Man is nature's mind-reading champion: we are better able than any other living beings to empathise with others. This comes in part from our story-telling culture, according to Max van Duijn. PhD defence 20 April.

To organise an Academy Colloquium on 'The New Authoritarianism: Russia and China in Comparative Perspective', in cooperation with André Gerrits.

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. 

When we read a text, we think we know who wrote it, but in the early modern period, manuscript production was often a collaborative or ‘socialised’ enterprise involving secretaries and scribes who physically wrote what the author dictated.

The goal is to develop educational materials for Dâw, Hupd’äh, and Nadëb Indigenous peoples (Naduhup family; Middle and Upper Rio Negro; Brazilian Amazon). In order to achieve this, first of all, the fieldwork data collected during a collaborative project among anthropologists and linguists (2017-2020)…

The Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo offers Dutch language courses for Egyptian adults on a regular basis. These courses aim to provide students with language skills in Dutch, which they can use in everyday life. Therefore you will spend most of your time practicing the language in order to…

Publishing about your research is a key aspect of your career as a researcher; the majority of research publications are written in English. When applying for research funding, too, it is very important to ensure that your application is written in clear, accessible English. Maria Sherwood-Smith, Academic…

From the NWO Open Competition Frank den Hollander has been awarded a two year postdoc grant, entitled

On 27 November the official opening of LeidenGlobal will be celebrated in the Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde/National Museum of Ethnology. LeidenGlobal is a platform for global expertise that responds to the call from Minister of Education and Culture Jet Bussemakers that academic and cultural institutions…

Frank den Hollander has received the Humboldt Research Award of €60,000. He was nominated by two German colleagues with whom he is working together for an extensive period of time. ‘The award was a complete surprise to me.'

Frank Takes has won the Young eScientist Award 2017 for his research about tax havens.

Prof. dr. Frank den Hollander has been named Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS). Professor den Hollander received the award for his research in probability and mathematical physics, and especially large deviation theory.

From 2 to 6 June 2014, Prof. dr. Frank den Hollander has provided 2 lectures during the workshop ‘Recent Models in Random Media’ at the Centre International de Rencontres Mathematique in Marseille (CIRM). This center facilitates workshops for mathematicians throughout the year.

What can languages spoken in the Lesser Sunda Islands today tell us about the histories of its various population groups?

The form and content of the course are determined by your answers on the intake form and, if necessary, an intake interview.

Anja Groten contributes the essay 'The Workshop and Cultural Production' to Amsterdam-based publication platform 'Open!'

Frank Chouraqui, University Lecturer of Philosophy, received the Faculty Teaching Prize during the Opening of the Faculty Year in the City Auditorium. ‘He knows how to make the boring interesting and fun.’

At LUCL, researchers have established the Leiden Hands!Lab for Sign Languages and Deaf Studies.

The fourth volume of Ex Novo has the pleasure to host Heleen van Londen, Marjo J. Schlaman, and Andrea Travaglia as guest editors of the special issue titled The Natural and The Cultural. Integrating Approaches in Landscape Heritage Management. This timely collection of peer-reviewed papers and short…

Interested in our GTGC programme? Read more here in other languages.

The goal of the MODOMA-project is to create a computer model of language acquisition.

This study presents a full descriptive account of the grammar of Mualang, covering the major features of phonology and morphosyntax as well as issues related to pragmatics.

A synchronic description of the endangered Slovene dialect spoken in the Gailtal valley in Carinthia, Austria.

This dissertation aims to explore how university students use mobile technology for their self-directed language learning and investigate factors influencing their self-directed learning with mobile technology.

This thesis presents a detailed description of the phonology, the tone system and the grammar of Liko, a Bantu language spoken by about 70,000 people in the northeastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It provides numerous examples.

Frank Chouraqui has been appointed as Director of Education at the Intsitute of Philosophy as from 1 January 2019. His mission is to maintain the quality of teaching, job satisfaction for all colleagues and a fulfilling student experience for all students.

This thesis presents a thorough survey of the central aspects of the phonology of Shaoxing Chinese from a synchronic perspective and on the basis of recent theoretical phonological developments, with the secondary goal of casting some light on current issues in Modern Chinese (Mandarin).

This research aims to address the connection between Sufism and modern Arabic Literature (specifically, Palestinian literature).

A study concerning the collective memory in the region of the Bene lo Ya/ Ene lo I'ya, Sierra Norte, Oaxaca.

Historian Frank Dikötter will receive an honorary doctorate from Leiden University for his work on the history of the Chinese Republican period and the People's Republic of China under Mao. He will be awarded the honorary degree during the university's Dies Natalis celebrations on 8 February 2017.

The research group Politics, Culture and National Identities 1789-present investigates a wide range of national political cultures in Europe and the Americas in the 19th and 20th centuries. Instead of only analyzing high politics (the acts of governments and political parties), the research group focuses…

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

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This is a Special Issue of the peer-reviewed 'Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics (DuJAL)’, which focuses on promoting Dutch and Belgian work in applied linguistics among an international audience, but also welcomes contributions from other countries.

On the 13th of November, Hanna Fricke successfully defended her doctoral thesis and graduated. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Hanna on this achievement.

In this project we study the properties of statistical- and rule-learning mechanisms in relation to the acquisition and evolution of language. We ask to what extent these mechanisms are unique to humans - or to human language - by comparing the acquisition of vocal structure in two species: humans (infants)…

Women Writing Mexico (WWM) is a network of women and men concerned with the human rights crisis in Mexico and more specifically, with the impact of structural forms of poverty, everyday violence, and discrimination based on gender, race, social class, and ethnicity, that particularly have an impact…

Tonal bilinguals of two closely related Chinese dialects are amazing people. They handle two tonal systems in their mind; their two vocabularies are from closely related dialects, and they write translation equivalents with common Chinese characters. Their unique language situation makes their mind…

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

On October 31st, Paul Noorlander succesfully defended his doctoral thesis and graduated. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Paul on this great result.

Over the past decades the role of writing in the development of human civilizations has been the subject of much discussion. The adoption and development of literate skills has been linked to many developments in human history, be they cultural, social or even cognitive.