Here you can learn about what we do (usage-based linguistics), who we are, and what we’ve been up to lately.

The lab is directed by Prof. Vsevolod (a.k.a. Volya) Kapatsinski

We are part of the  Spoken Language Research Laboratories at the University of Oregon Linguistics Department on the third floor of 1600 Millrace Drive

Once you come out of the elevator on the 3rd floor, follow the signs for SLRL, UO Students, all the way down the hallway to the back of the building

Note for prospective graduate students:

We are looking for prospective graduate students interested in how the trajectories of language change are explained by domain-general processing or learning mechanisms. Current work is focused on

• distinguishing between alternative models in learning theory (e.g., Rescorla-Wagner, logistic perceptron, Bayesian inference),
  • retrospective revaluation effects (backward blocking, overexpectation; Mujezinović et al., 2024),
  • adaptive partial pooling in language learning and language change (Kapatsinski, 2021, 2024),
  • the role of learned selective attention in dimensional reweighting (Harmon et al., 2019; Kapatsinski et al., 2024),
  • outcome activation functions used to define error in learning to predict categorical outcomes, and what makes an outcome categorical (Kapatsinski, 2023),
  • model averaging in grammar learning for the community and the individual (Barth & Kapatsinski, 2017),
  • testing predictions of regression vs. inference trees vs. exemplar models vs. deep learning as frameworks for mental grammar (Kapatsinski, 2013, 2014; in prep)
• explaining how we produce novel morphologically complex words (Kapatsinski, 2022),
• providing mechanistic accounts of diachronic processes like grammaticalization, degrammaticalization, paradigm leveling, semantic extension and narrowing, pragmatic strengthening, and sound change (Harmon & Kapatsinski, 2017; Harmon, 2019; Kapatsinski, 2010, 2021, 2022, in press)

We are looking for prospective students with strong writing and quantitative/computational skills who are interested in these questions (especially learning theory). A background in usage-based linguistics, computational modeling, or behavioral experimentation is helpful.

Admitted students receive guarantee of five years of funding (mostly as teaching assistantships), see https://gradschool.uoregon.edu/gtf/salary-benefits, and excellent health insurance (http://gtff3544.net/health-care/summary-of-benefits/).  Interested students should contact Prof. Kapatsinski. Admission decisions are, however, made at the level of the whole department.