A native of Greece, fluent in Greek and Russian as well, Dr. Blackwell joined the faculty at MTSU in the Fall of 2001. Her research investigates the acquisition of the lexicon, and her teaching interests include the structure of English, linguistic theory, and language acquisition. She was one of the MTSU faculty who developed the new interdisciplinary minor in Linguistic Studies and currently serves as a liaison for the minor within the English department.

Publications

Blackwell, Aleka. (2010). Phonological changes in the Mesta, Chios, dialect: Evidence from three generations of women. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Greek Linguistics. 
___. & Olson, C. (2008). The nature of nominals modified by adjectives in the input. In T. Marinis, A. Papangeli, and V. Stojanovik (eds.), Proceedings of the Child Language Seminar 2007 - 30th Anniversary. Reading, UK: University of Reading. 38-48. (http://www.reading.ac.uk/web/FILES/cls/CLS_Blackwell,Olson.pdf) 
___. (2005). Acquiring the English adjective lexicon: relationships with input properties and semantic typology. Journal of Child Language. 32 (3). 535-562. 
___. (2000). On the acquisition of the syntax of English adjectives. In J. Boyle, J. Lee, and A. Okrent (eds.), CLS 36, Volume 2: The Panels. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 361-375. 
___. (1998). Adjectives in acquisition: On the syntactic and semantic development of English adjectives. Ph.D. dissertation, Boston University. 
___. (2005). Acquiring the English adjective lexicon: relationships with input properties and semantic typology. Journal of Child Language. 32 (3). 535-562. 
___. (2001). On the acquisition of the syntax of English adjectives. In J. Boyle, J. Lee, and A. Okrent (eds.), CLS 36, Volume 2: The Panels. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 
___. (1998). Adjectives in acquisition: On the syntactic and semantic development of English adjectives. Ph.D. dissertation, Boston University. 

Refereed Conferences Presentations

Phonological Changes in the Mesta, Chios, Dialect: Evidence from Three Generations of Women, 9th International Confe rence on Greek Linguistics, Chicago, 29-31, October, 2009.

Phonological Changes in the Mesta Dialect in Three Generations of Women, 4th International Conference of Modern Greek Dialects and Linguistic Theory, Chios/Greece, 11-14 June, 2009.

The Nature of Nominals Modified by Adjectives in the Input, Child Language Seminar 2007, Reading, UK, 18-20 July, 2007.

The effect of context on the interpretation of ADJ+N combinations, SECOL, 27-29 April, 2006, Auburn University, Alabama.

Integrating web-based computer-assisted instruction in English grammar courses," SAMLA/SECOL, 12-14 November, 2004, Roanoke, Virginia.

The effect of input on adjective acquisition by young children," SECOL LXX, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, April 15-17, 2004.

Where input and child language diverge: an analysis of the adjective lexicon of two children and their mothers." CLS 2003, Newcastle University, UK, July 9-11, 2003.

The effect of the semantic typology of a lexical class on its acquisition: Evidence from young children's acquisition of English adjectives." Paper presented at the IU workshop on Bootstrapping in Language Acquisition: Psychological, Linguistic, and Computational Aspects, Bloomington, Indiana, April 21-23, 2003.

The semantic composition of the adjective lexicon of three preschool children," 2003 Kentucky Foreign Language Conference/Linguistics Section, University of Kentucky, Lexington, April 25, 2003.

Before and after three: young children's pattern in the acquisition of human propensity adjectives," SAMLA/SECOL LXVII, Baltimore, MD, November 15, 2002.

Young children's strategies for negotiating the meaning of adjectives," Southeastern Conference on Linguistics LXVI, Memphis, TN, April 17, 2002.

Methods for evaluating and promoting lexical diversity in college student essays." College Conversations Roundtable on Class, Culture, Language, and Language Change. Ninetieth Annual Convention of the National Council of Teachers of English, November 16-21, 2000, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Promoting and evaluating lexical diversity in college essays." College Conversations Roundtable on Class, Culture, Language, and Language Change. Ninetieth Annual Convention of the National Council of Teachers of English, November 16-21, 2000, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

On the acquisition of the syntax of English adjectives." Paper presented at the 36 ^th Annual Conference of the Chicago Linguistic Society, April 27-29, 2000.

The syntax and pragmatics of Modern Greek o idhios." The Ohio State University Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies Conference, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, October 1994.

O idhios and emphasis in Modern Greek." Georgetown University Roundtable on Greek Linguistics, Georgetown University, Georgetown, D.C., March 1994.

Invited Talks

Early lexical development: Input, semantic transparency, or cognitive biases?" Invited speaker. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, September 13, 2004.

Assessing critical thinking in college courses." Cecils College, Asheville, North Carolina, July 13, 2000.

Incorporating critical thinking components in college courses." South College, Knoxville, Tennessee, September 14, 1999.

Foreign language learning strategies." Indiana University Summer Workshop in Russian and East European Languages, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, July 1990.

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