Research

The Department of Linguistics at the University of Oregon has a strong commitment to empirical research, to the collection and creation of new and exciting data. We do not encourage the construction of theories based on either second-hand data or our own intuitions of what one might be able to say, were the right occasion to occur. We study the language that people actually produce, usually in the form of recordings, either from naturalistic settings or from carefully controlled experimental settings. Our main emphases are descriptive/typological work on lesser-known languages, historical work in syntax, semantics and phonology, and cognitive/experimental work on any language at all (even English!). Within these larger categories, we have individuals and groups working on discourse structure, word order, semantics, syntax, morphology, phonology, phonetics, second language acquisition, cognitive geography, lexicography, language deficits, literacy, etc. Our faculty and graduate students have worked on, or are working on languages from virtually all over the world. Our discourse lab and the new phonetics lab offer opportunities to study the mappings between language and cognition. We have ongoing workshops in Language and Cognition, Phonology, and Second Language Acquisition, where faculty and students from Linguistics and other departments work together to encourage and support on-going research projects.

Descriptive Linguistics and Typology

Descriptive Linguistics is concerned with the documentation of all aspects of individual languages, including their sound structure (phonetics and phonology), word structure (morphology), phrase and sentence structure (syntax), semantics, discourse patterns, and pragmatics of use.

Since its inception in 1978, the Department of Linguistics at the University of Oregon has embraced descriptive linguistic work, coupled with a long-standing commitment to lesser-studied and endangered languages. While not intending to be exclusive, the Department has historically had research strengths in Native American languages (North, Central, and South America), Tibeto-Burman, Southeast Asian, South Asian, African, Austronesian, and Slavic languages. The Oregon program emphasizes language description within typological, functional, and cognitive frameworks. (Tell me more...)

Language and Cognition

One central problem in the study of human language is language use, understanding how disparate linguisitc structures are deployed in real time to construct coherent and cohesive discourse. Work in language and cognition investigates how general cognitive systems, in particular attention and memory, are deployed during language production and comprehension. At Oregon, research in language and cognition covers a very broad array of topics: attention and grammar, phonetic categorization, auditory and cognitive constrinats on phonological systems, attention in second language grmmar and phonology. (Tell me more...)

Second Language Acquisition and Teaching

Second Language Acquisitioon (SLA) is concerned with the cognitive and social factors that lead to success (or failure) in learning a second language. While generally considered its own sub-field, SLA is massively interdisciplinary in its research strategies, drawing on and contributing to work in cognitive psychology, cognitive science, social psychology and the study of human interaction, general linguistics, and developmental and neurological studies of language acquisition. Second Language Teaching (SLT) is concerned with finding ways to improveor enhance acquisition in learners. It develops new strategies and techniques to support learners and provides critical improvements to second language education that, while often prosaic in detail, nonetheless have enduring impact on educational practice. (Tell me more...)

Historical and Typological Linguistics

Research in this broad area addresses the nature of variation in human languages, either as variation emerges from diachronic change or from the array of naturally possible linguistics structures. At Oregon, research in historical linguistics and typology covers a very broad array of topics: language reconstruction, historical syntax, comparative studies, historical corpora, and typological surveys. (Tell me more...)

Return to Top of Page