Eastern, Slavic, and German Studies Faculty

Margaret Thomas

Professor, Linguistics

Profile

Most of my research is in either the history of linguistics, especially American linguistics, or in second language acquisition and linguistic theory. Some of my work spans both these fields. I also have long-standing interests in the methodology of linguistics, that is, in the tools and techniques which linguists have used to study language, and in the psycholinguistics of Japanese.  At present I am working on the history of American structuralism, and on the study of language in colonial America.  My research has been supported by the Spencer Foundation and the Japan Foundation, and I have held short-term research appointments at Waseda University, Dokkyo University, and Japan Women's University.  At Boston College, I teach broadly across the field of theoretical and applied linguistics. 

Publications

BOOKS

Formalism and Functionalism in Linguistics: The Engineer and the Collector
(2019). London: Routledge Press

Roman Jakobson: Critical Assessments (Vols. I-IV)
(2014). London: Routledge Press

Fifty Key Thinkers on Language and Linguistics
(2011). London: Routledge Press

Universal Grammar in Second Language Acquisition: A History
(2004). London: Routledge Press

REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS

Book chapter: “American women’s contributions to the history of linguistics”. Accepted. To appear in Helena Samson and Wendy Ayres-Bennett (Eds.), Distant and Neglected Voices: Women in the History of Linguistics. Oxford University Press.

“American structuralism”. (Published online March 2019). Mark Aronoff (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Oxford University Press. pp. 1–37.

“Informed consent in research on second language acquisition”
(2017). Second Language Research 33: 271–288

“The doctorate in Second Language Acquisition: An institutional history”
(2013). Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 3.4: 509–531

“Air writing as a technique for the acquisition of Sino-Japanese by second language language learners” (2015). Language Learning 65: 631–659

“Jakobson’s Circles” (2014). In Vadim Kasevich, Yuri Kleiner, and Patrick Sériot (Eds.), History of Linguistics 2011 (145–155). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Press

“Otto Jespersen and ‘The Woman’, then and now” (2013). Historiographia Linguistica 40.3: 377–208

“Gender and the language scholarship of the Summer Institute of Linguistics in the context of mid-twentieth century American linguistics” (2011). In Gerda Hassler (Ed.), History of Linguistics 2008 (389–397). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Press

“Words and concepts for child language learning in late nineteenth versus late twentieth century America” (2007). In Douglas A. Kibbee (Ed.), History of Linguistics 2005 (344–355). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Press

“The evergreen story of Psammetichus’ inquiry” (2007). Historiographia Linguistica 34: 37–62

“Theories of second language acquisition: Three sides, three angles, three points” (2005). Second Language Research 21: 393–414

“Development of the concept of ‘the poverty of the stimulus’” (2002). The Linguistic Review 19: 51–71

“Universal Grammar in Roger Bacon and Martin Joos: Generative linguistics’ reading of the past” (2002). Historiographia Linguistica 29: 341–380’

“Assessment of proficiency in second language acquisition research” (1994). Language Learning 44: 307–336

“The acquisition of English articles by first and second language learners”
(1989). Applied Psycholinguistics 10: 335–355

“Universal grammar and the interpretation of reflexives in a second language”
(1991). Language 67: 211–239