CLUNL

LiFE – Formal and Experimental Linguistics

The main general objectives of LiFE research group, whose members work primarily within the Principles and Parameters framework of generative grammar, are to understand which properties of human languages are universal, which properties are variable, how languages are acquired, how languages change and how the language faculty interacts with other components of the mind.

The group develops research in different fields – comparative morpho-syntax (including synchronic and diachronic perspectives); L1, L2, and bilingual language acquisition and development, processing – and with different populations – typical vs. atypical development; adults vs. children.

In a more applied perspective, the group is committed to the development of diagnosis materials for different types of language impairment, effective tools for language therapy and language teaching; and to the development of linguistic resources (corpus of L2 learners, corpus of Medieval Portuguese, Dictionary of Medieval Portuguese).