McMaster University's graduate program in Cognitive Science of Language
1280 Main St. West Hamilton, ON, Canada

Our Graduate Lecture Series in the Cognitive Science of Language continues this year, albeit in a virtual format. https://linguistics.humanities.mcmaster.ca//the-cognitive/ Unfortunately, at this point, it is not open to everyone.

Dr. Vikki Cecchetto Associate Professor (retired) Department of Linguistics and Languages It is with great sadness that we have to let you know that Dr. Vikki C...ecchetto passed away early Thursday morning, peacefully, in her sleep. She spent her final days at the Juravinski Hospital in Hamilton with her closest family. She was just two weeks shy of her milestone 70th birthday. Born in Casacorba, Italy, at age 2, Vikki and her Mother immigrated to Canada to join her Father. Vikki’s zest for knowledge was evident at a very young age. Vikki proudly achieved her BA (1973), MA (1974) and PhD (1982) at the University of Toronto. Vikki chose to spend her teaching career at McMaster University. Throughout her 35 year tenure, Vikki taught, inspired and guided a multitude of students. She built strong and long-lasting, genuine friendships with both her colleagues and her students along the way. She started in the Department of Romance Languages and then, in 1987, moved to Modern Languages. She was the Director of the McMaster Language Institute, long-term counsellor for linguistics and the first graduate chair of the new PhD and Master’s program in the Cognitive Science of Language. Vikki was the author of the popular Italian language textbook Primi Passi and co-editor of three other books on language and identity in exile, international classroom and, most recently, trauma. Vikki also went above and beyond to collect interviews from the families of Italian Canadians who were interned during WWII. Her research interests involved 2nd language loss in aging bilinguals, the effects of trauma, and, most recently hate speech against refugees and minorities. Vikki sought to explore topics that were socially engaged and important, always with the goal of helping others. She retired from McMaster in 2011 as Associate Professor but continued to do research whilst devoting her spare time as a volunteer on the board of the Hamilton Public Library. Over the past 6 months, Vikki bravely faced her battle with cancer with a relentless, fighting attitude. It was inspiring to watch her remain positive and hopeful while always putting others first. Vikki was also a wonderful daughter, sister, aunt and friend. Her gentle presence, warmth, passion, generosity and caring ways were admirable and will be deeply missed. We can never forget her unconditional love for her furry friend, Tigger the cat. Visitation at Bay Gardens Funeral Home - "William J. Markey Chapel", 947 Rymal Road East, HAMILTON (905.574.0405) on Wednesday from 2-4pm and from 7 - 9pm. Due to Covid 19 attendance restrictions the Mass will be celebrated by invitation by the family only. Cremation. In lieu of flowers, a donation to the Canadian Cancer Society, Juravinski Cancer Center or a charity of your choice in her honour is appreciated.

Congratulations to Narcisse Torshizi for successfully defending her PhD thsesis entitled The Structure of Persian Compound Words in the Mental Lexicon: Experim...ental Studies on Compound Words Processing in Persian, written under the supervision of Dr. Lili Service. The committee included Drs. Gary Libben (Brock), Arsalan Kahnemuyipour (Toronto) and Magda Stroinska (McMaster).The External Examiner was Dr. Daphnée Simard (UQAM). The defence was chaired by Dr. Elbieta Grodek from the French Department. It was great to see many familiar faces in the Zoom audience. We wish you all the best in your future career, Narcisse! See more

As of July 1, 2020, our colleague, friend, and mentor, Dr. Lili Service, has been promoted to the position of Full Professor. We shared this good news as soon as we received the confirmation from the Dean but it was only last week, on Canada Day, that this decision actually came into force. Under normal circumstances, this would be a wonderful occasion to get together and celebrate Lili’s accomplishments. Let us hope that we will have an opportunity sometime during this academic year to transition back to meeting in person and not only on Zoom and we shall make sure that Lili’s well-deserved promotion is the focus of one of the first toasts. Please join me in congratulating Lili! Cheers and best wishes!