Anyone who creates a page for a magazine, a PowerPoint presentation, a brochure, a poster or dreams up an idea for an infographic is faced with important questions:

The goal of the MODOMA-project is to create a computer model of language acquisition.

To make successful communication possible, people need much more than their knowledge of the language system.

Study information, Online Experience

Research combining a conceptual and practical perspective within the field of teaching and learning second languages.

Collaborative linguistic research on indigenous languages of Ecuador: description, documentation & materials

If you have a question, there are various ways to get in touch with us.

The goal is to develop educational materials for Dâw, Hupd’äh, and Nadëb Indigenous peoples (Naduhup family; Middle and Upper Rio Negro; Brazilian Amazon). In order to achieve this, first of all, the fieldwork data collected during a collaborative project among anthropologists and linguists (2017-2020)…

A thorough description of the relationships among languages and their social environment in a given context, reflecting an ecological perspective, involves attention to the agency of local actors, and the policies, discourse, and ideologies that surround them.

Throughout the year, the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo organises Arabic Language courses for the general public. Please note: due to the Corona pandemic, Arabic group courses have been suspended for the time being,

Publishing about your research is a key aspect of your career as a researcher; the majority of research publications are written in English. When applying for research funding, too, it is very important to ensure that your application is written in clear, accessible English. Maria Sherwood-Smith, Academic…

Bringing together scholars from a broad range of theoretical perspectives, The Language of Argumentation offers a unique overview of research at the crossroads of linguistics and theories of argumentation.

The Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo offers Dutch language courses for Egyptian adults on a regular basis. These courses aim to provide students with language skills in Dutch, which they can use in everyday life. Therefore you will spend most of your time practicing the language in order to…

How did common people write in the late eighteenth century? Little is yet known on this topic, since our knowledge is mainly based on printed texts written by a small part of the (male) elite population. This dissertation – written from a sociolinguistic point of view – gives us new insights into late-…

Are you thinking about studying Linguistics: Modern Languages? Learn more and watch the videos.

The University Executive Board has appointed Maarten Kossmann as professor for Berber Studies as of April 1, 2017. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics management team would like to congratulate Maarten with this appointment, which will strengthen LUCL’s descriptive linguistic research in general…

On the 14th of June, Yliana Rodriquez successfully defended a doctoral thesis. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Yliana on this achievement!

From Great-Britain to the United States and from Australia to South Africa: people around the whole world speak and write English. In Leiden you will broaden your knowledge of the English language and the rich Literature and culture of the global English world on academic level.

In the Bachelor's programme Dutch Language and Culture at Leiden University you will learn to analyse how people use the Dutch language, culture and media and to place it in an international perspective.

This research profile area brings together descriptive, historical and theoretical linguistics, as well as psycho- and neurolinguistics.

This dissertation is the first comprehensive description of Makalero, a language spoken by approximately 6,500 speakers in the Iliomar subdistrict, in the south-east of the Republic of East Timor. While previous sources considered it to be a dialect of the larger language Makasae, the present study,…

Germany has an important position in Europe, both economically as well as politically and culturally. In the Bachelor's programme German Language and Culture you will dive into the rich language, history and literature of this influencial country and discover what it has to offer!

This edited book presents case-studies and reflections on the role of languages and their analytic study in development practices across four regions: Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Pacific.

In this project we study the properties of statistical- and rule-learning mechanisms in relation to the acquisition and evolution of language. We ask to what extent these mechanisms are unique to humans - or to human language - by comparing the acquisition of vocal structure in two species: humans (infants)…

What can languages spoken in the Lesser Sunda Islands today tell us about the histories of its various population groups?

France isn't just a country of great writers, thinkers and the well known 'savoir-vivre', economically it is also of great importance to the Netherlands and the rest of the world. Study the French language and culture and acquire skills that provide great opportunities for an international career!

At LUCL, researchers have established the Leiden Hands!Lab for Sign Languages and Deaf Studies.

This thesis describes the use of the evolutionary approach in the study of language change, aiming to provide a better insight in the mechanisms that play a role in language change and to validate this approach in the field of language change.

Interested in our GTGC programme? Read more here in other languages.

University lecturers who are in the process of obtaining the Basic Teaching Qualification (BKO) and who teach programmes in English will also need the Basic Qualification in English Language Skills certificate, which guarantees a basic standard of English.

Knowledge and culture subproject 1:

This thesis presents a detailed description of the phonology, the tone system and the grammar of Liko, a Bantu language spoken by about 70,000 people in the northeastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It provides numerous examples.

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

On the 23rd of September, George Saad successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates George on this achievement!

Conference

This project looks at how the native language influences processing mechanisms of non-native language(s) as well has how it influences brain structure and functional connectivity.

A project on phonology, phonetics, and the space between them.

The research programme Language Use in Past and Present brings together linguists within LUCL whose central focus is both on actual language data, including language use in earlier stages of the language, and, taking a variationist perspective, on language change in various aspects.

In this project, the hypothesis that language contact crucially impacts the development of spatial grammar and phonology is investigated.

The languages of the Mbam-et-Inoubou District of the Centre Region of Cameroon have a unique position in Bantu linguistics. Being in between

On December 18th, Viktorija Kostadinova succesfully defended her doctoral thesis and graduated. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Viktorija on this great result.

Promotor: C.J. ten Cate

The high standards set by the Academic Language Centre are attested by the following quality labels and memberships.

Language Use, Usage Guides and Linguistic Norms will be of interest to scholars of language use in both the past and the present, as well as to anyone interested in the interplay between actual language use and prescriptive attitudes towards language.