Research Groups and Labs

Directed by Jason Riggle, has three primary goals:

1. To computationally implement linguistic models
2. To discover and implement learning algorithms for those models
3. To test the predictions of the models by simulating language learning, use, and change among populations of interacting language-using agents

Directed by Alan Yu, is dedicated to the teaching and investigation of phonological typology as well as the variation and change of sound systems. It also functions as the center for language documentation research within the Department of Linguistics at the University of Chicago. The lab, which houses a double-walled sound-attenuated IAC recording booth, is fully equipped to gather and analyze physiological, acoustic, and perceptual data.

Directed by Ming Xiang, is broadly interested in experimental syntax, experimental semantics and pragmatics, and psycholinguistics. Our research projects aim at identifying the linguistic representations we construct in language comprehension and production, and the way we construct them. We use a broad range of methodologies, including self-paced reading, eyetracking and ERP (Event-related-potential) recordings.

Directed by Diane Brentari, is designed to analyze linguistic data from sign languages and gestures pertinent to Dr. Brentari's ongoing research projects, which include two NSF-funded projects and a third award by the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society. These projects concern the linguistic structure of sign languages and their expression in conversation, narrative and performance, as well as the gestures of hearing people and homesign systems. Motion capture, as well as a variety of tools for video analysis and transcription, are employed in this work.

Directed by Lenore Grenoble, provides a forum for research on underdescribed languages in fieldwork settings, with active engagement in all aspects of language documentation, and is centered around a core set of questions and methodologies. Research projects focus on cross-linguistic analysis, diversity, variation and change, language contact, the language and cognition interface, and how cultural and geographic features might be reflected in language use and discourse. We draw data from a wide variety of languages that vary according to the interests of individual researchers.

Directed by Lenore Grenoble, conducts research organized within the following broad areas:

1. Synchronic Slavic linguistics
2. Diachronic and comparative Slavic and Indo-European linguistics
3. Balkan linguistics
4. Language contact between Slavic and languages of the Balkans, Caucasus, and Siberia