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FLL research projects
Below are listed current and past research grants obtained by the FLL
research group: individual research grants (doctoral
and postdoctoral), current research projects, and
past research projects.
Individual research grants
1. Doctoral research grants of the Fund for Scientific Research - Flanders
(FWO)
2. Postdoctoral research grants of the Research Council of the University
of Leuven
3. Postdoctoral research grants of the Fund for Scientific Research -
Flanders (FWO)
4. Postdoctoral return grant of the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO)
5.
Tenured faculty position granted by the Research Council of the University of Leuven
6. Senior Research Fellowship granted by the Research Council of the
University of Leuven
Current research projects
| 10/2008-10/2012 |
Optional ergative marking and the architecture of case systems |
| Description |
The aim of this project is to develop a typologically viable model of optional ergative marking,
and to investigate its implications for the architecture of case systems in general. |
| Funding |
Research Council University of Leuven, OT/08/011 |
| People |
Promotor:
Jean-Christophe Verstraete
Researchers:
Stefanie Fauconnier, An Van linden
|
| 07/2007-06/2011 |
Grammaticalization and (inter)subjectification |
| Description |
The FLL research group is a partner in the Grammaticalization and (Inter)subjectification (GRAMIS) project sponsored by the Belgian Science Policy (Interuniversity Attraction Poles programme project P6/44). This project aims to contribute to current research efforts dealing with (the interaction between) the processes of grammaticalization (in the structural domain) and (inter)subjectification (in the semantic domain) in language change. It will focus on three major issues:
- The precise nature of the semantic changes in subjectification and in intersubjectification, and their relationship with the structural developments in grammaticalization.
- The teleology of the processes: are grammaticalization and (inter)subjectification unidirectional or not?
- The 'scope' of these processes: how do grammaticalization and (inter)subjectification relate to other mechanisms of language change, notably, to analogy?
These foci will be implemented in terms of 7 work packages, dealing with different semantic and/or grammatical domains in which these issues can be raised and investigated from different angles. These packages are: Modality, Evidentiality, Mood, Discourse particles, Complementation, Nominal modification, Theory. Research by the K.U.Leuven partner focuses on the Complementation and Nominal Modification work packages. For further information, see the GRAMIS website. |
| Funding |
Belgian Science Policy - Interuniversity Attraction Poles - Phase VI, project P6/44 |
| People |
Promotor: Hubert Cuyckens
Co-promotor: Kristin Davidse
Researchers:
Lobke Ghesquière (07/2007-06/2011), Christopher Shank (01/2008-12/2010), Sigi Vandewinkel (1/1/2008-15/8/2008 and 16/1/2009-31/5/2009), An Van linden (part-time, 10/2008-09/2009)
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| 12/2006-12/2009 |
Documentation of five Paman languages of Cape York Peninsula, Australia |
| Description |
The aim of this project is to document five highly endangered Paman languages of Cape York Peninsula (Australia): Kugu Muminh, Kuku Thaypan, Umbuygamu, Umpila, and Wik Ngathan. The project is a team effort of five people with prior research experience on these languages, who want to pool knowledge and resources to document them as thoroughly as possible with the last generation of speakers. Our central goal is to produce an extensive representative corpus of texts, which will form a valuable resource for the communities involved, and will serve as the basis for further descriptive and community-oriented work. |
| Funding |
Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project (SOAS, University of London) |
| People |
Promotor:
Jean-Christophe Verstraete
Co-promotor:
Peter Sutton (University of Adelaide & South Australian Museum)
Researchers:
Alice Gaby (UC Berkeley), Bruce Rigsby (University of Queensland)
PhD student:
Clair Hill (Max Planck Institut für Psycholinguistik) |
Past research projects
| 10/2004-09/2008 |
Grammaticalization, emergent
grammar and the English NP |
| Description |
The overall aim of this project is to arrive
at a general characterisation of the English NP in present-day English,
but one which does justice to the fact that the current state of the
English NP forms a synchronic 'slice' resulting from completed and
ongoing grammaticalization processes. At the level of language description,
this entails two complementary aims: (i) reconstructing the grammaticalization
patterns manifested by the synchronic data, and (ii) checking whether
these patterns are confirmed by diachronic evidence. An important
spin-off of the project is expected to be the enriching and refining
of some of the theoretical assumptions informing grammaticalization
theory, as a result of its systematic application of the NP. |
| Funding |
Research Council University of Leuven,
OT/04/12 |
| People |
Promotor: Kristin
Davidse
Co-promotor: Hubert Cuyckens
Researchers: Tine Breban (01/2005-09/2006),
An Van linden (10/2005-09/2008), Peter Petré |
| 09/2005-09/2006 |
Collex Biz: Learning collocational and lexicogrammatical patterns in Business English |
| Description |
Collex Biz is a web-based learning environment for the acquisition of general economic vocabulary. The lexical competence aimed at encompasses the most frequent words and collocations found in a 6m word corpus of business news reports. The learning platform also contains a grammar component with remedial grammar exercises. |
| Funding |
University of Leuven, Educational research, development, and implementation projects (OOI 2005/44) |
| People |
Promotor: Kristin
Davidse
Co-promotors:
Kristin Blanpain, Hubert Cuyckens,
Liesbet Heyvaert, An Laffut, Dirk Speelman
Researcher: Nele Olivier |
| 01/2000-12/2005 |
Research community on interpersonal
and ideational grammar |
| Description |
The aim of this research community is to
reflect on and develop the theoretical foundations and the descriptive
elaboration of the ideational and interpersonal component in systemic
functional grammar. The research community will be engaged in fundamental
reflection about the semiotic foundations of language and of linguistic
categories. It will be concerned with methodology and descriptive
heuristics which can be applied to corpus research, to interrogate
the paradigmatic and the syntagmatic axis of the language system.
