| Dominik Rus |
| My academic focus spans from theoretical linguistics, to cognitive and developmental psychology, to neuroscience. I have been interested mainly in the connection between formal linguistic theories and child language acquisition, the interaction between early cognitive development and early linguistic development, and the biological basis of language. My main projects in graduate school have been in child language acquisition of morphosyntax, particularly the acquisition of inflectional morphology (specifically, tense, agreement, and aspect) and formal language learnability theories. I have presented my work at various conferences and workshops in Europe, the US, Central America, and Caribbean. Below you will find all my published articles, conference abstracts, and conference presentations. I have also made available a few of my unpublished articles and term papers, as well as my undergraduate honors thesis. Feel free to download anything you want, but please cite the work as specified on this website. If you want to read more about my past and current projects and my doctoral dissertation project, click here. Comments are always welcome. You can reach me at dr59 (at) georgetown (dot) edu. |
| Mi enfoque académico abarca la lingüística general, la psicología cognitiva y del desarrollo humano y las neurociencias. Mis intereses principales han sido la conexión entre las teorías formales de la lingüística y la adquisición del lenguaje en los niños, la interacción entre el desarrollo cognitivo y la capacidad lingüística y la base biológica del lenguaje. La mayoria de mis proyectos de mis estudios han sido en la adquisición de la morfosintaxis en los niños, particularmente en la adquisición de la morfología inflexional (especificamente, el tiempo, la concordancia y el aspecto) y en las teorías formales del aprendizaje. He presentado mi trabajo en varias conferencias y talleres en Europa, los EE.UU., Céntroamerica y el Caribe. Abajo encontrarás todos los artículos que he publicado, los resúmenes de mis exposiciónes y mis exposiciónes. Aquí también encontrarás algunos articulos mios que no han sido publicados y mi tesis final de mi licenciatura. Baja lo que quieras pero por favor cita los trabajos tal como aparecen aquí en ésta página. Si quieres leer más sobre mis proyectos pasados y actuales y sobre la tesis del doctorado haz el click aquí (en inglés) Los comentarios son siempre bienvenidos. Escribeme al dr59 (arroba) georgetown (punto) edu. |
Education
Doctoral Candidate, 2002/3 to present
Linguistics
Brain and Language Lab,
Department of Neuroscience
Georgetown University, Washington DC
[coursework in Linguistics, Language Acquisition,
Cognitive Psychology, and Neuroscience]
Bachelor of Arts (with Distinction), 2001
Modern English Language and Literatures in English
With Designation in English Language Teaching
Department of English
University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
[coursework in general, English, and Spanish linguistics,
and literatures in English]
7th Eastern European Summer School in Generative Grammar, AUB, American
University in Bulgaria, Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, July 31- August 11, 2000
[courses in generative syntax, semantics, psycholinguistics, and research methods]
5th Eastern European Summer School in Generative Grammar, University of
Debrecen, Department for English and American Studies, Debrecen, Hungary,
August 3-21, 1998.
[courses in generative syntax, phonology, semantics, and neurolinguistics]
Academic Focus in Graduate School
Fluency and Languages Spoken
Publications
Fidler, A. and Rus, D. 2007. A cross-linguistic investigation of early locative morphology.
To appear in Proceedings of the Second Oxford Postgraduate Conference in Linguistics.
Rus, D. The acquisition of tense and agreement at the interfaces. A Biolinguistic
Perspective. To appear in Rus, D. and Fidler, A. (Eds.), Georgetown University Working
Papers in Theoretical Linguistics, Volume 7.Department of Linguistics, Georgetown
University, Washington DC.
Rus, D. 2007. The acquisition of tense and agreement in early grammars and early root
nonfinites (in child Slovenian) revisited. In Caunt-Nulton, H., Kulatilake, S. and Woo, I.
