Sjef Barbiers
Scientific director /Professor of Dutch Linguistics
- Name
- Prof.dr. L.C.J. Barbiers
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 1637
- l.c.j.barbiers@hum.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0002-4983-7472
The central question of my research is: Which syntactic properties do all languages have in common, which properties are variable and which associations are there between these syntactic variables? The goal of this research is to contribute to a theory of natural language that explains the range and limits of syntactic variation.
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Oration prof.dr. Sjef Barbiers
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I compare the (morpho-)syntax of Dutch with closely related (dialectal) varieties of Dutch, against the background of what is known about the syntax of natural languages more generally. I combine theoretical, dialectological and sociolinguistic methods. The central hypothesis is that syntactic variation arises from the interaction between a small fixed set of syntactic principles with grammar internal modules such as the mental lexicon, phonological form, logical form and pragmatics on the one hand, and with grammar external cognitive and sociolinguistic factors on the other. More specifically I investigate the relation between the geographic distribution of (morpho-)syntactic variables and syntax as a mental system. I work with the large systematically collected dialect data sets and search and cartographic tools that are online available in DynaSAND, MIMORE and Edisyn. I am particularly interested in the (morpho-)syntax of verbs, auxiliaries and verb clusters, imperatives, focus particles, adverbs, scrambling, numerals,extraposition and syntactic doubling phenomena.
Curriculum vitae
| 2016 - | Professor of Dutch Linguistics, Leiden University |
| 2000 - 2016 | Researcher, Meertens Institute, Amsterdam |
| 2005 - 2016 | Professor by special appointment, chair Variation Linguistics of Dutch, Utrecht University |
| 1995 | PhD (cum laude), Leiden University; Dissertation: The Syntax of Interpretation. |
PhD Supervision
Current PhD projects
- Caitlin Meyer (UvA) - Acquisition of numerals and ordinals
- Lotte Hendriks (MI/UL) - Inclusion relations: Verb clusters and verb cluster interruption
Finished PhD projects (promotor and co-promotor)
- Eefje Boef
- Jeroen van Craenenbroeck
- Arantzazu Elordieta
- Bettina Gruber
- Mirjam Hachem
- Marko Hladnik
- Irene Haslinger
- Aniek IJbema
- Marjo van Koppen
- Marco René Spruit
- Mark de Vos
Grants and awards
| 2017 - 2021 |
Detecting Syntactic Differences Automatically (Leiden University) |
| 2013 - 2017 | Maps and Grammar (NWO Vrije Competitie) |
| 2013 - 2017 | Language and Number (NWO Horizon; part of Knowledge and Culture) |
| 2015 - 2018 | CLARIAH (NWO Roadmap) |
| 2004 - 2010 | European Dialect Syntax (EURYI grant, ESF) |
| 2010 - 2011 | MIMORE (NWO CLARIN) |
Scientific director /Professor of Dutch Linguistics
- Faculty of Humanities
- Leiden Univ Centre for Linguistics
- LUCL Nederlands
- Fanselow G., Barbiers L.C.J., Brown J., Delbar N., Nauta S. & Rothert J. (2024), On the asymmetry of wh-doubling in varieties of German and Dutch, Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft 43(1): .
- Boer J.N. & Barbiers L.C.J. (2023), Spreken artsen een andere taal? : Het geval van 'patiënt' zonder lidwoord, Tijdschrift voor Psychiatrie 65(3): 167-170.
- Honings R.A.M. & Barbiers L.C.J. (9 February 2023), Stoppen met de internationale studie Nederlands?: Nederlands is groter dan Nederland. Nederlands Dagblad, Opinion.
- Barbiers L.C.J., Delbar N., Fanselow G., Nauta S. & Rothert J. (2022), On the asymmetry of wh-doubling in varieties of German and Dutch. [working paper].
- Barbiers L.C.J. (2022), Dit lees maar!. In: Oostendorp M. van & Wolff S. (Eds.), Het dialectendoeboek. De schatkamer van 90 jaar Meertens Instituut. Gorredijk: Sterck en de Vreese. 19-23.
- Bogaards M.P.M., Boogaart R.J.U. & Barbiers L.C.J. (2022), The syntax of progressive and ingressive 'aanhet'-constructions in Dutch, Linguistics in the Netherlands 39(1): 2-20.
- Barbiers L.C.J. (2022), Apparent syntax-semantics mismatches in the distribution of adverbs. Why semantics alone is not enough: a reply to Fortuin (2022), Nederlandse Taalkunde 27(1): 15-23.
- Alem A.H.J. van & Barbiers L.C.J. (2021), Poor weak het 'it' and agreement patterns in pronominal clefts, Acta Linguistica Hafniensia 53(2): 221-241.
