Position
Academic Background
Sample Courses   
Teaching Philosophy
Research & Interests   
Notable Academic Appointments & Awards
Publication Highlights   
Selected Scholarly Presentations

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• Professor Emeritus of Linguistics
• Retired in 2008 after 37 years of teaching at Providence College

• Brown University - Ph.D. in Linguistics, 1972
• Brown University - M.A.T. in English, 1965
• Rhode Island College - B.Ed. in English and Social Studies, 1960

• Modern English Grammar
• Introduction to Linguistics - I & II
• Language, Thought, and Culture (honors course)
• Analyzing Film
• Sociology of Language
  

Teaching Philosophy 

My mission in teaching is well expressed by Blake’s famous words, "To see the world in a grain of sand." I try to show students the wonder in the apparently quotidian: to observe closely what is going on in the world, to notice, and then to take what they have noticed and use it to analyze the intricacies of human behavior. Since I am a linguist, I of course, I do this by opening them up to the marvels of what they take most for granted: everyday talk. Since, for humans, all experience and all knowledge are mediated through language, this is no small task. To examine language is to examine what it is to be human.

As ubiquitous as language is in their lives, students have to learn to look at it objectively and not through a filter of emotional reactions and myth. Then they have to learn the details of how all languages are structured and used. This entails memorizing highly technical terms, facts, and processes. However, memorizing is necessary but not sufficient. As part of seeing the world in a grain of sand, students have to learn to use facts to analyze and to hypothesize. I do not reward trivial pursuits in my courses. Students cannot get good grades just by memorizing, nor can they get good grades by ignoring the facts. 

In all my classes, there is a good deal of problem solving. Virtually all exams are essay, and in most of my courses, students have to do an original research paper. This must include an experiment, either replicated or original, involving human subjects. The aim is to allow students to find out the answers for themselves to what interests them. By assigning such projects, I am inviting students into the community of scholars, so that they can feel for themselves the joy in discovering.

Although I teach linguistics, the basic skills I emphasize are applicable throughout the students’ lives: to pay attention, to see clearly, to understand, to form opinions from observable data, to be open to changing their hypotheses when new data are presented, and most of all, to retain the habits of asking questions and seeking answers. Most importantly. I hope they’ve learned to take nothing for granted -- truly to see the world in a grain of sand.

Research & Interests

• How people use language in society:
  • to maintain orderly daily interaction
  • to manipulate each other
  • to announce their identity
• Dialects:
  • what is happening in American speech nowadays
  • how people are actually speaking
  • why there is variation in speech forms among Americans, regionally and socially
• Schizophrenic speech

Notable Academic Appointments and Awards

• Internationally recognized and widely quoted for research and writings on schizophrenia; over 80 journal articles from 1975-1994 have referenced Dr. Chaika's writings on schizophrenic speech; she also has received over 1,000 article reprint requests from scholars around the globe.
• Providence College, Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence, 1999-2003
• Featured in several Who's Who compilations, most recently, Best Scholars in the 20th Century, 2000. 
• Grant from National Endowment to the Humanities given by the Providence Public Library, to sponsor lectures at 12 libraries throughout the state on the origins and state of Rhode Island dialects, 1982.

Publication Highlights

Books

• Linguistics, Pragmatics, and Psychotherapy: A Guide for Therapists, London and Philadelphia:Whurr Publishers, 2000.
• Language: the Social Mirror, 3d edition. New York:Heinle & Heinle, 1994.
• Paperback edition of Understanding Psychotic Speech: Beyond Freud and Chomsky. Springfield, Ill.: Chas. C. Thomas Publishers, 1994.
• In addition to books, author of more than 35 chapters, articles, and editor-solicited reviews in text books and professional journals, 1974-1999.

Chapters in Edited Books

• Using language data in explaining psychotic speech: A linguistic evaluation. In: One World, One Language--Paving the Way to Better Perspectives for Mental Health: Proceedings of the X World Congress for Psychiatry. Lopez-Ibor, J., Lieh-Mak, F., Visotsky, H.M., & Maj, M., eds. Seattle:Hogrefe & Huberm Publishers, 1999.
• Intention, attention, and schizophrenic speech.  In: Communication and the Mentally Ill Patient. France, J. & Muir, N., eds. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 1997.
• On analysing schizophrenic speech: what model should we use? In:Speech and Language Disorders in Psychiatry. Sims, A. ed.  London: Gaskell Press (Publications Department, Royal College of Psychiatrists). pp. 47-56, 1994.

Articles

• Cohesion in schizophrenic and normal narration revisited. Journal of Communication Disorders. with Richard Lambe, 1990.
• "A unified explanation for the diverse structural deviations reported for adult schizophrenics with disrupted speech." Journal of Communication Disorders. 15:167-189.

Selected Scholarly Presentations and Activities

• A regular contributor at forums and in publications about schizophrenia, Dr. Chaika has presented at scores of scholarly conferences since 1973.
• Schizophrenia: One underlying cause? The argument from speech data. Speech delivered at Broadmoor Hospital, Berkshire, UK, November 17, 1998.
• Requirements for language analysis in psychiatric research. X World Congress of Psychiatry. Symposium on Language and Psychosis.  Madrid, Spain. August 26, 1996.
• On using linguistic data in schizophrenia research. Speech delivered at Departments of Cognitive Psychology and Psychiatry. Oxford University, August 8, 1996.
• Intention, attention, and schizophrenic speech. Speech delivered at Conference for Communication and the Mentally Ill. Broadmoor Hospital Berkshire, UK April 5, 1995.
• Analysing schizophrenic speech. Speech delivered at 5th Annual Psychopathology Conference Leeds University May 6, 1994.
• Is proficiency enough in foreign language learning? Central Connecticut State University. April 28, 1988.

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