(Eds.), BUCLD31: Proceedings of the 31st annual Boston University Conference on
Language Development, 543-554. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
Rus, D. 2007. The functional structure of imperative phrase markers: Evidence from adult
and child Slovenian imperatives. In Compton, R., Goledzinowska, M. and Savchenko, U.
(Eds.), Formal Approaches to Slavic Linguistics #15: the Toronto Meeting, 324-333. Ann
Arbor, MI: Michigan Slavic Publications.
Rus, D. 2006. Early root nonfinites and the acquisition of finiteness: Evidence from child
Slovenian. To appear in Lecturas sobre psicolingüística. Mexico City: Universidad
Autónoma de México.
Rus, D. 2006. What Momma still had to teach you: Towards a variability model of
morphosyntactic learnability. In Diercks, M. and Gruber, J. (Eds.), Georgetown University
Working Papers in Theoretical Linguistics, Vol. 6, 1-49. Department of Linguistics,
Georgetown University, Washington DC.
Rus, D. 2006. Early root nonfinites and the acquisition of finiteness in child grammar:
Evidence from early child Slovenian. In Lavine, J., Franks, S., Tasseva-Kurktchieva, M.
and Filip, H. (Eds.), Formal Approaches to Slavic Linguistics #14: the Princeton Meeting,
331-346. Ann Arbor, MI: Michigan Slavic Publications.
[click here for a revised version of this paper - Qualifying Review Paper II]
Rus, D. 2005. Slovenian embedded imperatives. In Brandstetter, C. and Rus, D. (Eds.),
Georgetown Working Papers in Theoretical Linguistics, Vol. 4, 153-183. Department of
Linguistics, Georgetown University, Washington DC.
Rus, D. and Chandra, P. 2006. Child language imperatives: Root infinitive analogues? In
Belletti, A., Bennati, E., Chesi, C., Di Domenico, E. and Ferrari, I (Eds.), Language
Acquisition and Development: Proceedings of Generative Approaches to Language
Acquisition (GALA) 2005. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Scholars Press.
Rus, D. and Chandra, P. 2006. Questioning the ‘imperative as an RI-analogue’ hypothesis.
In Bamman, D., Magnitskaia, T. and Zaller, C. (Eds.), BUCLD30: Proceedings of the 30th
annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, 513-524. Somerville, MA:
Cascadilla Press.
Rus, D. and Chandra, P. 2005. Bare participles are not root infinitives: Evidence from early
child Slovenian. In Brugos, A., R. Clark-Cotton, M. and Ha, S. (Eds.), BUCLD29:
Proceedings of the 29th annual Boston University Conference on Language Development
29, 493-503. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
Presentations, Workshops, and Invited Talks
L1 and L2 acquisition of phonology: From linguistic theory to language
instruction. Workshop given at KAPLAN, Edutech, Inc. Panama City, Panama; November
2007
(with Ashley Fidler) A cross-linguistic investigation of early locative morphology. Talk
presented at LingO7: The Second Oxford Postgraduate Conference in Linguistics.
University of Oxford, UK; September 2007
[abstract] [powpoint slides] [conference program]
Bridging linguistic and neurocognitive approaches to the acquisition of morphosyntax in
healthy-developing children and children with Specific Language Impairment. Plenary talk
delivered at SHAV: Speech and Hearing Association of Virginia 49th annual conference.
