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, 621 Commonwealth Ave.
Boston, MA 02215
Office hours: Fall 2018: T 5-6; W 11-12; R 12:30-1:30; or by appointment

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 2018
Course number Course title Section Instructor Days Time Room

CAS LX 321

Syntax: Introduction to Sentential Structure

 web A1 Hagstrom TR 3:30-4:45 MUG 205
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. [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; Previously offered as CAS LX 522 "Syntax I"]
  • Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.

CAS LX 422

Intermediate Syntax: Modeling Syntactic Knowledge

 web A1 Hagstrom TR 11-12:15 CAS 222
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 422 GRS LX 722 Intermediate Syntax (or CAS LX 522) or consent of instructor]
[Meets with GRS LX 722]

Spring 2019 (tentative)
Course number Course title Section Instructor Days Time Room

CAS LX 350

Crosslinguistic Approaches to Language Acquisition

 A1 Hagstrom M 2:30-5:15 TBA
Exploration, within the framework of generative grammar, of how similarities and differences in the acquisition patterns of syntax, semantics, and morphology across typologically diverse languages provide key evidence about the essential nature of first and second language acquisition. [Prereq: CAS LX 250 Introduction to Linguistics or consent of instructor]
[Meets with GRS LX 650]

CAS LX 394

Natural Language Processing and Computational Linguistics

 A1 Hagstrom TR 3:30-4:45 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. [Prereq: CAS LX 250 or consent of instructor]
[Meets with GRS LX 694]
  • Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
  • This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas:
    • Quantitative Reasoning II
    • Research & Information Literacy