Paul Hagstrom

Associate Professor of Linguistics
Director of Undergraduate Studies
 Paul Hagstrom
Email: hagstrom@bu.edu
Web: http://ling.bu.edu/people/hagstrom
Web: http://www.bu.edu/linguistics/UG/hagstrom/
Office phone: 617-353-6220
Fax: 617-358-4641
Office number: Linguistics 105
Office address: Linguistics Department, 621 Commonwealth Ave.
Boston, MA 02215
Office hours: Spring 2020: MRF 12-1; or by appointment.
Note: Thursday office hours will be 11-12 instead of 12-1 on 1/23, 1/30, 2/6, and 2/14.

BA, Physics and Mathematics, Carleton College
PhD, Linguistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Professor Hagstrom's research interests are in syntax, semantics, and language acquisition.

Courses

Fall 2020 (tentative)
Course number Course title Section Instructor Days Time Room

CAS LX 321

Syntax: Introduction to Sentential Structure

 A1 Hagstrom MWF 11:15-12:05 TBA
Introduction to syntax as an object of inquiry. Students build an increasingly sophisticated model of syntactic knowledge to account for data from English and other languages, constructing and evaluating alternative hypotheses about how sentence structure works.

Starting in Fall 2020, undergraduates enrolled in CAS LX 321 A1 will also need to register for one of the discussion sections, S1, S2, or S3.

[Prereq: CAS LX 250 Introduction to Linguistics or consent of instructor.
Please note that this course cannot be taken for credit towards the MA or PhD program in Linguistics.]
[Meets with GRS LX 621; Also offered as MET LX 521; Previously offered as CAS LX 522 "Syntax I"]
  • Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.

CAS LX 423

Advanced Syntax: Issues in Modern Syntactic Theory

 A1 Hagstrom W 2:30-5:15 TBA
Exploration of advanced topics in syntax, chosen in part based on student interest, through reading and critical discussion of both foundational and recent literature. [Prereq: CAS LX 422 GRS LX 722 Intermediate Syntax (or CAS LX 522) or consent of instructor]
[Meets with GRS LX 723; Previously offered as CAS LX 523 "Syntax II"]

Spring 2021 (tentative)
Course number Course title Section Instructor Days Time Room

CAS LX 394

Introduction to Programming for Computational Linguistics

 A1 Hagstrom TR 12:30-1:45 TBA
Introduction to computational techniques to explore linguistic models and test empirical claims. Serves as an introduction to programming, algorithms, and data structures, focused on modern applications to NLP. Topics include tagging and classification, parsing models, meaning representation, and information extraction.

Note: Intended for students with no background in computer programming. Cannot be taken concurrently with or after CAS CS 111. [Prereq: CAS LX 250 or consent of instructor]
[Meets with GRS LX 694; Also offered as MET LX 594]
  • Carries divisional credit for Math and Computer Science in CAS.
  • This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas:
    • Quantitative Reasoning II
    • Research & Information Literacy

CAS LX 422

Intermediate Syntax: Modeling Syntactic Knowledge

 A1 Hagstrom TR 3:30-4:45 TBA
Using linguistic data drawn from a wide variety of languages, students develop a precise model of syntactic knowledge through evaluation of hypotheses and arguments. Exploration of major discoveries and phenomena from the linguistic literature. [Prereq: CAS LX 321 / GRS LX 621 Syntax: Introduction to Sentential Structure (or CAS LX 522) or consent of instructor.]
[Meets with GRS LX 722]