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ΔiaLing

The research group ΔiaLing clusters scholars who conduct research in the field of historical and diatopic linguistics, and gives as such visibility to these fields of study. The research conducted by ΔiaLing contributes to these disciplines in the following ways:

(i) language description and documentation through the creation and dissemination of various types of descriptive tools that are of use to the linguistic community (e.g. dictionaries, grammars, corpora, text editions, databases, etc.);

(ii) the advancement of linguistic theory, which is informed by empirically-grounded studies.

A number of diverse theoretical viewpoints on language variation and change (e.g. Construction Grammar, Grammaticalization Theory, Relevance Theory, Prototype Theory, Dynamic Syntax, Cartography, Nanosyntax and, more generally, Generative Grammar) are explored for the genesis and development of a variety of phenomena. These include, among others, discourse markers and adverbs, aspect and modality, word order phenomena and information structure, transitivity alternations and valency, case-marking and argument structure, nominal constituents, adverbial clauses, negation and word formation.

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Calendar

  • Mon
    23
    Mar
    2026

    Didier Demolin (Université Sorbonne nouvelle, CNRS & Rhodes University Makhanda) & Francisco Mendes (Federal University of Brasilia) - "Acoustic features and grammatical structures of Muriqui vocalizations"

    3:00 pmBlandijn 2 3.30 (Camelot)
    Lecture

    Vocal communication of the Muriqui

    Abstract:
    What can we learn from animal communication, if we set this issue in terms of evolution? Comparisons with animal communication lead to a better understanding of some of the principles underlying human languages. Muriqui (Brachyteles hypoxantus) show that the acoustics of their vocalizations are generated from a set limited features in addition to showing non-linear characters in their voice source. A close examination of the communication system of the muriqui also shows that the recombination of discrete elements in part of their vocal communication shows both recursion and grammatical structure.

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  • Mon
    20
    Apr
    2026

    Annachiara Clementelli - t.b.a.

    3:00 pm
    Lecture

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