John A. Goldsmith
Edward Carson Waller
Distinguished Service Professor
of Linguistics and Computer Science
Welcome to my academic homepage. I am professor emeritus of Linguistics and Computer Science at the University of Chicago, specializing in phonological theory, computational linguistics, and the history of linguistic thought.
Co-authored with Bernard Laks (2019), this book explores intellectual rupture and continuity in linguistics, philosophy, psychology, and logic from 1870-1940.
Autosegmental phonology introduced the first major change in generative phonology after The Sound Pattern of English: the study of the geometrical structure of phonological representations. Important works include "English as a tone language," providing an autosegmental approach to English intonation, my 1976 dissertation, Autosegmental Phonology, and the 1990 book, Autosegmental and Metrical Phonology.
A computational approach to unsupervised learning of morphology, exploring what Universal Grammar might look like from a machine learning perspective.
Visit LinguisticaAutosegmental phonology, tone systems, vowel harmony, and metrical theory. Earliest work on multi-dimensional phonological representations, including work on English intonation.
Machine learning approaches to morphology, unsupervised language learning, and information-theoretic approaches to linguistic structure.
Work on Bantu tone systems, morphology, and syntax, including work on Tonga, Kirundi, and Xhosa, among others.
Intellectual history of linguistics, philosophy, and psychology, exploring the development of modern linguistic theory.
Computational and theoretical approaches to morphological learning, with focus on unsupervised discovery of morphological structure.
Work on French and Igbo syntax, complementizer systems, and syntactic theory within the generative tradition.
A 30-minute overview of the topics explored in Battle in the Mind Fields, covering intellectual developments from 1870-1940.
An in-depth exploration of the connections between logical positivism and the development of generative grammar. A longer version of the ABRALIN video.
Clarifying what Zellig Harris actually proposed and why it matters for modern machine learning approaches to linguistics.
A video about Randy Harris's expanded second edition of The Linguistics Wars, exploring the intellectual battles in generative linguistics.
ABRALIN talk from July 2020: Rethinking the origins of generative grammar and its intellectual foundations.
The distinguished Ryerson Lecture delivered at the University of Chicago in 2014.
Email: goldsmith@uchicago.edu
Address: 35 Mill Rock Road, Hamden CT 06517