Research in Language Sciences
Faculty in Language Sciences are engaged in many types of research into language, including linguistic fieldwork and minority language documentation, formal modeling of linguistic theories, high-tech linguistic experiments, and community outreach projects. These faculty projects provide rich opportunities for undergraduate and graduate student research participation. Some areas of concentrated strength are highlighted below, and see our individual faculty pages for full details of ongoing research at UW–Madison.
Indigenous Languages of the Americas
Language Sciences is home to several faculty members who specialize in the study, documentation, description, and/or revitalization of indigenous languages throughout the Americas.
Sign Language Linguistics
Research on the many signed languages found across the globe studies the similarities and differences between spoken and signed languages, asking such questions as: How are signed languages used in signing communities? How do they develop and change, and how are they acquired?
First Language Acquisition
How do children acquire their first language? UW faculty study various aspects of acquisition in signed and spoken, majority and minority, normally-developing and disordered languages or speech.
Neurolinguistics
How do the brain and sensory-motor systems work together to produce and interpret human speech sounds?
Psycholinguistics
Faculty in this area investigate a wide variety of questions in language processing and cognition, such as interactions between linguistic behavior and working memory, statistical language learning, and more.
Second Language Acquisition
Research includes questions of bilingualism and cognition, and interactions of L1 and L2 in language acquisition.
Sociolinguistics
Sociolinguists study aspects of linguistic variation across various social variables, including ethnicity, social status, age, gender, and geography.
Working at a Research Lab
One of the biggest advantages of attending a large R1 research university like UW–Madison is the opportunity for undergraduates to continue their learning outside of the classroom via work in a research lab! We encourage our undergraduate Linguistics majors to get involved with faculty research projects. All of the labs listed above hire student help – either as paid positions, for course credit, or on a volunteer basis. See each individual lab page for details on how to apply; typically, there is an application process and students are hired for a semester or year at a time. Faculty who do not have a specified “lab” also frequently hire students on an hourly basis to assist with individual projects. Reach out to your professors directly to ask about open research opportunities.
Language Sciences faculty publish widely in academic and popular formats. You can peruse a list of selected books by our faculty here:
Also see individual faculty pages for information on scholarly articles and research grants.