43 search results for “linguistics” in the Public website
- Student Organization of Linguistics in Europe
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Leiden hosts prestigious linguistics conference
For a brief period Leiden University was the hub of the world of linguistics. The 48th annual conference of the Societas Linguistica Europaea was held here at the start of September. Almost 600 linguists came from all corners of the world to the city of discoveries to attend this prestigious event.
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Linguistic time travel
A love of puzzles and the patience of a saint: these are two essential traits for linguists wishing to explore the Indo-European language family. Fortunately, Professor Michaël Peyrot possesses both. In his inaugural lecture he will take the audience on a voyage of discovery to the past.
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Rita Spithoff
Faculty Governance and Global Affairs
m.spithoff@fgga.leidenuniv.nl | +31 70 800 9589
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Leiden Summer School connects linguists internationally
'Every year the courses are different, and there are new things to learn.' The 6th Leiden Summer School in Languages and Linguistics from 18-29 July this year has attracted 120 participants, 90 international and 30 from the Netherlands.
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Free online linguistics course: Miracles of Human Language
Language is a little bit like owning a mobile phone. We use it all the time, but we don’t really understand how it works. Where is language located in our brain? Do all humans have language? These and many other questions will be answered by professor Marc van Oostendorp in the MOOC Miracles of Human…
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Linguistics alumna Anne-Mieke Thieme wint EFNIL-scriptieprijs
Good news for Linguistics alumna Anne-Mieke Thieme, who has won the thesis prize awarded by the European Federation of National Institutions for Language (EFNIL). ‘I emailed my thesis supervisor right away.’
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‘Computers can give linguists a push in the right direction’
For decades, linguists have racked their brains over the question of precisely how the syntax of various languages is different. PhD candidate Martin Kroon has developed a computer system that brings us closer to finding an answer. His PhD defence is on 10 November.
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A unique perspective on (pre)historical migration using linguistics
Migration is not only reflected in DNA, but also in language. By tracing changes in language, we learn more about the lifestyle of the people that speak it. University lecturer Tijmen Pronk (40) conducts linguistic research into (pre)historical migration.
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The Linguistics Olympiad final is coming up soon: ‘The questions shouldn’t be too easy’
On Saturday 16 April, secondary school pupils will once again have a chance to sink their teeth into the hardest language-related questions during the final of the Linguistics Olympiad. Professor Sasha Lubotsky and PhD student Cid Swanenvleugel are both former Olympiad winners. Now they are involved…
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Student Marten helped organise a MOOC: ‘It improved my knowledge of linguistics'
Master’s student of Linguistics Marten van der Meulen helped organise the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Miracles of Human Language, which ran from 30 March until 11 May 2015. What was it like for a student to organise an MOOC? And what did he learn from it?
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Non-canonical gender systems
Grammatical gender is famously the most puzzling of the grammatical categories. We have a solid typology of gender systems, yet exciting and unexpected patterns keep turning up which defy easy classification and straightforward analysis. Some of these question, stretch or threaten to cross the outer…
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Election as Honorary Member of the LSA
Prof. Dr. Willem Adelaar has been elected as Honorary member of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA)
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PhD candidate Camil Staps figured out what ‘out’ means
Words originally intended to indicate space, such as ‘out’, are also regularly used to indicate cause and effect. Why does this happen? And how does it work in other languages? PhD candidate Camil Staps decided to find out.
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Jenny Doetjes investigates 'How much' with NWO Open Competition grant
Professor Jenny Doetjes has received an NWO grant to research the cross-linguistic properties of quantity expressions and our brain's influence on language.
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Digging for treasure in archives: what did spoken Scots sound like?
How did Scottish speakers sound hundreds of years ago? University lecturer Mo Gordon thinks the answer to that question can be found in church archives. 'It can be a boost to your identity to know the history of your language.'
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Alex Reuneker awarded Frans van Eemeren prize
University lecturer Alex Reuneker has won the Frans van Eemeren Prize for his paper 'Assessing classification reliability of conditionals in discourse'.
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PhD candidate Alex Reuneker’s research: What do we mean when we use ‘if’?
‘If it rains later, then I’ll take the car.’ In order to reason, we use sentences containing ‘if’ every single day. But how does that work exactly in the Dutch language? Alex Reuneker wrote his 628 page dissertation on the subject. Ceremony on 26 January.
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Maarten Mous: ‘Your language is part of the world’
In the new video series 'The World of Linguistics', alumni and researchers talk about their passion for their field. Professor of African Linguistics Maarten Mous explains the importance of hearing your language at school.
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Meike de Boer: ‘The word 'uh' can help track down suspects’
In the new video series 'The World of Linguistics', alumni and researchers talk about their passion for their field. PhD candidate Meike de Boer knows everything about the word ‘uh’.
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How language reveals what you're really saying: 'Interesting if it's language-independent'
In a conversation, you provide all sorts of information to the listener. For example, you can indicate that you're certain about something, or that you heard it through someone else. Associate Professor Jenneke van der Wal has been awarded a Vici grant to investigate whether the way people do this is…
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Maria del Carmen Parafita Couto: ‘I have to speak to my cats in Galician’
In the new video series 'The World of Linguistics', alumni and researchers talk about their passion for their field. University lecturer Maria Del Carmen Parafita Couto speaks about bilingualism.
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Prof. dr. Holger Gzella elected as member of the Academia Europaea
LUCL member prof. dr. Holger Gzella has been elected as member of the Academia Europaea (The Academy of Europe).
