I'm a lecturer in Language Studies at the University of Stirling, and co-director of the Masters programme in English Language and Linguistics.

Research:

I study the cognitive and cultural foundations of language, in order to investigate how language originated and became complex. My areas of research interest include:

  • the evolution of language
  • the cognitive origins of linguistic complexity
  • cross-situational learning
  • grammaticalisation
  • cultural evolution
  • systematicity and regularisation
  • (socio-)cognitive linguistics
More details on my research page.

I'm also an external member of the Language Evolution and Computation Research Unit at the University of Edinburgh, where I previously did my PhD and worked on a number of postdoc projects, before taking up the lectureship in Stirling.

Teaching:

Autumn 2017: 
  • History of the English Language (ENGU9HL); 
  • Language and the Brain (LINU9L3); 
  • Language and Society (LINU911); 
  • Linguistic Structures (LINPP07);
  • Linguistic Contexts (LINPP08);
  • Language and Cognition (LIN P02)
Spring 2017:
  • Foundations of Language (LINU912);
  • Evolutionary Linguistics (LINPP06)

At Edinburgh, I supervised Gareth Roberts, who is now assistant professor in Linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania.

School of Arts and Humanities,
Pathfoot Building,
Stirling, FK9 4LA

email: andrew.smith AT stir.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 1786 467516
Twitter: 

Office Hours 
(Pathfoot B3): Mon 3-4