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 new Center for Spoken Language Research at the University of Oregon Linguistics Department on the third floor of 1600 Millrace Drive

Once you come out of the elevator, follow the signs for SLRL, UO Students

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 the operations of associative and Bayesian mechanisms in language learning,
• explaining how we produce novel morphologically complex words,
• providing mechanistic accounts of diachronic processes like grammaticalization, degrammaticalization, paradigm leveling, semantic extension and narrowing, pragmatic strengthening, and sound change (particularly, lexical diffusion)

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

We can offer 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.