Neil Myler

Assistant Professor of Linguistics
Director of Graduate Admissions (for Fall 2019)
 Neil Myler
Email: myler@bu.edu
Web: https://sites.google.com/site/neilmylerlinguist/
Office phone: 617-358-4642
Fax: 617-358-4641
Office number: Linguistics B 08
Office address: Linguistics Department, 621 Commonwealth Ave.
Boston, MA 02215
Office hours: Office hours via video-chat by appointment.

BA, Modern and Medieval Languages, Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge (UK)
MPhil, Linguistics, Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge (UK)
PhD, Linguistics, New York University

Professor Myler teaches courses on morphology and various aspects of comparative morphosyntax. His research interests include morphology, (micro-)comparative syntax, argument structure, and the morphosyntax and semantics of possession cross-linguistically. Prof. Myler carries out linguistic fieldwork on Quechua languages (in Peru, Bolivia and Argentina) and on English dialects. For a full list of publications, see https://sites.google.com/site/neilmylerlinguist/.

Neil Myler introduces himself and describes his courses (see below):

Courses

Spring 2020
Course number Course title Section Instructor Days Time Room

CAS LX 110

SAY WHAT ? Accents, Dialects, and Society

 web A1 Myler TR 3:30-4:45 PHO 211
When people from different regions of the US and from various parts of the English-speaking world meet for the first time, they are immediately struck by differences in the way they speak. For speakers of so-called “non-standard” dialects, this can give rise to insecurity and frustration, and dialect prejudice may lead such speakers to suppress aspects of their native variety (an experience familiar to many American college students). But is there any objective reason to consider non-standard dialects as inferior? What are the implications of dialect diversity for education, civil rights, and other aspects of public policy? How are dialects and their speakers represented in literature, film, humor, music, and other aspects of popular culture? How exactly does English vary across different places and social groups? Where do these accents and dialects come from in the first place? This course, which assumes no previous background in linguistics, investigates these questions from both a linguistic and a more broadly humanistic perspective. [Prereq: None. Students who have already taken CAS LX 250 or any higher-level linguistics course (or are doing so concurrently) are not eligible to take CAS LX 110.]
  • Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
  • This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas:
    • Social Inquiry I
    • Individual in Community
    • Research and Information Literacy

CAS LX 365

Variation in Dialects of English

 web A1 Myler TR 9:30-10:45 CAS 201
This course explores how dialects of English differ from each other, focusing on grammatical variation in the US, with occasional forays into British dialects. The class will examine grammatical diversity on a number of levels (including accents, dialectal vocabulary, and social factors in language variation), but the main focus will be on studying and accounting for morphosyntactic differences amongst varieties. Students come to appreciate how linguists investigate grammatical diversity scientifically, revealing the complex structure of non-standard dialects. [Prereq: CAS LX 250 Introduction to Linguistics or consent of instructor.]
[Meets with GRS LX 665; Also offered as CAS EN 313 and MET LX 565; Previously offered as CAS LX 530 "Variation in Dialects of English"]

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

CAS LX 367

Indigenous Languages of Latin America

 A1 Myler MWF 12:20-1:10 TBA
Exploration of the structure, history, and varieties of indigenous languages of Latin America, and of the communities that speak them. [Prereq: Undergraduate prerequisite: CAS LX 250 or consent of instructor and a First-year Writing Seminar (CAS WR 100 or 120)]
[Meets with GRS LX 667]
  • Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
  • This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas:
    • Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy
    • Writing-Intensive
    • Research and Information Literacy

CAS LX 370

Romance Linguistics

 A1 Myler MWF 9:05-9:55 TBA
This course covers sound and morphosyntactic change since Latin, plus various topics in the comparative grammar of modern Romance languages. In addition, there is a module introducing students to the grammatical systems of certain less-studied Romance languages. Students deepen their linguistic knowledge and analytic skills by applying what they have learned in other Linguistics courses to this language family, and learn how data from Romance languages have contributed to our understanding of how language works in general. [Prereq: CAS LX 250 or consent of instructor; PLUS prior study of Latin or a Romance language at the 4th semester level or higher (e.g., CAS LF 212 or CAS LI 212 or CAS LS 212 or CAS LP 212 or equivalent).]
[Meets with GRS LX 670; Previously offered as CAS LX 532 "Romance Linguistics"]

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

CAS LX 110

SAY WHAT ? Accents, Dialects, and Society

 A1 Myler TR 3:30-4:45 TBA
When people from different regions of the US and from various parts of the English-speaking world meet for the first time, they are immediately struck by differences in the way they speak. For speakers of so-called “non-standard” dialects, this can give rise to insecurity and frustration, and dialect prejudice may lead such speakers to suppress aspects of their native variety (an experience familiar to many American college students). But is there any objective reason to consider non-standard dialects as inferior? What are the implications of dialect diversity for education, civil rights, and other aspects of public policy? How are dialects and their speakers represented in literature, film, humor, music, and other aspects of popular culture? How exactly does English vary across different places and social groups? Where do these accents and dialects come from in the first place? This course, which assumes no previous background in linguistics, investigates these questions from both a linguistic and a more broadly humanistic perspective. [Prereq: None. Students who have already taken CAS LX 250 or any higher-level linguistics course (or are doing so concurrently) are not eligible to take CAS LX 110.]
  • Carries humanities divisional credit in CAS.
  • This course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas:
    • Social Inquiry I
    • Individual in Community
    • Research and Information Literacy

CAS LX 365

Variation in Dialects of English

 A1 Myler TR 11-12:15 TBA
This course explores how dialects of English differ from each other, focusing on grammatical variation in the US, with occasional forays into British dialects. The class will examine grammatical diversity on a number of levels (including accents, dialectal vocabulary, and social factors in language variation), but the main focus will be on studying and accounting for morphosyntactic differences amongst varieties. Students come to appreciate how linguists investigate grammatical diversity scientifically, revealing the complex structure of non-standard dialects. [Prereq: CAS LX 250 Introduction to Linguistics or consent of instructor.]
[Meets with GRS LX 665; Also offered as CAS EN 313 and MET LX 565; Previously offered as CAS LX 530 "Variation in Dialects of English"]