Linguistic Society of America’s Linguistic Institute 2023 at University of Massachusetts (Amherst)

Felicia Lee

The Linguistic Institute 2023 was held at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) from 19 June to 14 July. The theme of this year’s Institute is “Linguistics as Cognitive Science: Universality and Variation”. The Institute usually holds two- and four-week courses that focus on a myriad of subjects dealing with both theoretical and applied linguistics.  

Felicia attended the Institute for four weeks; she shares her experience and learning points from attending it.

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I’m going to be away for a month, and it’s all the way in the U.S of A?

The thought of having to be away from home for a whole month and the pain of having to endure a long-haul flight (it was 33 hours for me!) to Massachusetts was a constant struggle as I was deliberating if I should attend this year’s Linguistic Institute or not. Weighing all the pros and cons, I succumbed to my love of learning new knowledge (plus my thirst for an exhilarating adventure away from the humdrum of life) and took the plunge.

And was I glad I did.

So from 19 June to 14 July 2023, I attended the Linguistic Society of America’s (LSA) Linguistic Institute at the University of Massachusetts (Amherst). The theme of this year’s Institute, “Linguistics and Cognitive Science: Universality and Variation”, was particularly exciting for me because (a) I feel that the subjects could complement my current research interests which are more qualitative and interpretative, and (b) I was also particularly interested in the study of language as a mental phenomenon.

Here are the top five reasons why I think that every aspiring linguist should attend a similar institute:

(1) Gain exposure to different research traditions and methods

As graduate researchers, we are often immersed in our own fields and research methodologies because that’s what we are supposed to be doing in our 4 years in graduate school anyway. Therefore, the Institute allowed me to steal a glimpse of research traditions and methodologies beyond the area of my research.

To reiterate, the theme of this year’s Institute delved into a linguistic school of thought known as “Cognitivism”, which views the production and perception of language as emergent from human cognitive processes. In other words, cognitive linguistics examines the relationship between language and the mind, for instance, memory and recall.

Given that my PhD project stems from a more sociocultural perspective, gaining insights from an entirely different tradition could either complement my research, or add on to my research repertoire using different instruments and tools.

For instance, I would have never expected the area of language and identity to be studied using experimental methods. One study involves the manipulation of visual stimuli depicting physical characteristics of individuals such as the “nerdy” and “cool” personae, and how these stereotypical individuals are perceived to use certain linguistic features more often. That was an eye-opener for me and something for me to think about in my future research.

(2) You meet people from all walks of life

The Institute attracts undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoc fellows, and academic staff. Not only that, but they also come from different parts of the world, bringing with them different cultural and educational perspectives towards the field of linguistics.

And the best part? Not all of them major in linguistics but have taken a keen interest in the field to complement their majors.

For instance, I met a graduate student, who majors in philosophy at Yale University, in an advanced pragmatics class scrutinising common ground and presuppositions in question types like high negation questions. I also met an undergraduate student from Peking University who’s majoring in mathematics participating in discourse interpretation of literary work. How inspiring!

So it’s been a wonderful experience speaking to people from different academic backgrounds and exploring how interdisciplinary work can be feasible.

(3) You get to learn cool stuff that you don’t always get an opportunity to

Apart from my love for languages and the way languages work, I’m a self-proclaimed math and coding geek. Hence, one of the many motivations for me to attend the Institute was to learn more about the field of computational linguistics – a field that combines both my interests.

Attending the Institute is one way to learn about a field that you normally wouldn’t be able to. Though there are other ways for me to learn about computational linguistics without attending the Institute, doing so provided me with an opportunity to dip my toes into the field with the guidance of experts in the field. I also gained access to great resources from the course that may not be easily accessible otherwise.

And on top of that, I enjoyed the computational linguistics course SO much that I have decided to further pursue this field officially (well, probably after I complete my PhD).

(4) A great chance to network

Related to point number 2, besides meeting people who are pursuing an entirely different path as you are, you also meet like-minded people in the same field.

The Institute holds area socials based on your research interests and I got to meet students who are working on projects in a similar field I am in. For the record, I attended the area socials for sociolinguistics and discourse analysis, and interacted with individuals who are working on very interesting projects in the field. I spoke with the graduate student who worked on language variation in North Africa; she stayed there for data collection throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and I bet that was an unforgettable moment for her.

Hence, this is a great opportunity to network with and find opportunities for future collaboration with people who are passionate in the field!

(5) You get to be the first to know and be part of recent updates in the field

Finally, based on insider information (well yes, an instructor let us in on this nugget of information) that some of the courses that the Institute runs are potentially new courses with contemporary theoretical perspectives in the field. In other words, students like us may be the guinea pigs at a taster course over a two- or four-week duration with the potential of the course being run with a longer duration in the future.

I absolutely do not mind being the guinea pig in this context because I get to learn about new and exciting theories that are beyond my imagination in otherwise established fields. Whether or not I fully buy into the theories in the end, it provided me with an opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and to think critically about issues revolving around the development of such contemporary propositions.

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All in all, there are both social and intellectual benefits of attending Institutes like these, and I have to say that I gained a great amount of exposure in the field and made many friends at the same time. Besides that, I gallivanted around Amherst visiting museums and local attractions, and mingled with the locals during weekends. Mixing business with pleasure may not always be a bad idea.

The Linguistic Institute organised by the Linguistic Society of America happens every two years so the next one is in 2025 at the University of Oregon. Who knows, I’ll be there for my second one?