Richmond, Virginia; March 2007
[long abstract] [powerpoint slides] [conference program]
The acquisition of tense and agreement at the interfaces. Talk presented at the
Biolinguistic Investigations. Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; February 2007
[abstract - v2] [powerpoint slides] [conference program]
The development of language. Workshop given at KAPLAN, Edutech, Inc. Panama City,
Panama; November 2006
[abstract]
The acquisition of tense and agreement in early grammars and early root nonfinites (in
child Slovenian) revisited. Talk presented at the 31st annual Boston University Conference
on Language Development. Boston University, Boston, MA; November 2006
[abstract] [powerpoint slides] [conference program]
The mental lexicon: The learning and teaching of semantics. Workshop given at American
English Overseas Center, Panama City, Panama; July 2006
[abstract]
The functional structure of imperative phrase markers: Evidence from adult and child
Slovenian imperatives. Talk presented at Formal Approaches to Slavic Linguistics (FASL)
XV. University of Toronto, Canada; May 2006
[abstract] [powerpoint slides] [conference program]
Reconciling Mother Nature and Momma Nurture: Towards a variability model of the
acquisition of tense and agreement in child grammars. Talk presented in the Brain and
Language Lab, Neuroscience Department. Georgetown University, Washington, DC; April
2006
Biology meets statistics: Towards a variational model of morphosyntactic learnability. Talk
presented at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia; March 2006
[abstract]
(with Pritha Chandra) Questioning the “imperative as an RI-analogue” hypothesis. Talk
presented at the 30th annual Boston University Conference on Language Development
(BUCLD). Boston University, Boston, MA; November 2005
[abstract] [powerpoint slides]
(with Pritha Chandra) Child language imperatives: Root infinitive analogues? Talk
presented at the Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition (GALA). Università di
Siena, Siena, Italy; September 2005
[abstract] [powerpoint slides] [conference program]
The Acquisition of finiteness in early child grammars: Some novel evidence from early
child Slovenian. Talk presented at V Simposium de Psicolingüística. Universidad Autónoma
de México, Mexico City, Mexico; May 2005
Early root nonfinites and the acquisition of finiteness in child grammar: Evidence from
early child Slovenian. Talk presented at Formal Approaches to Slavic Linguistics (FASL)
XIV. Princeton University, Princeton, NJ; May 2005
[abstract] [powerpoint slides]
Linguistic approaches to Specific Language Impairment and the Inflectional Hierarchy
Hypothesis. Talk presented in the Brain and Language Lab, Neuroscience Department.
Georgetown University, Washington, DC; April 2005
[powerpoint slides]
(with P. Chandra) Bare participles are not root infinitives: Evidence from early child
Slovenian. Talk presented at the 29th annual Boston University Conference on Language
Development (BUCLD); Boston University, Boston, MA; October 2004
[abstract] [powerpoint slides]
Bare participles in early child Slovenian. Presented at the Linguistics Brown Bag Lunch.
Georgetown University, Washington, DC; September 2004
Quirky verb movement in Slovenian. Talk presented at the Linguistics Brown Bag Lunch.
Georgetown University, Washington, DC; November 2003
Universal Grammar in language acquisition. Poster presented at the Georgetown
University Graduate School Research Fair; April 2003
Unpublished Manuscripts and Term Papers
(Please do NOT cite these papers unless otherwise specified [in cases where no published
version exists] - these are drafts which the published papers above are based on)
Early Root Nonfinites and the acquisition of finiteness in early Slovenian.
This paper served as my Qualifying Review Paper II at Georgetown University. 2005.
[several published papers above use the ideas and arguments expressed here]
Quirky verb movement in Slovenian.
A final paper for Rafaella Zanuttini's "Syntax III" at Georgetown University. This is the
revised version of the paper, which served as my Qualifying Review Paper I. 2004.
[you may cite this as Rus (2004), Georgetown University Ms. as I have not published this study at all]
Domain-specific knowledge systems of the brain: Evidence for the organization of the
Mental Lexicon.
The original final paper in a grant proposal format for Chandan Vaidya's "Seminar in
Cognitive Neuroscience" at Georgetown University. 2004.
[the neuroscientific evidence for brain specilization of domain-specific knowledge representation;
part of my background study for the SLA workshops on the acquisition and teaching of (lexical)
semantics]
Syntactic structure is NOT simply data-driven learning: Reply to Akhtar (1999).
Akhtar, N. (1999). Acquiring basic word order: evidence for data-driven learning of
syntactic structure. Journal of Child Language 26, 339-356.
The original midterm paper for Rozz Thornton's "Child Language Acquisition" at University
of Maryland at College Park. 2003.
