About Janet Randall
Janet Randall is an emeritus professor affiliated with both the Department of English and the Linguistics Program, in the College of Science. Her research and publications span areas in theoretical linguistics (the syntax/semantics interface, argument structure), language acquisition (the acquisition of verbs; argument structure; morphology); psycholinguistics; linguistics and law, and linguistics in the schools. Her 2010 theoretical linguistics study, Linking: the geometry of argument structure (Springer), explores how a verb’s conceptual/semantic arguments map to their syntactic positions. Other current projects focus on how linguistic analysis can improve legal language and on the “grammar gap”: the teaching (and non-teaching) of grammar. New students are always welcome to join her research teams and can earn credit through directed study, experiential education, or honors projects; work/study positions are also available. Her next book will bring together current research at the interface of linguistics and law.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Books
2010 — Linking: the geometry of argument structure. Studies in Natural Language & Linguistic Series, Volume 74, Springer, Dordrecht. xv+325 pp. [paperback published in 2011] (PDF of errata list).
1985 — Morphological Structure and Language Acquisition. Garland Outstanding Dissertations in Linguistics, Garland Publications, NY.
Articles
2020 — [Forthcoming] Results from the LingLaw Lab: a collaborative workspace. Chicago Kent Law Review, Symposium issue: Reviving the American Jury.
2019 — How Just is Justice? Ask a Psycholinguist. In Carlson, Katy, Charles Clifton Jr. & Janet Dean Fodor, eds. Grammatical Approaches to Language Processing- Essays in Honor of Lyn Frazier. Studies in Theoretical Pyscholinguistics, Springer, NY, 275-308.
2014 — Tackling “legalese”: How linguistics can simplify legal language and increase access to justice. Language Use & Linguistic Structure (Olomouc Modern Language Series), Olomouc, 231-46. [Online] https://dx.doi.org/10.5507/ff.14.24440606.
2007 — Parameterized auxiliary selection: a fine-grained interaction of features and linking rules. In Aranovich, R., ed., Split Auxiliary Systems: A Cross-linguistic Perspective. Studies in Language Series, John Benjamins, NY. 207-235.
2004 — Acquiring unaccusativity: a cross-linguistic look. (with A. van Hout, H. Baayen & J. Weissenborn) In Alexiadou, A., E. Anagnostopoulou & M. Everaert, eds. The Unaccusativity Puzzle: explorations of the syntax-lexicon interface. Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics, Oxford University Press, NY. 332-353.
2003 — Inheritance in morphology. In Frawley, W., ed., Oxford Encyclopedia of Linguistics. 2nd ed. Oxford University Press, NY. Volume 2, 283-284.
1993 — Lexical Mapping. (with J. Carrier) In Reuland, E. & W. Abraham, eds., Knowledge and Language vol. 2: lexical and conceptual structure. Kluwer, Dordrecht, 119-142.
1992 — The argument structure and syntactic structure of resultatives. (with J. Carrier.) Linguistic Inquiry 23, 173-234.
1992 — The Catapult Hypothesis: an approach to unlearning In Weissenborn, J., H. Goodluck & T. Roeper, eds., Theoretical issues in language acquisition. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, 93-138.
1990 — Catapults & pendulums: the mechanics of language acquisition. Linguistics 28, 1381-1406.
1988 — Inheritance. In Wilkins, W., ed., Thematic Relations. Syntax & Semantics series, Volume 21. Academic Press, New York, 129-146.
1988 — Of butchers & bakers & candlestickmakers: the problem of morphology in understanding words. In Davison, A. & G. Green, eds., Linguistic complexity and text comprehension: a re-examination of readability with alternative views. Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, 223-245.
1987 — Indirect positive evidence: overturning overgeneralizations in language acquisition. Indiana University Linguistics Club.
1985 — Negative evidence from positive. In Fletcher, P. and M. Garman, eds., Child Language Seminar Papers 1, 105-114. [Abstract]
1984 — Morphological complementation. In Speas, M. and R. Sproat, eds., MIT Working Papers in Linguistics VII, 70-85.
1984 — Grammatical information in word structure. Quaderni di Semantica [International Journal of Theoretical and Applied Semantics] 5, 313-330.
1984 — Thematic structure and inheritance. Quaderni di Semantica [International Journal of Theoretical and Applied Semantics] 5, 92-110.
1984 — Indirect positive evidence: a new route for retreat. Boston University Conference on Language Development, Special Session: theoretical issues in language acquisition, 1-14. Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) Clearinghouse on Languages & Linguistics, ED253113, Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington, D.C.
1983 — A lexical approach to causatives. Journal of Linguistic Research 2, 77-105.
1983 — Filling gaps: decision principles and structure in language comprehension. (with L. Frazier and C. Clifton) Cognition 13, 187-222.
1980 — -ity: a study in word formation restrictions. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 6, 524-35.
Invited Presentations (recent, selected)
2019 — In pursuit of comprehension: Law, meet Linguistics. Workshop for new judges, Flaschner Judicial Institute, Boston. (Organized by Justice Douglas Wilkins.) The Flaschner Judicial Institute provides educational/ professional development programming for judges. May.
2019 — The Linguistics & Law Lab: a collaborative research space. The Civil Jury Project Roundtable for Academic Advisors, NYU Law School, April.
2018 — “Just” Language: Linguistics & Law 101. 2-hour workshop. Department of Linguistics & Translation, City University of Hong Kong. August.
2017 — The preponderance of the WHAT? Legalese, meet Linguistics. The Syntax of Justice: Law, Language, Access & Exclusion Conference. Northeastern U. School of Law, Boston. March.
2017 — One talk, three ways. Keynote speaker, professional development workshop for graduate students & post-docs. Boston University Conference on Language Development. Boston, November.
2016 — Results, three ways. One of 3 invited speakers at Student-organized Panel, Know Your Audience: Explaining your Research in Different Contexts. Linguistics Society of America Annual Meeting. Washington DC. January.
2014 — “What was that, again?” Instructing a Jury in Plain English. Workshop, Flaschner Judicial Institute, Boston. The Flaschner Judicial Institute provides educational/ professional development programming for judges.
Fun
2018 — Ode to Tom Roeper. In Hollebrandse, Bart, Jaieun Kim, Ana T. Pérez-Leroux, & Petra Schulz, eds. T.O.M and grammar (Thoughts on Mind and grammar): A festschrift in honor of Tom Roeper. University of Massachusetts Occasional Papers in Linguistics (UMOP) 41. Amherst: U.Mass, Graduate Linguistics Student Association, 123-125.
2007 — Discovering knowledge about prefixes. TeachLing: Lesson plans on language and linguistics in K-12 education. Lesson plan for grades 6-8. Western Washington University.
1978 — de- and dis- location. Unpublished ms. University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
In the Press
2017 — Too often juries comprise 12 confused men (and women), Robert Lane Greene, The Economist. April 14-20.
2015 — Embrace Plain English Jury Instructions, Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm, Persuasive Litigator. March 23.
2013 — Linguists to gather in Minneapolis for national conference, Linguistic Society of America on AAAA/EurekAlert! December 6. (Scroll down to the 6th entry, Randall)
The Linguistics & Law Lab is working at the border between law and linguistics to improve justice through linguistic research.