Bringing together a globally representative team of scholars, this Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of comparative syntax, the study of universal and variable properties of the structure of building blocks in natural language.

This PhD project investigates what the universal and variable morphosyntactic properties of linguistic expressions of otherness are and how they can be modelled theoretically.

This thesis investigates the syntax of object marking in Sambaa and the Bantu languages in general, with particular focus on Swahili and Haya, as points of comparison.

Ellipsis is a frequently used sentence-shortening device. It allows us to leave out material that is evident from the (linguistic) context. Even though the elliptical material is not pronounced, elliptical sentences are not perceived as incomplete.

In this dissertation the notions of category and type are studied through the lens of logical syntax.

Syntacticians study how words combine into larger units (phrases and sentences) in human languages and how the combinatorial possibilities determine word order and grammatical relations between parts of a sentence.

This study investigates the syntax and distribution of the two elliptical phenomena Gapping and Fragments, as well as the movements involved in ellipsis contexts in general.

In this research, for the first time a detailed description as well as systematic and comparative analysis of the final particle system in Chinese are provided.

On the 4th of September, Elisabeth J. Kerr successfully defended a doctoral thesis. Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Elisabeth on this achievement!

The main question of this research project concerns the extent to which light verbs in West Germanic languages participate in processes of language change.

This book offers a comprehensive and accessible introduction to a novel theory of syntax, which analyzes grammar from a semantic perspective.

This dissertation investigates A'-dependencies in Standard German, Zurich German and Dutch where the dislocated constituent is indirectly, i.e. not transformationally, related to the position where it is interpreted. The analysis is carried out within the Principles & Parameters framework.

This dissertation provides an account of polar questions in Italian dialects from a typological, theoretical and empirical perspective.

The main topic of the book is the nature of inner aspect of the Verb Phrase, and the relation between the decompositional and the quantificational approaches to this problem.

This thesis discusses the constructions relevant to Object Shift from the intonational perspective, by presenting experimental data from all the Scandinavian languages.

Lu, Man defended his thesis on 28 September 2017.

This dissertation focuses on the overt marking of φ features encoded on perfective active auxiliaries in a group of Southern Italian dialects.

Conference

This thesis investigates aspects of phi-features in non-standard and minority West Germanic languages.

This dissertation defends the existence of a type of movement that has so far been considered not to be possible, namely, movement of a bare head to a specifier position over arbitrarily long distances.

Lecture, Com(parative) Syn(tax) Series

CompaRe aims to be a hub in a global network on comparative regional integration. For regional integration is key to meeting the challenges of our globalising world. The LEAC is now also part of the CompaRe.

Within the Comparative Religion Network staff and graduate students from LIAS-LUCSoR (and beyond) discuss ongoing work and cooperate on key issues in the comparative and systematic study of religion.

The research programme Descriptive and Comparative Linguistics brings together LUCL researchers who focus mainly on descriptive and comparative linguistics.

This project focuses on a striking parallelism between two macro-groups of languages: southern Italian dialects and the so-called split-ergative languages, like Basque, Georgian, Dyirbal, Hindi/Urdu.

Lecture, Com(parative) Syn(tax) Series

Lecture, Com(parative) Syn(tax) Series

In this study, the formation of the Tocharian subjunctive is described, its use and meaning are analysed and its origins are investigated.

Lecture, Com(parative) Syn(tax) Series

Common challenge: unique circumstances

Lecture, Com(parative) Syn(tax) Series

On 26 June 2016 the Council of the Academia Europaea approved a class lists of scholars to be invited to accept membership at the Academia Europaea. Professor Lisa Cheng was elected for the section “Linguistic Studies”.

In this article, Bart Schuurman and Sarah Louise Carthy explore the distinctions between radicalised individuals and the general population

Zhaole Yang defended his thesis on 25 June 2020.

The study of language in change.

The master's programme Comparative Criminal Justice at Leiden University focuses on criminology, criminal law and their mutual relationship. The programme offers an international comparative perspective, analysing criminal justice systems, legislation and policies in common law and civil law countri…

Are you thinking about studying Comparative Criminal Justice? Learn more and watch the videos

This dissertation provides a detailed description of the interaction between verb semantics and the two grammatical voice categories in the Vedic Sanskrit of the Rigveda.

The aim of this research was to establish if Ebeling's semiotactic theory and method of semiotactic analysis, as described in his works Syntax and Semantics (1978), Een Inleiding tot de Syntaxis (1994) and Semiotaxis, over Theoretische en Nederlandse Syntaxis (2006), could be applied to Modern Japanese…

The research programme Formal Theoretical and Experimental Linguistics brings together LUCL researchers who focus mainly on formal theoretical and experimental linguistics.