Linguistics at UC San Diego

Welcome Council of Teachers of Southeast Asian Languages Conference (COTSEAL) to UC San Diego! The conference will be held August 14-15, 2026, in the Public Engagement Building.

We are thrilled to share the great news that our alumna Ebru Evcen (PhD 2026), who just defended her dissertation, is joining the Bergelson Lab in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Fall. Ebru will be working with Dr. Elika Bergelson on the linguistic, social, and cognitive foundations of early word learning across infancy and toddlerhood. Congratulations, Ebru!

We are thrilled to share the great news that our alumnus JJ Lim (Ph.D. 2025) has just accepted a position as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of English, Linguistics, and Theatre Studies at the National University of Singapore (NUS). JJ will be working with Dr. Nick Huang on investigating morphosyntactic choice and variation in Singapore English and other languages of Singapore, using both theoretical and psycholinguistic approaches. Congratulations, JJ!

We are sad to announce that Vicki King, a beloved former staff member in the department, has passed away. Vicki was a student in one of the early undergraduate classes at UC San Diego and began working in the department's language program shortly after graduation. After taking time off to raise her family, she returned as Assistant Director of the Linguistics Language Program, a position she held for more than two decades. For hundreds of TAs in the program and thousands of students, she was a source of wise counsel and friendly advice, always delivered with warmth and compassion. Her candy dish and flying pig decor helped lighten the mood, no matter how difficult the situation, and she was a master at keeping the LLP, a complex program with seven languages and many dozens of instructors, running smoothly and efficiently year after year. Vicki retired in 2011 and had been living in Texas in recent years, enjoying life with her sons and grandchildren. Our deepest condolences to her family and to the many former TAs and students who were touched by her kindness and counted her as a friend.

The San Diego Central Library's America 250 series includes the presentation, "Deaf in America: 250 Years of ASL and Culture" by Professors Carol Padden and Tom Humphries. The event is on Tuesday, August 4, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm at the Central Library (9th Floor - Shiley Special Events Suite). Click on the link below for more information.

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We are proud to announce that Ebru Evcen successfully defended her dissertation "Conditional Perfection and the Role of Alternatives: An Experimental Investigation in Adult and Child Comprehension" on Monday, July 6. Congratulations, Dr. Evcen!

The Department of Linguistics within the School of Social Sciences at UC San Diego is currently accepting applications for temporary non-tenure track lecturers (Unit 18). The department is committed to building an excellent and diverse faculty, staff, and student body, and invites applications from candidates whose experience has prepared them to contribute to our commitment.
Responsibilities include effective instruction, teaching classes in accord with the course description and objectives, following the academic and administrative policies of the department and program, and advising students on academic matters.
Details at the link below.

Temporary Lecturer - LINGUISTICS University of California, San Diego is hiring. Apply now!

We would like to announce that our colleague and friend, Olivier Jamois, will be leaving our linguistics team and moving to New York to begin a new life chapter. Starting in the fall, Olivier will be attending Fordham School of Law. We wish you all the best, Olivier!

We are proud to announce that Shai Lynne Nielson successfully defended her dissertation "Late first language acquisition impacts phonological movement production and perception in American Sign Language" on Thursday, June 11. Congratulations, Dr. Lynne Nielson!

Congratulations to the ASL Club on their 2nd annual ASL poetry night last week. It was a grand success with over 100 people attending and a wide variety of performers, including students, teachers, Deaf community members and Deaf parents of students.