Current Students

 

Majed A. Alasasleh

Interests: Phonology, Translation, Language Acquisition, Etymology

I chose Linguistics because it is a scientific approach to language — It is the best way to understanding how we think, speak, and act! Studying Linguistics can simply expand and develop the way we observe, hear, and utter at the same time. After graduating, I plan to go into the field of teaching and of course stay in the expanding circle of research.

Isabel Louis Imseeh

Interests: Sociolinguistics, Anthropological Linguistics, Gender studies, TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language)

Title of Capstone: The Freedom to Talk Politics in Public: A Community Embraces Social Media



NEIU Student Research & Creative Activities Symposium:

Imseeh, Isabel. April 2013, "The Freedom to Talk Politics in Public: A Community Embraces Social Media" Paper presented at the NEIU 21st Annual Student Research and Creative Activities Symposium. Chicago, IL

Imseeh, Isabel. April 2012, "Language and Golf —Is it Gender or is it Style?" Paper presented at the NEIU 20th Annual Student Research and Creative Activities Symposium. Chicago, IL

I realize that there is so much more to language than what is spoken! I am fascinated by the variety of languages and how language shapes our worldview. On an international scale, it has become even more important to understand how language shapes and affects our world. Therefore, I believe that the field of linguistics can help one to better understand themselves and others.

As a former teacher, I was hoping to gain valuable linguistic skills to help me work with international students. Throughout my course work, not only did I gain valuable teaching skills, I also gained a clearer understanding of how linguistics brings science to language. I hope to become a better teacher especially in working with international students as well as in teaching ESL classes.

Zachary Gordon

Interests: Syntax, Syntax-Semantics Interface, Distributed Morphology, Semitic Languages, Siouan Languages



Title of Thesis: Accusative Possessums and Dative Possessors: A Look at Argument Structure in the Modern Hebrew Clausal Possessives

NEIU Student Research & Creative Activities Symposium:

Gordon, Zachary. April 2013, "The Syntax of Chiwere Clause Connectives" Paper presented at the NEIU 21st Annual Student Research and Creative Activities Symposium. Chicago, IL

Gordon, Zachary. April 2013, "Possessive Constructions in Modern Hebrew" Paper presented at the NEIU 21st Annual Student Research and Creative Activities Symposium. Chicago, IL

Gordon, Zachary. April 2012, "Structure and Scope of Medial Clauses in Crow" Paper presented at the NEIU 20th Annual Student Research and Creative Activities Symposium. Chicago, IL

Gordon, Zachary. April 2011, "Evidentials, Illocutionary Force, and the Complementizer Phrase in Mandan" Paper presented at the NEIU 19th Annual Student Research and Creative Activities Symposium. Chicago, IL



Other Conference Presentations:

Gordon, Zachary. June 2012, “Crow Clause Chaining: Structure and Scope”. Presented at the Siouan and Caddoan Languages Conference. Lawrence, KS

Gordon, Zachary & Silvana Karin Torres, Jan. 2012, “Reanalysis of the Mandan Verbal Suffix Complex through the Complementizer Phrase” Presented at the Linguistic Society of America 2012 Annual Meeting. Portland, OR

Gordon, Zachary. June 2011, “The Mandan Right Periphery: A Syntactic Examination of Evidentials and Force Markers”. Presented at the Siouan and Caddoan Languages Conference. Hosted by the Iowa tribe of Kansas and Nebraska. White Cloud, KS

Gordon, Zachary & Erica Sosa. Oct. 2010, "Pray What You Believe: Continuity and Integrity in a Secular Humanistic Jewish Congregation". Paper presented at the Religion & Language/Religion & Sprache Workshop at the Österreichische Linguistiktagung/Austrian Linguistics Conference in Graz, Austria

Linguistics combines several things that I love — philosophy, logic, computational systems, etc. — and uses them to tackle very interesting problems regarding how the mind works and interacts with the outside world. I am specifically interested in theoretical approaches to Linguistics that attempt to establish formal models of language and linguistic knowledge. After completing the MA program at NEIU, I intend to continue on and get my PhD in Linguistics.

Alumni

Ariana Bancu

MA Linguistics NEIU Fall 2012, Began PhD program in Linguistics at University of Michigan for Fall 2013

Interests: bilingualism, code-switching, language contact, second language acquisition

Title of Thesis: A comparative morpho-syntactic analysis of the code-switches of Romanian immigrants in the USA and Spain

Conference Presentations:

"Freedom of speech and political correctness: A case study of the LGBT community in Romania", Language under controls – International Conference, New York, NY September, 2011

"Language use and language maintenance: – a case study of two Romanian-English bilingual children", Northeastern Illinois University 20th Annual Student Research & Creative Activities Symposium, Chicago, IL, April, 2012

"Redefining Identity: A case study of the LGBT community in Romania", Northeastern Illinois University 20th Annual Student Research & Creative Activities Symposium, Chicago, IL, April, 2012

"Strategies for gender agreement in Romanian-English code-switching", 41st Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest, Fort Wayne, IN, October 2012

"Redefining Identity: A case study of the LGBT community in Romania", MAPACA conference: Language and Popular Culture, International Conference, November, 2012

"Factors influencing the code-switches of first generation Romanian immigrants in Spain and the US", Illinois Languages and Linguistics Society (ILLS) conference, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, April 2013

Publications:

Review of "Beitrage zur Kenntnis der Rom-Sprache" by Friedriech Muller, Lincom Europa, Munich, Germany, 2011

Bancu, Ariana. "Redefining Identity: A Case Study of the LGBT Community in Romania." Language under Controls (2012): 59-72. Print.

