Maria Polinsky

Carl Pillot, Greg Scontras, and Lauren Clemens have developed response-time recording functionality for the web-based experiment software Experigen (Becker & Levine 2010). This functionality is included in the latest build of Experigen, which can be downloaded for free through the following link: Experigen.

For a start-to-finish guide to developing your own experiment using ExperigenRT, download this file. In it, you will find a ready-to-use experiment template, together with instructions for modifying the template to fit your needs (SETUP.txt), and a guide for publishing the experiment on the Harvard webspace (HOW_TO_SET_UP_FAS WEB_HOSTING.txt). You will also find the code for retrieving the results of your experiment using the statistical software R (getresults.R).

Coming soon

Here is some of the research I have done on Mayan languages:

• Clemens, LE and Polinsky, M. Verb-initial word orders (primarily in Austronesian and Mayan languages). The Blackwell Companion to Syntax, second edition.
• Clemens, LE; Coon, J; Mateo, Pedro P; Morgan, AM; Polinsky, M; Tandet, G; and Wagers M. Ergativity and the complexity of extraction: A view from Mayan.Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 33: 417-467.

For more information, please visit my Publications page.

I work on finding the structural differences between monolingual and bilingual grammars in the heritage languages of the world. Here you can find some work that I have done on this topic:

“Revisiting Inverse Scope: an Experimental Study of Chinese and English”

    “Structure vs. Use in Heritage Language” from Linguistics Vanguard

    “Heritage Language and Linguistic Theory” from Frontiers in Psychology

I work on syntactic ergativity in a variety of languages. Below you can find some examples of my work:

“Antipassive” from the Oxford Handbook of Ergativity

“Syntactic Ergativity” from The Blackwell Companion to Syntax

“Deconstructing Ergativity: Two Types of Ergative Language” from Oxford University Press

“Ergativity and the Complexity of Extracton: A View from Mayan” from Natural Language and Linguistic Theory

“Tsez Syntax” personal manuscript

June 15-18: 9th Heritage Language Research Institute

• http://nhlrc.ucla.edu/nhlrc/events/institute/2016/home

Heritage languages are learned early in life, either simultaneously with the dominant language or prior to the acquisition of the dominant language of the country. Early childhood bilinguals are often fluent in both languages, their home language and the dominant societal language. Furthermore, both languages influence each other in early childhood bilinguals. Many of such bilinguals grow up to become adult heritage speakers who are typically stronger in the dominant language and whose knowledge of the home language is less strong.

May 31- June 12: Guatemala Field Station

• http://guatemalafieldtrip2016.blogspot.com/
• http://languagescience.umd.edu/news/language-scientists-head-highlands-guatemala

First group trip to the Guatemalan Field Station. Rodrigo Ranero, Chris Baron, Paulina Lyskawa, Gesoel Mendes,Theodore Levin, Omer Preminger and Maria Polinsky, left for Tecpan, Patzun, and Lake Atitlan in Guatemala with Carola Emkow from the Free University of Berlin, and three graduate students from other universities: Emma Bierings (Leiden), Sasha Kozhukhar (HSE Moscow) and Elizaveta Vostokova (HSE Moscow). The group pursued several research projects on the structure of Mayan languages spoken in the area – Kaqchikel, Tzutujil, Mam, and Chuj – while joining ongoing projects on literacy and health led by Wuqu’ Kawoq, an NGO who is a partner in the station.

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Speaking of Neil Tyson, if you’re a fan of his you’ll be pleased to know that his show, Star Talk Radio, is now going to be part of the Nerdist Channel network! Thats actually a pretty big deal; Chris Hardwick has created this juggernaut of Nerdist and it reaches a lot of folks. Speaking of Neil Tyson, if you’re a fan of his you’ll be pleased to know that his show, Star Talk Radio, is now going to be part of the Nerdist Channel network! Thats actually a pretty big deal; Chris Hardwick has created this juggernaut of Nerdist and it reaches a lot of folks.