Who we are

Lab Director

Research program:

Developing a domain-general learning-theoretic approach to language acquisition, providing explanations for pathways of language change
- We are looking into how we learn
  - …novel categories of sounds (tones, intonation contours): Which ones are the same? And are they really? (Kapatsinski et al., 2017; Olejarczuk et al., 2018; Chapter 5 in the book)
  - …phonetic cues to categories and dimension weights: What to attend to (Harmon et al., 2019; Kapatsinski et al., 2024; Chapter 5 in the book)
  - …form-meaning mappings: Cues to meaning, cues to form (Caballero & Kapatsinski, 2022; Harmon, 2019; Harmon & Kapatsinski, 2017; Kapatsinski, 2012, 2013, 2023; Kapatsinski & Harmon, 2017; Mujezinovic et al., 2024; Chapters 3 and 6 in the book)
  - …{morpho;phono}logical creativity: How we make words we’ve never said or heard before (Harmon, 2019; Kapatsinski, 2010a, 2010b, 2012, 2013, 2021, 2022; Olejarczuk & Kapatsinski, 2018; Olejarczuk, 2018; Chapters 7-8 in the book)
  - …paradigmatic mappings between wordforms (Kapatsinski, 2010a, 2017a, 2017b, 2021b; Smolek, 2019; Smolek & Kapatsinski, 2018, 2023; Chapters 7-8 of the book)
  - …contextual influences on lexical selection: (Harmon & Kapatsinski, 2020, 2021; Chapter 9 in the book)
- Most publications are found here
in order to explain the following diachronic phenomena:
- the emergence of exceptions to exceptionless patterns (Kapatsinski, 2010, LabPhon)
- lexicalization and morphologization (Kapatsinski, 2021, FiP)
- lexical diffusion patterns in language change (Kapatsinski, 2021, FiP; 2023, Handbook of Usage-based Ling; in press)
- articulatoruly-motivated sound change (Kapatsinski et al., 2020, Rivista di Linguistica; Chapter 9 in the book)
- semantic extension and narrowing (Harmon & Kapatsinski, 2017, Cognitive Psychology; Kapatsinski, 2022, Frontiers in AI; Chapter 6 in the book)
- backformation, subtraction and truncation (Kapatsinski, 2017, BUCLD; 2022, Frontiers in AI; Chapter 8 in the book)
- blending (Kapatsinski, 2013, Language; 2022, Frontiers in AI; Chapter 7 in the book)
- non-concatenative morphology

Graduate Researchers

Nadia Lake Clement

If you are interested in working in the lab, please apply to the PhD program in linguistics at Oregon (to start in September 2025). Admissions are a departmental decision. However, I will have funding for someone to work on the evolution of non-concatenative morphology using a miniature artificial language learning paradigm. So, if you have relevant skills and ideas, let me know before applying, and I will be on the lookout for your application!