[not published at all, but some ideas voiced in this reply will appear in my forthcoming dissertation]
On language and mind or what can linguists learn from cognitive psychologists about
language and its acquisition.
The original final reflection essay for Darlene Howard's "Seminar in Cognition" at
Georgetown University. 2003.
[most--if not all--ideas voiced here served as the [conceptual] basis for my dissertation]
Research training proposal: Functional categories and clause structure of child English: In
search for a grammatical-neurocognitive account.
A slightly updated version of the final paper in a research proposal format for Michael
Ullman's and Rhonda Friedman's "Brain & Language" at Georgetown University. 2003.
[not a publishable document due to its form, but several of the ideas here served as the basis for the
conceptual claims in my dissertation]
Undergraduate Papers
Universal Grammar and parameterized syntax in language acquisition: The Pro-Drop
Parameter and accessibility of Universal Grammar to adult second language acquisition.
My University of Ljubljana Honors Thesis, which was defended in March 2001 and won the
best student thesis award (the "Preseren Award") for the academic year 2000/1 at the
School of Arts at the University of Ljubljana.
Teaching Experience
Independent Teaching in Graduate School
Invited guest lecturer, teaching a 40-hour course Phonetics and Phonology: Use and
Acquisition; KAPLAN Edutech, Inc., Panama City, Panama; July-August 2007
Invited guest lecturer, teaching a 24-hour course Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology
for Teachers of English; American English Overseas Center, Panama City, Panama; July-
August 2006
Instructor for LING-251: Language Acquisition (undergraduate course); Department of
Linguistics, Georgetown University, Washington, DC; Fall 2005
Invited guest lecturer, delivering a 3-day workshop The Mental Lexicon; The Cene Stupar
Center for Permanent Education, Ljubljana, Slovenia; May 2004
Invited guest lecturer, delivering a 4-day workshop Language, Memory and Language
Acquisition; The Cene Stupar Center for Permanent Education, Ljubljana, Slovenia;
December 2003
Teaching and Research Assistantships in Graduate School
Teaching Assistant to Dr. Natalie Schilling-Estes (LING 001: Introduction to Language;
undergraduate course; grading HW assignments, holding weekly office hours; teaching
several class sections); Georgetown University, Department of Linguistics; Fall 2007
Research Assistant to Dr. Donna Lardiere. Georgetown University, Department of
Linguistics; Spring 2007
Research Assistant to Dr. Donna Lardiere. Georgetown University, Department of
Linguistics; Fall 2006
Teaching Assistant to Dr. Donna Lardiere (LING 226: Morphology; undergraduate course;
grading HW assignments, holding weekly office hours; teaching occasional class sections;
managing online course material); Georgetown University, Department of Linguistics;
Spring 2006
Teaching Assistant to Dr. Héctor Campos (LING 225: Syntax I; undergraduate course;
grading weekly HW assignments, holding weekly office hours); Georgetown University,
Department of Linguistics; Spring 2005
Teaching Assistant to Dr. Donna Lardiere (LING 351: Language Acquisition; high
undergraduate/low graduate course; grading HW assignments, holding weekly office
hours; teaching occasional class sections); Georgetown University, Department of
Linguistics; Fall 2004
Teaching Assistant to Dr. Raffaella Zanuttini (LING 225: Syntax I; undergraduate course;
grading weekly HW assignments, holding weekly office hours); Georgetown University,
Department of Linguistics; Spring 2004
Teaching Assistant to Dr. Héctor Campos (LING 525: Syntax I; graduate course; grading
weekly HW assignments, holding weekly office hours, teaching weekly recitation classes);
Georgetown University, Department of Linguistics; Fall 2003
Research Assistant to Dr. Donna Lardiere (helping with data and statistical analysis for Dr.