It will also work on the concrete descriptive elaboration of the ideational
and interpersonal component on the level of nominal group, clause
and text. For publications and past activities, see the website
of the SFRC. For the conference to be held in February 2005 on
grammaticalization, see the FITIGRA
website. |
| Funding |
Fund for Scientific Research - Flanders,
Scientific research network WO.018.00N |
| People |
Promotor: Kristin
Davidse
Co-promotors: Anne-Marie Simon-Vandenbergen (Ghent University),
Chris Braecke (University of Antwerp) |
| 10/2003-09/2005 |
The diachronic evolution
of complement constructions in English: Distribution and motivation |
| Description |
This study examines the distribution of
complement constructions (CCs) involving to-infivitives,
bare infinitives, gerunds, and that-clauses in the various
periods of the history of English, and looks for the factors determining
this distribution. In other words, it tries to provide an account
for the change and variation in CC distribution patterns from a diachronic
perspective, thus going beyond the synchronic, primarily semantically
based accounts mainly advocated in the cognitive-linguistic paradigm.
It hopes to show that the distribution of CCs at any stage of the
history of English is motivated by the interplay of various factors,
with semantic motivation constituting only one factor, albeit not
the least important one. This project envisages the distribution of
(i) the finite that-clause and (ii) non-finite CCs which
can be used either as catenative complements or as non-catenative
complements. |
| Funding |
Research Council University of Leuven,
OT/2003/20/TBA |
| People |
Promotor: Hubert
Cuyckens
Researchers: Hendrik De Smet (10/2003-09/2004),
An Van linden (10/2004-09/2005), Peter Petré |
| 10/2001-09/2005 |
A new comprehensive English
grammar |
| Description |
The aim of this project is to write a new
extensive reference work which reflects the current state of English
and, which, in terms of contrastively-inspired thoroughness, rivals
the older multi-volume English grammars written by non-native speakers
of English. Because the 'promoters' of this project are also non-
native speakers, they are naturally more interested in the boundaries
of grammaticality and its explanation than native speakers tend to
be. For the same reason, they are in a good position to capture the
'genius' of English grammar, i.e. the ways in which its means of expression
differ from Dutch and French. Needless to say, maximally eshaustive
coverage is one of the most important aims of the project: all subareas
of English grammar should be covered and the descriptive systematization
should be pursued into the finest details. |
| Funding |
Fund for Scientific Research - Flanders,
FWO G.0146.98 and Research Council University of Leuven, OT/97/11 |
| People |
Promotors: Renaat Declerck, Kristin
Davidse, Ilse Depraetere |
| 10/2003-08/2005 |
A collocation-based approach
to the acquisition of lexical competence in English (COLLEX) |
| Description |
The aim of this project is to develop a
web-based learning environment to help the students realize the main
aims of the course English Language and Text 1 in the area of lexical
competence in English. The lexical competence aimed at focuses on
the most frequent collocations associated with the main grammatical
environments of the English clause and nominal. The COLLEX learning
environment will also include a corpus interface, allowing the students
to personally explore the principles and heuristics on the basis of
which their proficiency exercises were compiled. |
| Funding |
University of Leuven, Educational research,
development, and implementation projects (OOI), CO3/A2/001/38 |
| People |
Initiators: Kristin
Davidse, Hubert Cuyckens, Dirk Speelman,
Liesbet Heyvaert, An
Laffut
Researcher: Nele Olivier |
| 01/2001-12/2004 |
Categorization and instantiation
in the nominal group: A functional approach to the English nominal
group |
| Description |
The aim of this project is to arrive at
a hierarchical functional description, which will investigate the
crucial links between the two 'ends' of the nominal group: the 'determiner'
end with quantifying and identifying elements on the one hand, and
the - typically lexical - 'head' on the other hand. The former is
associated with 'instantiation', the latter with 'categorization'.