- Barbiers L.C.J. (2021) Review of [Acquiring Dutch quantitative ER] by [Berends, S.]. Review of: Berends S. (2019), Acquiring Dutch quantitative ER. LOT Dissertations. Amsterdam. Nederlandse Taalkunde 26(1): 143-146.
- Kroon M.S., Barbiers L.C.J. & Odijk J. Pas S.L. van der (2020), Detecting syntactic differences automatically using the Minimum Description Length principle, Computational Linguistics in the Netherlands 2000 10: 109-127.
- Meyer C., Barbiers L.C.J. & Weerman F. (2020), Many systems, one strategy: acquiring ordinals in Dutch and English, Glossa: a journal of general linguistics 5(1): 1-31 (100).
- Barbiers L.C.J. (2020), A sociogrammatical analysis of linguistic gaps and transitional forms. In: Beaman K., Buchstaller I., Fox S. & Walker J.A. (Eds.), Advancing Socio-grammatical Variation and Change. In Honour of Jenny Cheshire. New York: Routledge. 1-15.
- Barbiers L.C.J. (2020), Laboratoriumzinnen in het tijdperk van de kwantitatieve taalkunde, Nederlandse Taalkunde 25(2-3): 177-179.
- Barbiers L.C.J. (2019), Fluïde dialectgebieden. In: Tier V. de, Gyselen A. & Wijngaard T. van de (Eds.), De wondere wereld van de streektaalgrenzen: lezingen gehouden op de internationale streektaalconferentie. Leiden: Stichting Nederlandse Dialecten. 15-26.
- Kroon M.S., Barbiers L.C.J., Odijk J. & Pas S.L. van der (2019), A filter for syntactically incomparable parallel sentences, Linguistics in the Netherlands 36(1): 147-161.
- Barbiers L.C.J. (2018), Adverbs in Strange Places. On the Syntax of Adverbs in Dutch, Nederlandse Taalkunde 23(1): 57-88.
- Barbiers L.C.J. (2017), Adverbs and Bridges. In: Barbiers L.C.J. (Ed.), A pesky set: A festschrift for David Pesetsky. MIT Working Papers in Linguistics 15-24.
- Barbiers L.C.J. (2017), Adverbs in strange places, Nederlandse Taalkunde : .
- Meyer C., Barbiers L.C.J. & Weerman F. (2017), Ordinals are not as easy as one, two, three: The acquisition of cardinals and ordinals in Dutch, Language Acquisition 25(4): 392-417.
- Barbiers L.C.J., Bennis H. & Dros-Hendriks L. (2017), Merging Verb Clusters, Linguistic Variation : .
- Barbiers L.C.J. & Dooren A. van (2017), Modal Auxiliaries. In: Barbiers L.C.J. & Dooren A. van (Eds.), The Companion to Syntax: John Wiley.
- Barbiers L.C.J. (2017), Kwantitatief 'er' en 'ze', Nederlandse Taalkunde 22(2): 163-187.
- Meyer C. & Barbiers L.C.J. (2017), Ordinal variables: acquiring ordinal numerals in Dutch and English. The 11th Mediterranean Morphology Meeting (MMM11), University of Cyprus, Nicosia. 22 June 2017 - 25 June 2017. [conference poster].
- Bylinina L., Barbiers L.C.J. & Sleeman R. (2017), The Typology of Numerals and the Number Line [18th Szklarska Poręba Workshop. Szklarska Poręba, Poland, March 3]. [conference poster].
- Barbiers L.C.J. (2016), Locating people with their language – An Applied Linguistics Course using linguistic microvariation databases and tools. In: Barbiers L.C.J. (Ed.), Creating and Digitzing Language Corpora no. 3: Palgrave.
- Meyer C., Barbiers L.C.J. & Weerman F. (2016), Order and Ordinality. The acquisition of cardinals and ordinals in Dutch. Meyer C., Barbiers L.C.J. & Weerman F. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 40th Boston University Conference on Language Development. : Cascadilla Press. 253-266.
- Meyer C., Barbiers L.C.J. & Weerman F. (2016), The rule-based acquisition of ordinals: evidence from Dutch and English [LSA 2017 Annual Meeting. Austin, TX, January 5–8]. [conference poster].
- Barbiers L.C.J., Koppen M. van, Bennis H. & Corver N. (2016), Microcomparative Morposyntactic Research (MIMORE). Mapping partial grammars of Flemish, Brabantish and Dutch, Lingua 178: 5-31.
- Barbiers L.C.J. (2016), Opposite forces in language. The linguistic work of Hans Bennis, Nederlandse Taalkunde 21(3): 339-354.
- Barbiers L.C.J. (2016), Noord-Brabants tussen Nederlands en Duits. Variatie in de syntaxis van imperatiefzinnen, Leuvense Bijdragen: Tijdschrift voor Germaanse Filologie (999-100): 320-336.
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