Note from the Editor
Welcome to Volume 10 of the Northeastern University Working Papers in Linguistics!
Since its inception in 2016, this journal has served as an online home for the fascinating research which our undergraduate students complete on language and linguistics each year. In the last nine years, we have published highly original articles on every sub-field of the study of language, from syntax to child language acquisition; from pragmatics to evolutionary linguistics; from reports on fieldwork on understudied languages to presentations of conlangs. This year, we are again pleased to offer our readers three papers which highlight the breadth of academic research of our Linguistics Program.
The first paper of the volume represents the sub-field of historical linguistics. Working with multiple sources of Old Irish, Anika Davie provides an exceptional overview of the structural linguistics of Old Irish, as well as a brief history of its philology and speakership. She provides a detailed description of the phonological, lexical, and morpho-syntactic levels of Old Irish as well as the changes that this language underwent due to the various socio-historical developments. The second paper of the volume exemplify an experimental approach and focuses on the phonological aspect of language. Specifically, Jae Messersmith and Shannon Snape investigate the prosodic abilities and behavior of an African Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus), who have been shown to possess remarkable linguistic and communicative abilities in comparison to humans, receiving a little attention from linguists. In their study, the authors tested whether one parrot could reproduce his owners’ prosodic elements, and whether he varies prosodic aspects strategically in different social contexts. This analysis advances knowledge of prosody in nonhuman species and human-animal interaction. Finally, the volume is closed with the paper that represent the sub-filed of the multimodal interactional sociolinguistics. Rayn Paulü creatively integrates methodologies of institutional discourse analysis (e.g., Heritage and Clayman 2010) with multimodal discourage analysis (e.g., Goodwin 2011) to analyze two excerpts from a casual game of billiards between two new friends. In their analysis, the author explored how spatial positioning, gaze, object manipulation, and orientation to one another were, embodiments of an institutional frame. The analysis also shows how participants step outside of the predefined actions of the institutional frame to design a unique course of action, i.e., a ‘redo.’ This analysis shows the patterned and creative nature of human daily interactions.
We hope this volume illustrates well the diversity and richness of approaches in linguistics as well as curiosity and creativity of our students. Enjoy the volume!
Aisulu Kulbayeva (Raspayeva)
Current Volume
Vol. 10: 2025
Davie, Anika. (2025). The Structure and Philology of Old Irish, Briefly.
[No abstract.]
Messersmith, Jae & Snape, Shannon. (2025). Screech or Speech? Studying the Prosody of an African Grey Parrot.
This study investigates the prosodic abilities and behavior of an African Grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus). This species has been shown to possess remarkable linguistic and communicative abilities in comparison to humans, but no studies have yet examined their production of prosodic elements. This area of research is important to advancing knowledge of prosody in nonhuman species and human-animal interaction. Here, we test whether one parrot is capable of reproducing his owners’ prosodic elements, and whether he varies prosodic aspects strategically in different social contexts.
Paulü, Ryan. (2025). The Embodiment of Institutional Structure in the Game of Billiards.
Multimodal negotiations over the next course of action in a casual game.