On the 4th of June, Andreas Joswig successfully defended his doctoral thesis and graduated. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Andreas on this great result.

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.

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

A newly opened museum in China appears to be devoted to the origins of the Austronesian-speaking peoples, who some 5000 years ago spread from East Asia across the Pacific, seeding it with a distinctive culture and some 1200 languages. But those displays are also a statement in the long-running dispute…

Yuchen Lian defended her thesis on AI and language evolution at Leiden University.

Knowledge and culture subproject 2:

PhD defence

Languages spoken around the world differ vastly from  the more familiar Indo-European languages. The courses in this theme aim to introduce you to the immense linguistic diversity still found in the world today. 

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

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 can theories about modern disinformation help to understand how Roman documentary fictions functioned?

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.

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.

How can a CLIL approach, with a focus on disciplinary literacies, improve the teaching of the LLA programme’s literary component in senior bilingual education (TTO)?

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,…

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…

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.

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.

The form and content of the course are determined by your answers on the intake form and, if necessary, an intake interview.

Do you want to discover a language and culture that is completely different from the Netherlands?

Do you want to discover a language and culture that is completely different from the Netherlands?

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!

Do you want to discover a language and culture that is completely different from the Netherlands?

Do you want to discover a language and culture that is completely different from the Netherlands?

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!

Ti amo Italia! Immerse yourself in the country of Michelangelo, Dante and Prada. Study one of the most popular languages in the world and discover why Italy has filled an exemplary role for so many centuries and still does. As a graduate of the Bachelor's programme Italian Language and Culture you will…

This research project focuses on the extended documentation and investigation of these non-Austronesian (‘Papuan’) languages.

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.

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.

This dissertation aims to explore how university students use mobile technology for their self-directed language learning and investigate factors influencing their self-directed learning with mobile technology.

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

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

In love, we like to use great words. We promise to love each other ‘forever’ and praise the beloved as nothing less than ‘the one’ . Meanwhile, we know very well that we don’t live eternally and that we may find our ‘true love’ one day on the opposite side of the divorce table. So why do we continue…

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)…

An in-depth history of Large Language Models—and what their ubiquity, disruption, and creativity mean from a wider sociopolitical perspective.

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 the 13th of November, Hanna Fricke successfully defended her doctoral thesis and graduated. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Hanna on this achievement.

To what extent does using 360 immersion to a speaking task change the elicited speech, compared to conditions with 2D presentations?

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

It is our goal to deliver a convenient, enjoyable, learning experience that goes beyond the basics. All of the apps are an initiative of the HANDS! Lab for Sign Languages and Deaf Studies at Leiden University, as part of the Language Socialization in Deaf Families project funded by the Leiden University…

This dissertation provides an overview of the phonological developments of the Qinghai-Gansu languages, comparing them to the reconstructed ancestral language.

At the end of the fifteenth century, two intriguing Christian epics were written in Virgilian Latin by the poets Sannazaro and Vida. They did so in accordance with the wishes of the pope. These epics, both praised and criticized by contemporaries, are often seen as innovative for their specific combination…

The Special Issue of the European Journal of Applied Linguistics on ‘Language Ideologies: Old Questions, New Perspectives’ aims to offer diverse insights on language ideologies with a focus on methodological and theoretical questions.