I have always been interested in languages and especially in learning foreign languages. I chose to go into linguistics because I was interested in a discipline that would allow me to look at various languages and their typology, and understand the way they function. I have graduated from the MA in Linguistics from NEIU in 2012 and I am currently a PhD student in Linguistics at the University of Michigan.

I have very positive memories from my MA coursework. The classes were well taught, they were engaging, and the class size was perfect. I was able to interact with many students and get different perspectives on matters during class discussions. Furthermore, the professors always welcomed me in their office. They guided me in my research, not only for class projects, but also for conference presentations. Once I expressed my wish to follow a PhD program, I had all the support I needed to prepare for the application process and fulfill this dream. I received excellent guidance from my advisor for my MA thesis research, and great feedback from my committee during the entire thesis process. During my application process for a PhD program, my professors advised me on programs that could be a good fit for me and did not hesitate when I asked for recommendation letters. The faculty from the Linguistics department showed me their support even after the graduation, for example by sending me information on possible grants and funding opportunities, when they saw something that was a good fit for me, and by supplying letters of reference.

Paul Bick

PhD Candidate, Anthropology, University of Illinois at Chicago,M.A. Linguistics, Northeastern Illinois University, Adjunct Professor, NEIU Anthropology Department

 

Michal Brody

MA Linguistics, Northeastern Illinois University, PhD Linguistics, University of Texas at Austin. Author, What’s Language Got to Do With It? 2004 W.W. Norton

 

Phillip C. Shon



Professor of Criminology University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Ph.D., Criminal Justice University of Illinois at Chicago 2003, M.A., Criminal Justice University of Illinois at Chicago 1999, M.A., Linguistics Northeastern Illinois University 1996



Sample publications:


Shon, P.C., Ponce, C., & Lubaszka, C.K. (2013). "May I see your driver's license, please?": The emergence of demeanor in traffic stops in the United States and El Salvador." Argument & Critique



Shon, P. C. (2008). Language and Demeanor in Police-Citizen Encounters. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.


Shon, P. C., & Arrigo, B. (2006). "Reality-based TV and police-citizen encounters: The intertextual construction and situated meaning of mental illness-as-punishment." Punishment & Society 8, 1, 59-85.



Shon, P. C. (2005). "I'd grab the S-O-B by his hair and yank him out the window: The fraternal order of warnings and threats in police-citizen encounters." Discourse & Society 16, 6, 829-845.



Shon, P. C. (2003). "Rorschach-in-action: Some further observations on the semiotic summons in police-citizen encounters." International Journal for the Semiotics of Law 16, 101-112.



Shon, P. C. (2003). "Bringing the spoken words back in: Conversationalizing (postmodernizing) police-citizen encounter research." Critical Criminology: An International Journal 11, 2, 151-172.

Paisly Di Bianca

Paisly finished the MA in Linguistics in 2002 with a concentration in second language acquisition. She later taught LING 120: Language and Human Behavior for the department. She is currently enrolled in another MA program in NEIU's Geography & Environmental Studies department.

One of the topics she has explored in that program is how language manifests in place, i.e. the significance of the location of graffiti tags in gentrified areas of Chicago. She initially presented this research at the 2008 Illinois Geographical Society annual meeting and plans to present an updated version of it at the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers in 2010. She is also pursuing ways in which to map language and language use. In her spare time, she is studying Japanese as a third language.

Elisa L. Everts

Visiting Instructor, Discourse Studies, Texas A & M University PhD Candidate, Georgetown University, Linguistics. M.A. Linguistics, Northeastern Illinois University 1998

Jill Ward Hallett

M.A. Linguistics Northeastern Illinois University 2006

PhD Candidate, Linguistics, University of Illinois

Laila Hualpa

M.A., Linguistics, Northeastern Illinois University 2005

PhD Candidate, Department of Applied Linguistics and TESL, UCLA

 

Ryan Kasak

MA Linguistics NEIU Spring 2012, PhD program in Linguistics at Yale University for Fall 2012, NEIU Brommel Student Scholarship Recipient, 2013

Ken Konopka

MA Linguistics, Northeastern Illinois University, 2006; PhD Candidate, Linguistics Northwestern University; NEIU Adjunct Professor, Linguistics Department

 

Bihn Ngo

MA Linguistics NEIU Spring 2012, PhD program in Linguistics at University of Southern California for Fall 2012.

Marco Shappeck

M.A., Linguistics, Northeastern Illinois University 2003, Ph.D Linguistics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

 

Inge Stockburger

M.A., Linguistics Northeastern Illinois University 2006

Ph.D, Linguistics, Georgetown University, 2011

Adjunct, NEIU

Charlotte Ullman

Assistant Professor, Teacher Education University of Texas, El Paso Ph.D., University of Arizona Language, Reading, and Culture 2004 M.A., Northeastern Illinois University 1993