Research at the Department of Linguistics

Research in linguistics at SFU is characterized by interdisciplinarity, breadth in research methodology, and diversity in theoretical perspective. All of our faculty have a specialization in one or more core areas, and serious research interests in other areas that support and enhance their main interests. The current research foci of the department are:

• Core areas in linguistics: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics
• Applied linguistics: second language acquisition, computer-assisted language learning, language planning and literacy
• Computational linguistics: computational learning algorithms, corpus linguistics, information retrieval and text processing, Tree Adjoining Grammar
• Language and cognition: human reasoning, language acquisition, language learnability, neurolinguistics, psycholinguistics
• Experimental linguistics: phonetics, laboratory phonology, experimental syntax
• Discourse analysis and pragmatics: phrasal phonology and intonation, information structure, systemic functional linguistics, text analysis and narrative structure
• Indigenous linguistics: Salish, Athabaskan, Algonquian, language maintenance and revitalization
• Linguistic variation: sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, typology
  

For more information on research topics pursued by our faculty and graduate students, explore the links at left.