that brings talented young scholars to campus for a year-long residency.