astronomy

Nina Hyams

Nina Hyams is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Nina Hyams rather than just read about it. In short: Nina Hyams (born 1952) is a distinguished research professor emeritus in linguistics at the University of California in Los Angeles. Education and career Hyams received her PhD in linguistics in 1983 from Graduate Center of the City University of New York, with a dissertation entitled, The acquisition of parameterized grammars.

Key takeaways

Nina Hyams belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Nina Hyams to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Nina Hyams from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Nina Hyams (born 1952) is a distinguished research professor emeritus in linguistics at the University of California in Los Angeles.

Education and career Hyams received her PhD in linguistics in 1983 from Graduate Center of the City University of New York, with a dissertation entitled, The acquisition of parameterized grammars. It was published by Springer in 1986, and it remains a widely cited and influential classic. Her primary research area since her dissertation is grammatical development in first language acquisition. She is particularly noted for her research into the acquisition of null subjects. In 2020 she was inducted as a Fellow in the Linguistic Society of America.

Selected publications Hyams, Nina M. (1986). Language acquisition and the theory of parameters. D. Reidel Pub. Co. ISBN 978-90-277-2218-8. Retrieved 28 June 2011. Hyams, Nina; "The Theory of Parameters and Syntactic Development", a chapter within Roeper, Thomas; Williams, Edwin (1987). Parameter setting. Springer. ISBN 978-90-277-2315-4. Retrieved 28 June 2011. Hyams, Nina; Kenneth Wexler (Summer 1993). "On the Grammatical Basis of Null Subjects in Child Language". Linguistic Inquiry. 24 (3). MIT Press: 421–459. JSTOR 4178822. Hyams, Nina; Sigridur Sigurjónsdóttir (1990). "The Development of "Long-Distance Anaphora": A Cross-Linguistic Comparison with Special Reference to Icelandic". Language Acquisition. 1 (1). Taylor & Francis, Ltd.: 57–93. doi:10.1207/s15327817la0101_3. JSTOR 20011342.

References

External links Official website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Nina Hyams

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Nina Hyams claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Nina Hyams before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Nina Hyams ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Nina Hyams

In research: Nina Hyams appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Nina Hyams in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Nina Hyams is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1952 births, 20th-century American linguists, American linguist stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Nina Hyams outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Nina Hyams in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Nina Hyams means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Nina Hyams out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Nina Hyams in simple terms?

Nina Hyams (born 1952) is a distinguished research professor emeritus in linguistics at the University of California in Los Angeles. Education and career Hyams received her PhD in linguistics in 1983 from Graduate Center of the City University of New York, with a dissertation entitled, The acquisit…

Why does Nina Hyams matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Nina Hyams?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Nina Hyams.