Paula Menyuk (1929 - 2020) was an American linguist known for her research in language development and disorders. She is one of the founders of the Boston University Conference on Language Development. At the time of her death, she was

Professor Emerita ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

Biography

Menyuk was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and attended

Hunter College High School Hunter College High School is a secondary school located in the Carnegie Hill neighborhood on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It is administered by Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY). Hunter is publicly funded, and there i ...

. She received her Bachelor of Science in Speech Sciences from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

in 1951. She worked as a chief language therapist at

Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United Stat ...

before pursuing her Masters of Education in Speech and Hearing from Boston University. Menyuk continued on to receive her Doctor of Education in Psycholinguistics from Boston University in 1961. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, where she studied with

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is ...

, before returning to Boston University for the rest of her academic career. Menyuk rose as a leading expert in child language development and disorders and eventually obtained the rank of Professor Emerita in the Developmental Studies and Applied Linguistics program at Boston University. Menyuk retired from Boston University in 1998. Menyuk's research was supported by the

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...

, the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

, and the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

. Outside of scholarly work Menyuk had a passion for safe environmental implementation.

Research

Menyuk's research focused on the linguistic behavior of children and adolescents, covering topics such as the development of

spoken language A spoken language is a language produced by articulate sounds or (depending on one's definition) manual gestures, as opposed to a written language. An oral language or vocal language is a language produced with the vocal tract in contrast with a si ...

, prosody,

metalinguistic awareness Metalinguistic awareness, also known as metalinguistic ability, refers to the ability to consciously reflect on the nature of language. The concept of metalinguistic awareness is helpful in explaining the execution and transfer of linguistic know ...

, and

reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

. Other work examined language development in children specifically impacted by

otitis media Otitis media is a group of inflammatory diseases of the middle ear. One of the two main types is acute otitis media (AOM), an infection of rapid onset that usually presents with ear pain. In young children this may result in pulling at the ear, ...

. Menyuk's research has been described as aligning with

Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is ...

's theoretical perspective and centered around explaining how the faculty of language matures during childhood.

Honors and recognition

Menyuk was a

Fulbright Fellow The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

in 1971 and in 1989. Menyuk received the Honors of the Association award from the

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

and earned the rank of Fellow within the organization. Boston University created the annual Paula Menyuk award in her honor to support graduate students attending the annual

Boston University Conference on Language Development Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most ...

(BUCLD).

Selected publications

Books

* Menyuk, P. (1969). ''Sentences children use''. MIT Press. * Menyuk, P. (1971). ''The acquisition and development of language''. Prentice Hall. * Menyuk, P. (1977). ''Language and maturation''. MIT Press. * Menyuk, P. (1988). ''Language development: Knowledge and use''. Addison Wesley Publishing Company. * Menyuk, P., & Brisk, M. (2005). ''Language development and education: Children with varying language experiences''. Springer. * Menyuk, P., Liebergott, J. W., & Schultz, M. C. (2014). ''Early language development in full-term and premature infants''. Psychology Press.

Articles

* Menyuk, P. (1964). Comparison of grammar of children with functionally deviant and normal speech. ''Journal of Speech and Hearing Research'', ''7''(2), 109-121. * Menyuk, P. & Chesnick, M. (1997). Metalinguistic skills, oral language knowledge and reading. ''Topics in Language Disorder, 17'', 75-87. * Menyuk, P., Chesnick, M., Liebergott, J. W., Korngold, B., D'Agostino, R., & Belanger, A. (1991). Predicting reading problems in at-risk children. ''Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research'', ''34''(4), 893-903. * Menyuk, P., Liebergott, J., Schultz, M.. Chesnick, M., Ferrier, L. (1991). Patterns of early lexical and cognitive development in premature and full term infants. ''Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 34''(1), 88-94. * Teele, D., Klein, J., Chase, C., Menyuk, P. & Rosner, B. (1990). Otitis media in infancy and development of intellectual ability, school achievement, speech and language at age seven years. ''Journal of Infectious Diseases, 162'', 685-694.

References

External links

BUCLD Paula Menyuk Award
{{DEFAULTSORT:Menyuk, Paula 1929 births 2020 deaths Speech and language pathology Language acquisition American women academics Boston University faculty Boston University alumni New York University alumni Women linguists People from New York City