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Camil Staps receives Rubicon grant: What does ‘that’ mean?
PhD student Camil Staps is continuing his academic career in Berlin. He receives a Rubicon grant to do research there on demonstrative pronouns.
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The Golden Mean of Languages; Forging Dutch and French in the Early Modern Low Countries (1540-1620)
In The Golden Mean of Languages, Alisa van de Haar sheds new light on the debates regarding the form and status of the vernacular in the early modern Low Countries, where both Dutch and French were local tongues. The fascination with the history, grammar, spelling, and vocabulary of Dutch and French…
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Dialogue Among Cultures and Disciplines: Past, Present, and Future
Dialogue is a multi-dimensional communication mechanism whose processes can only be examined by means of an interdisciplinary approach.
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The mechanism behind a friendly chat: 'Puzzle gets unravelled bit by bit'
A friendly chat is more complicated than you might think. As soon as the other person finishes talking, you already have an answer ready. But how do we know when it's time to change turns? University lecturer Johanneke Caspers has been awarded an NWO Open Competition grant to investigate the role of…
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Dutch people should stop ‘politely’ switching to English
Endangered languages can survive if they are taught properly to new speakers, such as people with a migrant background. This is what Professor by Special Appointment Felix Ameka will say in his inaugural lecture on 30 September. Dutch people can do their bit by being less ‘polite’ to people whose mother…
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NWO grant for research on semantic universals in the modal domain
Linguist Wataru Uegaki received an NWO Grant of 58400 Euro for his research project 'In search of semantic universals in the modal domain'. With this money Wataru can compile a database and organise workshops. An interview with Wataru:
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Student Aline-Priscillia: ‘I am an odd academic, I’m not very attached to outcomes’
In the new video series 'The World of Linguistics', alumni and academics talk about their passion for their field. Student Aline-Priscillia is particularly curious about how language is processed in the brain.
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Researchers Humanities receive Veni grants
Three scholars of the Faculty of Humanities, Ahmad Al-Jallad, Thomas Fossen, and Tsolin Nalbantian, have received a Veni grant to implement their research plans over the coming years.
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10 years of Georgian at Leiden University: Ramaz Kurdadze returns
This year marks a special occasion because it was just ten years ago that the Georgian language was taught for the first time at Leiden University. It is even more exciting that its first professor, Ramaz Kurdadze, will return to Leiden this year to teach students interested in the language. Kurdadze…
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New professor Alwin Kloekhorst: 'The origin of your language also says something about you'
Where does Dutch come from? Newly appointed Professor Alwin Kloekhorst looks for an answer to that question in millennia-old languages from Anatolia, the Asian part of present-day Turkey. 'A new interpretation in one of the Anatolian languages can have consequences for dozens of other languages.'
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Teaming up with Portugal: as a doctor, how do you talk to a patient?
As a doctor, coming to a decision together with a patient: how do you do that in the best possible way? Researchers Geert Warnar and Roosmaryn Pilgram, who jointly teach a course within the MA in Dutch Studies, are entering into a virtual collaboration with the Universidade NOVA de Lisboa to find the…
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NWO grant for research about crossing language borders: ‘ We know very little about how multilingualism works outside Western societies’
Professor Felix Ameka and university lecturer Maria del Carmen Parafita Couta have received an NWO Open Competition grant together with Enoch Aboh (University of Amsterdam) to do research on ‘code-switching’: switching languages by multilinguals.
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Lips pouted or not? How improved speaker recognition can help forensic investigations
Police investigations use wiretapped phone recordings as investigative material fairly regularly. But how do they know that the voice on the recording actually belongs to the suspect? PhD student Laura Smorenburg is trying to answer that question.
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NWO Open Competition for replication research: 'Deals with fundamental question in my field'
Innovation through repetition. That is how university lecturer Jurriaan Witteman describes his research on the automatic processing of angry voices in the brain. The original research was conducted 20 years ago, but, with an NWO grant, Witteman is now going to see if those results are accurate.
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Language gets people talking
Studying languages enables you to unearth a lot of valuable information about humans: it reveals our history and explains cultural differences and it even illustrates the process of learning new information. The University is sharing its knowledge of and passion for languages in various new ways, including…
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Lucien van Beek receives LUF grant: 'It is a great feeling to be able to work on my ideas'
University lecturer Lucien van Beek has been awarded a LUF Praesidium Libertatis Grant. He will use the sum of 75,000 euros to research the thinking of people in ancient and prehistoric times. To do that, he will look for unusual or striking metaphors in the earliest Indo-European languages.
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Language during war: the changing position of Russian in Ukraine
The impact of war extends beyond destroyed buildings and torn families. In bilingual Ukraine, the ongoing war with Russia is a major driver for increasingly discarding the Russian language. What does this mean for the position of Russian in Ukraine?
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NWO grant for Claartje Levelt: how toddlers learn words
Professor Claartje Levelt, together with Paula Fikkert (Radboud University), has received an NWO Open Competition grant for research into the development of word production in toddlers.
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Claartje Levelt: ' Students sometimes ask questions I have to think hard about'
Claartje Levelt is professor of First Language Acquisition. She researches how babies and toddlers learn their mother tongue. Besides her work, she enjoys being involved with music.
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How did Proto-Indo-European reach Asia?
Five thousand years before the common era (BCE), Proto-Indo-European, the mother of many languages that are spoken today in Europe, Central Asia and South Asia, originated in eastern Europe. PhD candidate Axel Palmér has combined a 175-year-old hypothesis with new techniques to demonstrate how descendants…