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Hello! I am a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Linguistics & Cognitive Science Department at Pomona College. I specialize in syntax, semantics, and first language acquisition.  

 

My research addresses how learners map structure to meaning, and how syntactic information is processed and integrated by adults and children. My dissertation (2022) focused specifically on syntactic bootstrapping as it extends to the adjectival domain. 

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Specific topics that I work on include word learning, degree constructions and gradability, ellipsis, verbal agreement, and movement (wh-Qs, passivization, tough-movement). 

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I have ongoing collaborations with Athulya Aravind (MIT), Forrest Davis (Colgate), Viviane Deprez (Rutgers), Iara Mantenuto (CSU-Dominguez Hills), and Kristen Syrett (Rutgers).

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I run the Child Language Acquisition Lab at Pomona College.

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Recent and Upcoming Events:

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"Mapping For-Phrases in Degree Constructions," to be presented at the 16th Congress of the International Association for the Study of Child Language (IASCL). Prague, Czech Republic. July 15-19, 2024.

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"Bootstrapping Adjectives," invited talk at CSU Dominguez Hills. Spring 2024.

 

"What Language Models Can Tell Us About Learning Adjectives," talk presented at the 2024 LSA Annual Meeting in NYC (with Forrest Davis). January 4-7, 2024.

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"Non-Canonical Agreement in Early Grammar," talk presented at BUCLD 48 (with Athulya Aravind). November 4-6, 2023.

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"Children's Interpretations of Referential and Expletive 'It'", talk presented at BUCLD 48 (with Athulya Aravind). November 4-6, 2023.

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"Agreement and Expletive There in Acquisition," talk presented at the Language Acquisition Workshop of New England (LAWNE) (with Athulya Aravind). April 15, 2023.

 

Invited talk at Harvard University (Language and Cognition Talk Series). "Word Learning in the Adjectival Domain: Categorizing Subjective Adjectives." March 7, 2023.

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Recent / Forthcoming Publications:

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Gotowski, Megan. (Under Review). Adjectival Subcategorization in Child-Directed Speech. [contact me for the MS] 

Deprez, Viviane & Gotowski, Megan. (2022). Probing the impact of register, familiarity, and information state on the form of French-questions. 

Gotowski, Megan. (2021). Quoi-sluices in French. Glossa.

Gotowski, Megan. (2019). The Acquisition of the Get-Passive. Language Acquisition 26.1.

Gotowski, Megan. (2018). Wh-In Situ Production in Child French. Linguistica Atlantica 36.2.

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