Lardiere’s book); Georgetown University, Department of Linguistics; Spring 2003
Teaching Assistant to Dr. Ralph Fasold (LING 001: Introduction to Language;
undergraduate course; grading weekly HW assignments, holding weekly office hours,
teaching occasional classes); Georgetown University, Department of Linguistics; Fall 2002
Research Experience
Locative Marking in Child Grammars (co-investigator Ashley Fidler, Georgetown
University, Washington, DC); quantitative and qualitative analyses of CHILDES data and
Child Slovenian data (Kranjc 199 and Rus & Rogac 2007); 2007 to present
Child Slovenian Acquisition Project (co-investigator Marjetka Rogac, University of
Ljubljana, Slovenia); longitudinal data collection & elicitation experiments with 1-3 year-
old Slovenian kids; 2005-2007
Brain and Language Lab, Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University (Michael
Ullman’s Lab); Project on the Neurocognition of Specific Language Impairment in
collaboration with the Kennedy Krieger Institute (KKI) at Johns Hopkins University Medical
Center in Baltimore, MD; independent research tutorials on Specific Language Impairment;
preparing IRB forms; 2004-2006
Other Academic Experience
Volunteer at the Center for Brain Basis of Cognition's Workshop on Developmental
Disorders, Georgetown University; April 2007
Volunteer at GURT 2007, Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and
Linguistics 2007, Washington DC; March 2007
Reviewer for the conference GURT 2007, Georgetown University Round Table in
Linguistics 2007; December 2006
Reviewer for the conference FDSL 6.5, Formal Descriptions in Slavic Languages; August
2006
Reviewer for the journal LINGUA; 2005 to present
Co-editor, Working Papers in Theoretical Linguistics; Georgetown University, Department
of Linguistics; 2006-07
Co-editor, Working Papers in Theoretical Linguistics; Georgetown University, Department
of Linguistics; 2004-05
Volunteer at GURT 2004, Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and
Linguistics 2007, Washington DC; March 2004
Co-founder and active member of the Biolinguistics Reading Group at Georgetown
University and University of Maryland at College Park; 2003-2005
Student Representative of the Theoretical Linguistics concentration, Georgetown
University, Department of Linguistics; 2002-2004
Member of the Georgetown University Cognitive Science Association; 2002 to present
Grants & Awards
Georgetown University Department of Linguistics Travel Award; 2006/07
Georgetown University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Travel Award; 2006/07
Georgetown University Graduate School Organization Travel Award (winner of Graduate
School Organization Research Fair Competition for best dissertation proposal and
academic merit in 2006/07); August 2006
Georgetown University Department of Linguistics Travel Award; 2005/06
The Paula Menyuk Travel Award for promising graduate student presentation. Boston
Conference on Language Development 30 (BUCLD 30), Boston, MA; November 2005
Georgetown University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Travel Award; 2005/06
Georgetown University Department of Linguistics Travel Award; 2004/05
The Paula Menyuk Travel Award for promising graduate student presentation. Boston
Conference on Language Development 29 (BUCLD 29), Boston, MA; November 2004
Georgetown University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Travel Award; 2002/03
Georgetown University tuition grant and stipend for graduate studies; 2002 to present
The Preseren Award for an outstanding undergraduate thesis at The Faculty of Arts,
University of Ljubljana for 2000/01
The Zois Scholarship for outstanding college student in Slovenia; 1996-2001
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Non-academic professional experience
Volunteering: International Ambassador (International Classroom program);
Meridian International Center, Washington DC; Fall & Winter 2007
Volunteering: Local volunteering group in Arraijan, Panama City, Panama; providing
food, toys, and school supplies to the Arraijan Elementary School, Panama City,
Panama; Summer 2007
Volunteering: Washington National Cathedral Choral Society; 2005-2006
Volunteering: International Ambassador (International Classroom program);
Meridian International Center, Washington DC; Fall & Winter 2007
Volunteering: Local volunteering group in Arraijan, Panama City, Panama; providing
food, toys, and school supplies to the Arraijan Elementary School, Panama City,
Panama; Summer 2007
Volunteering: Washington National Cathedral Choral Society; 2005-2006