In this volume, Ray Jackendoff and Jenny Audring embark on a major reconceptualization of linguistic theory as seen through the lens of morphology. Their approach, Relational Morphology, extends the Parallel Architecture developed by Jackendoff in Foundations of Language (2002), Simpler Syntax (2005),…

On the 4th of June, Andreas Joswig successfully defended his doctoral thesis and graduated. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Andreas on this great result.

The edited volume 'Arabic in context: celebrating 400 years of Arabic at Leiden University' edited by Ahmad Al-Jallad is out. The volume contains the contributions to the 2013 conference with the same title, held at Leiden University and was published as part of Brill's the Studies in Semitics Language…

On the 9th of April, Manolis Fragkiadakis successfully defended a doctoral thesis. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Manolis on this achievement!

Descriptive linguistics at LUCL covers documentation and descriptive analysis of lesser-studied languages as well as typological and historical comparison.

On the 4th of September, Elisabeth J. Kerr successfully defended a doctoral thesis. Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Elisabeth on this achievement!

On the 23rd of March, Alessandro del Tomba successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Alessandro on this achievement!

On the 5th of September, Zhen Li successfully defended a doctoral thesis. Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Zhen on this achievement!

This volume explores the nature of ellipsis, the core phenomenon that results in various types of omission in sentences.

On 21 September 2022 H. Hu successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

Historical Sociolinguistics is the study of the relationship between language and society in its historical dimension. This is the first textbook to introduce this vibrant field, based on examples and case studies taken from a variety of languages.

The Leiden HANDS!Lab for Sign Languages and Deaf Studies hosts research activities in the area of sign language linguistics and Deaf studies, with a focus on Africa. In addition to various research projects, we have our Deaf studies lecture Series in International Sign and offer various regular and…

On the 20th of June, Camil Staps successfully defended a doctoral thesis. Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Camil on this achievement!

LIAS faculty teach and carry out thesis supervision in many programs.

If you have a question, there are various ways to get in touch with us.

Languages spoken around the world differ vastly from  the more familiar Indo-European languages. The courses in this theme aim to introduce you to the immense linguistic diversity still found in the world today. 

If you have a question, there are various ways to get in touch with us.

Get the most out of your studies at Leiden University by taking part in our extracurricular activities.

On the 6th of January, Kefan Bao successfully defended a doctoral thesis. Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Kefan on this achievement!

Knowledge and culture subproject 1:

On the 30th of June, Richard L. Boutwell successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Richard on this achievement!

On December 18th, Viktorija Kostadinova succesfully defended her doctoral thesis and graduated. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Viktorija on this great result.

Beauty is a central concept in the Italian cultural imagination throughout its history and in virtually all its manifestations. It particularly permeates the domains that have governed the construction of Italian identity: literature and language.

Contacts between Tocharian A and B and Khotanese and Tumshuqese, four languages once spoken in today’s Xīnjiāng Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwest China, lack a comprehensive treatment and are still a controversial topic. This work contains the first systematic investigation of the matter from a…

This research profile area brings together descriptive, historical and theoretical linguistics, as well as psycho- and neurolinguistics.

The MA Neerlandistiek/Dutch Studies at Leiden University provides you with an international view on the Dutch language and culture. You will be able to study the full breadth of Dutch studies: from the Middle Ages to today.

Find out how to apply for Linguistics (research) at Leiden University by following our step-by step guide.

Do you want to apply for the bachelor’s programme Linguistics at Leiden University? Find out how to apply by following the step-by step guide below.

On Thursday 28 September, the Committee on Social Minimum, of which Koen Caminada is a member, presented its second report to outgoing minister for poverty policy in the Netherlands, Carola Schouten. The Committee was established by the minister at the request of the House of Representatives.

In early 2019, the QANU (Quality Assurance Netherlands Universities) published its Report on the Research Review of Leiden University Centre for Linguistics (LUCL). This review takes place every 6 years as part of the overall monitoring and safeguarding of research quality in the Netherlands.

A linguistic reconstruction of the migration of the Tocharians from Europe to China

To be eligible for Modern Languages at Leiden University, you must meet the following admission requirements.

Leiden University won five prizes at the 10th edition of the IBA International Criminal Court (ICC) Moot Court Competition – English edition of 2023, including Best Regional Team of Europe.

One Lecture about Immigrant Integration in the EU and its Member State at the Institute of European Studies at George Washington University, one class in a course on Immigration and Integration at Georgetown University, and a lot of judging in the international rounds of the Phillip C. Jessup International…

De groeiende militaire aanwezigheid rond Groenland moet veiligheid bieden, maar tegelijkertijd vergroot het de klimaatdruk op het kwetsbare eiland en zet het geopolitieke spanningen verder op scherp. Hilde Woker, universitair docent internationaal recht en expert in het zeerecht, ging in gesprek met…

Nowadays children grow up with social media. This may influence the development of brain regions involved in social interaction. In their review article in Nature Communications, Crone and Konijn illustrate how neuroscience can contribute to a better understanding of how media and peers influence adolescents'…

It’s been a turbulent, bizarre and extraordinary year, 2020. Coronavirus turned the lives of everyone at our University upside down. Out teaching, research and all the events that are held in a year: nothing was the same as before. That this affected all of us is clear from the highlights and many reactions…

Want to explore a different specialist field? Or maybe study a topic from your programme in more depth? This summer Leiden University is again offering a broad selection of Summer Schools.

Africa is online. Leiden Africa expert Mirjam de Bruijn is fascinated by the fast development of mobile telephony and social media in Africa. She maintains a website on the topic, focusing on isolated, marginalised and conflict-ridden areas in Middle Africa.

On 4 and 5 September, Leiden Law School hosted a special conference that brought together around sixty participants from the Netherlands and abroad to discuss the future of economic, social, and cultural rights – rights that touch upon everyone’s daily life: housing, education, healthcare, food, and…

That's just learning parrot-fashion. This was the argument with which the proposal to establish a language lab at Leiden University was rejected in 1962. But six years later, the language lab was launched. And now the Academic Language Lab is celebrating its 50-year anniversary.

Moving to a different city as a student can be a daunting prospect, let alone to a different country. Each year, many students come to Leiden, and many find a home away from home thanks to the Humanities Master’s Buddy Programme. Kathleen Burke and Victor Jarzargaray experienced it first-hand. “It’s…

A new special issue on translation and the cultural Cold War sheds light on the understudied and yet important role of translation in cultural transfer.

In June the Final Festival took place, the closing event of the 'Social Science Lab'. New participants of Honours College Science and Society presented their solution for a current social problem.

Compare human social behaviour at a country level and you will find differences. Japan has the highest score whereas the Netherlands is just above average. This is what psychologist Niels van Doesem discovered in research with an international team of 64 colleagues in 31 industrialised countries. Their…

Humanities are needed to make sense of social issues. Watch or listen to the stories of our experts who tell about their research and the impact on society. Get to know the world at Humanities!

The prehistory of communication metaphors

Area studies is an approach to knowledge that starts from the study of places in the human world from antiquity to the present, through the relevant source languages, with central regard for issues of positionality.