Dr. Grant Muāgututiʻa is an Assistant Professor of Linguistics at CSU San Marcos.  His research focuses on the acquisition of morphosyntax as a means to inform pedagogy in language maintenance and revitalization efforts.  His work engages with the languages of Polynesia, namely Samoan, where he investigates key features of heritage language grammar.  His teaching encompasses the fundamentals of linguistics, applications of linguistics in pedagogy, syntactic description, language acquisition, as well as linguistics field methods.  His teaching and research also include language and cultural maintenance through performing arts.

PhD, Linguistics - University of Hawai’i, 2018

MA, Linguistics - University of Auckland, 2009

BA, Linguistics - University of Hawai’i, 2007

Dr. Muāgututiʻa has a range of research interests that include morphosyntax, language acquisition, heritage language, language maintenance and revitalization, and the languages of Polynesia.  His current research focuses on the acquisition of Samoan (L1, L2, heritage) in an effort to inform language maintenance efforts in diasporic communities around the world, as well as the homeland (Sāmoa, American Sāmoa).

LING 200: English Grammar and Syntax

LING 300: Introduction to Linguistics 

LING 321: Introduction to Syntax

LING 351: Language Acquisition 

LING 480: Linguistics Field Methods

Muāgututiʻa, Grant. 2017. An ergative intervention in heritage Samoan.  University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa: Working Papers in Linguistics, 48(6).

Muāgututiʻa, Grant. 2016. The acquisition of ergativity in Samoan.  University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa: Working Papers in Linguistics, 48(5).

Charters, Helen & Grant Muāgututiʻa. 2015. Processing alignments: Semantic, Thematic, and Structural Prominence in Samoan SLA. In K. Baten, A. Buyl, K. Lochtman & M.V. Herreweghe (eds.), Theoretical and Methodological Developments in Processability Theory, 21-44. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing Company.