Dr. Robert Hertz

Dr. Robert M. Hertz

Dr. Robert M. Hertz Title: Professor, Departments of Linguistics and English

Education:

Bachelor’s Degree: 1961, American Civilization, Rutgers University
Master’s Degree: 1962, English and Education, Syracuse University
Ph.D.: 1974, Linguistics, University of Southern California. Dissertation: The Grammar of English Causative-Transitivity.

Teaching/Research Interests:

My areas of teaching specialization include syntax, phonology, historical linguistics, and semantics. Syntactic theory: Generative-Transformational Grammars, Case Grammars, Government and Binding Theory. Phonology: American Descriptive Phonology, Prague School Phonology, acoustic phonetics (sound spectrography), and Generative Phonology. I am especially interested in how speakers of one language perceive the sounds of other languages. Historical linguistics: diachronic (historical) linguistics, Indo-European linguistics, and historical development of the English language. Semantics: I am presently researching the area of natural language semantics, i.e. how the various mechanisms found in natural languages permit speakers to create and understand meaningful utterances. Computational Linguistics: In the past, I was active in the area of computational linguistics, especially in computer-assisted language instruction, but I have not been active in this area for a number of years.

Courses Taught:

  • LING 101: Introduction to the World’s Languages
  • LING 325: Modern English Grammar
  • LING 327/English 327: Essentials of the English Language.
  • LING 363I: Essentials of Human Language
  • LING 420: English Phonology
  • LING 421: English Syntax
  • LING 423/English 423 & 523: Semantics
  • LING 426/English 426 & 526: History of the English Language
  • LING 610: Seminar in Historical Linguistics
  • LING 620: Seminar in Syntax
  • LING 625: Seminar in Phonology

Publications and Professional Presentations:

  • Computers in the Language Classroom. Menlo Park, CA: Addison-Wesley, 1987.
  • Microcomputers in Bilingual and Foreign Language Instruction: A Guide and Bibliography, with co-author Joseph Jacobs. Los Alamitos, CA: National Center for Bilingual Research, 1983.

Professional Activities, Awards, & Affiliations:

  • Linguistics Society of America, member from 1966 to the present. Association for Computational Linguistics, member from 1979 to 1996.