On May 31st, Bobby Ruijgrok succesfully defended his doctoral thesis and graduated. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Bobby on this great result.

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

This thesis attempts to establish a dialogue between the modern and the medieval traditions in logic, by means of ‘translations’ of the medieval logical theories into the modern framework of symbolic logic, i.e. formalizations.

Humans perceive the real world through their sensory organs: vision, taste, hearing, smell, and touch. In terms of information, we consider these different modesalso referred to as different channels of information or modals.

The leading argument of this doctoral thesis is that Aristotle’s text De Interpretatione is of methodical relevance for present-day philosophical thinking. In the era of science and technology, the status of philosophy has become problematic.

On May 2nd, Elena Karvovskaya succesfully defended her doctoral thesis and graduated. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Elena on this great result.

Innovating objects in a Eurasian center of the Late Hellenistic period.

Simulating human language understanding on the computer is a great challenge. A way to approach it is to represent natural language meanings in logic, and to use logical provers to determine what does and does not follow from a text. What logic is best to use and how natural language meanings are best…

This thesis is a sample-based typological study of formal and semantic patterns in terms for a selection of referring (

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 project aims to investigate the underlying (neurocognitive) linguistic processes of ellipsis resolution, particularly gapping.

This doctoral thesis elaborates Langacker’s reference-point model by applying it to lexical semantics.

Zhaole Yang defended his thesis on 25 June 2020.

On the 12th of May, Stefan Norbruis successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Stefan on this achievement!

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 main aim of this project is to investigate the various ways in which language categorizes possession, how these are morphosyntactically encoded across and within languages, and how this distinction should be represented in a model of the language faculty.

This dissertation addresses the semantics of pluractional verbs in Hausa.

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…

In this dissertation, the types of context Dutch speakers need to interpret the poly-interpretable word ergens ‘somewhere/anywhere’ are studied.

The philosopher and psychologist G.F. Stout was the teacher of Moore and Russell around 1894. This book shows that Stout's ideas have played a role in Moore and Russell's development from their early idealism towards analytic realism, where Stout's ideas often find their origin in early phenomenolog…

Operators in the Lexicon opens with an old chestnut: why are there no natural single word lexicalizations for negations of the propositional operator and and the predicate calculus operator all: why neither *nand nor *nall?

This dissertation investigates whether and how gradability is manifested in the nominal domain, as well as the implications this could have for theories of the representation of gradability.

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:

Dr Jenny Doetjes was appointed Professor of Semantics and Language Variation in February. During her professorship Dr. Doetjes wishes to focus on charting linguistic patterns between languages that, at first glance, seem to have little to do with each other.

This thesis aims at contributing to our understanding of the semantic and prosodic properties of object foci in Greek, employing theoretical and experimental tools.

This dissertation investigates Extended Lexical Units (ELUs), elements that are bigger than just one word and which are stored in the Lexicon.

This work sets out to investigate the form and function of the imperative in the Rigveda. The morphology (and, where relevant, etymology), syntax and semantics of the imperative are covered.

Natural history collections provide invaluable sources for researchers with different disciplinary backgrounds, aspiring to study the geographical distribution of flora and fauna across the globe as well as other evolutionary processes.

PhD defence

Lecture, This Time for Africa! Series

Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) has become the standard for business processes diagrams.

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

On the 26th of January, Alex Reuneker successfully defended a doctoral thesis. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Alex on this achievement!

This project launches a research program into the theoretical status and the terminological basis of evidentiality systems.

Theoretical linguistics seeks to understand the underlying principles of the nature of human language.

PhD defence

Promotor: F.S. de Boer Co-promotor: P. T. de Gouw

Emphasizing on the key role of polysemy in forming the lexicon is the main goal to be achieved in this dissertation paper. The paper suggests a qualitative evaluation of polysemy in comparing it with other relations that form the lexicon. The research confirms that the polysemic links must not be modeled…

Lecture, LACG Meetings

We will use Artificial Intelligence to make an intelligent, multilingual search engine for archaeological texts, which will enable new discoveries about the human past.

Knowledge and culture subproject 1:

On the 17th of September, Jermy Balukh successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Jermy on this achievement!