Alan Munn
- (he/they)
- amunn@msu.edu
- B406 Wells Hall
- Associate Professor
- Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures
Biography
Ph.D., University of Maryland, College Park
My work concerns syntax, the principles that govern the combination of words into phrases and sentences, and language acquisition, how children acquire their first language. Syntactic representations in spoken language are linked to both phonological representations and semantic representations. My work mainly concerns this latter interface. Syntax is important to understanding a wide variety of areas within human cognition, and is important for understanding how language is acquired, how the human sentence processor works and how language breaks down when brain damage occurs. My main research interests are in syntax, the syntax/semantics interface, and first language acquisition. I am also interested in psycholinguistics more generally, especially aspects of the psycholinguistics of sentence processing and the psycholinguistics of sociolinguistic variation. Click on the links below for more information on some of these areas.
College of Arts & Letters News
- College of Arts & Letters Students Earn First-Place Awards at UURAFCollege of Arts & Letters
April 23, 2025Nine MSU students whose primary majors are in the College of Art & Letters received first-place awards for their research and creative scholarship presented at Michigan State University’s 27th Annual University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum (UURAF). The 2025 UURAF, […] Read Now →
- English Graduate Receives College’s Outstanding Senior AwardCollege of Arts & Letters
May 12, 2020Abby Jaroszewicz, who graduated this spring with a B.A. in English, a minor in Linguistics, and a minor in Women and Gender Studies, is this year’s recipient of the College of Arts & Letters Outstanding Senior Award. She also is a graduate of the Honors College as well as […] Read Now →
- UURAF First Place Winners AnnouncedCollege of Arts & Letters
April 11, 2019Several College of Arts & Letters students received first-place awards for their research and creative scholarship presented at the 21st Annual University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum (UURAF). Held each spring and co-sponsored by the Office of the Associate […] Read Now →
- English Undergrad Leads Research in LinguisticsCollege of Arts & Letters
December 18, 2018Abby Jaroszewicz, a sophomore English major, Citizen Scholar, and Honors College student, is doing linguistics research on children’s books at the MSU Language Acquisition Lab under the advisement of Associate Professors Cristina Schmitt and Alan Munn. When she first started […] Read Now →
- Impacting Childhood ResearchCollege of Arts & Letters
December 2, 2015After taking the Children’s Language Acquisition course taught by Cristina Schmitt, Honors College and linguistics and neuroscience major Mina Hirzel found something she was truly interested in pursuing. “Cristina invited me to come sit in on the acquisition lab, and that […] Read Now →
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