The Utrecht Institute of Linguistics (UiLOTS) is a faculty research institute developing scientific expertise in a broad range of disciplines, including: Bilingualism, Computational Linguistics, Discourse Analysis, Document Design, Formal Semantics, Language Acquisition, Language Change, Language Use/Pragmatics, Language Teaching, Lexical Semantics, Natural Language Processing, Phonology, Phonetics, Psycholinguistics, Sociolinguistics, Syntax and Typology.
Researchers in the UiLOTS investigate the systems underlying language, speech and language use. In their research they aim to develop an understanding of the rules and laws that govern the structure of particular languages, and the general laws and principles governing all natural languages, i.e. the nature of the computational system of human language in its many guises. Language use involves different kinds of knowledge and skills: syntactic and semantic knowledge, detailed lexical knowledge, knowledge of the sound system including production and perception, but also knowledge of the world and of social and cultural procedures.
The UiLOTS focuses its research on the division of labor between different components of the language system, and between knowledge of language and other cognitive domains, as well as the interface between the language system and the systems of interpretation and use. Centrally positioned in this domain is the study of the relation between the cognitive system and the linguistic setting that is crucial for language acquisition and processing.
Presently, the UiLOTS encompasses 97 scientific staff members and 51 PhD students who participate in the PhD program of the Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics.
