Ray Jackendoff’s Home Page

Seth Merrin Professor of Philosophy Co-Director, Center for Cognitive Studies Tufts University

email: ray(dot)jackendoff(at)tufts(dot)edu phone: 617.627.4348 fax: 617.627.3952

Mailing address: Center for Cognitive Studies 115 Miner Hall Tufts University Medford, MA 02155

Ray Jackendoff received his Ph.D. in linguistics from MIT in 1969.  His research centers around the system of meaning in natural language, how it is related to the human conceptual system, and how it is expressed linguistically.  This has led him to a cognitive approach to traditional philosophical issues of inference and reference, embodied in his theory of Conceptual Semantics.  In developing this approach, he has worked on the conceptualization of space, on the relationship between language, perception, and consciousness, and, most recently, on the conceptualization of such socially grounded concepts as value, morality, fairness, and obligations.  In addition, in exploring how concepts are expressed in language, he has developed new models of the architecture of the human language faculty and its evolution. 

Jackendoff is also a classical clarinetist, performing frequently in recital and chamber music in the Boston area.  Through his musical interests, he has collaborated with composer Fred Lerdahl on a theory of musical cognition modeled on generative linguistics.  The 25^th anniversary of their book A Generative Theory of Tonal Music was celebrated in 2008 with conferences in Paris and Dijon and also at Tufts. 

Ray Jackendoff is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, of the Linguistic Society of America, and of the Cognitive Science Society.  He has had fellowships at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences and at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, and is a member of the External Faculty of the Santa Fe Institute.  He has been President of both the Linguistic Society of America and the Society for Philosophy and Psychology, and he has been awarded the 2003 Jean Nicod Prize in Cognitive Philosophy and a 2010 Docteur honoris causa from the Université du Québec à Montréal. He was awarded a Doctor Honoris Causa in October 2011 by the National University of Music in Bucharest.

vita (click here)	Videos:	"Podcasts" of the Summer Institute on the Origins of Language at the
list of publications (click here)	“The Cognitive Structure of Baseball,” Indiana U. Patten Lecture, 11-8-11	Institut des Sciences Cognitives in Montreal, 2010:
downloads of recent and forthcoming papers (click here)	“Language, Meaning and Rational Thought, Indiana U. Patten Lecture, 11-10-11	Lecture Questions
	Youtube - Authors @ Google: Ray Jackendoff, 8-30-07
	Ray Jackendoff - Conceptual Semantics at Harvard University, 11-13-07

New Book!

A User’s Guide to Thought and Meaning, Oxford University Press, 2012

Most recent books:

Meaning and the Lexicon: The Parallel Architecture 1975-2010, Oxford University Press, 2010	Simpler Syntax (with Peter W. Culicover), Oxford University Press, 2005
Language, Consciousness, Culture: Essays on Mental Structure, MIT Press, 2007	Foundations of Language: Brain, Meaning, Grammar, Evolution, Oxford University Press, 2002

Recording Romanian Music for clarinet and piano, with Valentina Sandu-Dediu, piano. Music of Marian Negrea, Stefan Niculescu, Dan Dediu, and Constantin Silvestri. Albany Records, 2003.

Downloadable excerpts Negrea: Lullaby Negrea: Dance To order CD, click here

Comic relief (with thanks to Bill Griffith, www.zippythepinhead.com)
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