Michael Israel

Michael Israel is an Associate Professor of English Language at the University of Maryland, specializing in linguistics with a focus on semantics, pragmatics, and language acquisition. His research explores the interplay between language structure and use, particularly in polarity sensitivity and child language development. He teaches courses like Concepts of Grammar, Meaning in Language, and History of English. His work includes the ReVerb project analyzing verbal constructions in child speech.

• Education: Not explicitly stated in provided texts
• Research Interests: Polarity items, cognitive linguistics, narrative grammar, pragmatics
• Publications: Includes a forthcoming book on polarity and numerous articles in journals like Journal of Pragmatics and Cognitive Linguistics

Teaching: Courses cover syntax, semantics, historical linguistics, and linguistics-literature intersections. Current offerings include ENGL 384 (Grammar), ENGL 385 (Semantics), and ENGL 482 (History of English).

Labs/Projects: ReVerb project studies verbal constructions in child language development using longitudinal corpora from CHILDES databases.