Both ends incorporate modification as well as more delicate forms
of submodification. The general functional explanatory frame that
will be developed should ultimately enable us to connect individual
data with lexicogrammatical classification and theoretical explanation
in a justifiable way. |
| Funding |
Fund for Scientific Research - Flanders,
FWO G.0218.01 |
| People |
Promotor: Kristin Davidse
Researchers: Lieven Vandelanotte (01/2001-09/2001),
Lieselotte Brems (10/2001-09/2002), Tine
Breban (10/2002-12/2004), Peter Willemse
(10/2004-12/2004), Ditte Kimps (10/2004-12/2004) |
| 10/2000-09/2004 |
A functional, lexicogrammatical
description of the English nominal group |
| Description |
The aim of this project is to arrive at
a functional, corpus-based, analysis of the English nominal group.
The levels of description are: the structure of the NG as a constructional
template, the functions of the NG, and the lexicogrammatical classes
realizing these functions. The fundamental questions which inform
the research are: identification of linguistic categories as form-function
correlations and integration of grammatical categorization with lexical
classification. |
| Funding |
Research Council University of Leuven,
OT/00/05 |
| People |
Promotor: Kristin
Davidse
Researchers: Peter Willemse (10/2000-09/2004,
01/2005-09/2005), Ditte Kimps (01/2005-09/2005) |
| 01/2001-04/2001 |
Participants versus circumstances |
| Description |
This project is concerned with elements
on the borderline between participant and circumstance status. More
specifically, it looks at setting/subjects, i.e. elements of the setting
(which canonically are construed as circumstances) construed as subject.
The project addresses the question whether setting/subjects have pseudo-participant
status only, or whether they have true agentive, and thus also real
participant, status. |
| Funding |
National Bank of Belgium, NB/00/8 (n°
A5726) |
| People |
Promotor: Kristin
Davidse
Researcher: Wim Vandenberghe |
| 01/1995-12/2000 |
The impact of syntactic variation:
Prepositional phrases vs bare nominals |
| Description |
The aim of this project is to uncover the
principles of syntactic variation via the systematic study of specific
types of alternation between prepositional phrases and bare nominals,
as they manifest themselves in several languages, as in Spanish Juan
ve a los niños vs Juan ve los niños.
The investigation aims at answering questions such as to what extent
the choice of one variant depends on verbal semantics, the meaning
of the given nominal, syntactic framing, prosodic features, information
flow, or pragmatic factors.
These elements are analysed in five languages, i.e. Spanish, French,
English, German, and an aboriginal language. The variation-paradigm
is first to be explored for each language separately; in a second
stage, comparison of these paradigms will ultimately lead to distinguishing
language-specific variation mechanisms from those of more general
applicability. |
| Funding |
Fund for Scientific Research - Flanders,
FWO G.0138.96 |
| People |
Promotor: 1995-1996: Brygida Rudzka-Ostyn
Co-promotors: Kristin Davidse, Nicole Delbecque,
Michèle Goyens |
| Funding |
Research Council University of Leuven,
OT/95/5 |
| People |
Promotors: 1996-1998: Brygida Rudzka-Ostyn,
1998-2000: Kristin Davidse
Co-promotors: Nicole Delbecque, Michèle Goyens
Researchers: An Laffut (10/1996-09/2000),
Lieven Vandelanotte (10/2000-12/2000)
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| 1990-1996 |
Case and thematic relations |
| Description |
It has repeatedly been noted that by unravelling
the meaning of case relations one can find the key to language structure
as a whole. The purpose of this project is to search for this key.
Concentrating on both European and non-European languages, this is
the first such large-scale investigation into case, and is additionally
noteworthy for its reliance on computer-stored corpora of authentic
material. Questions receiving special attention in the research concern
(1) the relationship between the different meanings of case roles
and the structures by which they are coded, (2) the links between
the meanings themselves, (3) the relation that any particular case
bears to any other cases, and (4) the tools and strategies needed
to deal with (1), (2) and (3). The results of this research will be
published by John Benjamins (Amsterdam-Philadelphia) in a six-volume
series entitled Case and Grammatical Relations Across Languages. |
| Funding |
Diensten van de Eerste Minister, Federale
Diensten voor Wetenschappelijke, Technische en Culturele Aangelegenheden
- IUAP Conventie nr. 27. |
| People |
Promotor: Brygida Rudzka-Ostyn
Editors of series Case and Grammatical Relations across Languages
(John Benjamins):
Vol. 1. (1994) Petra Campe. Case,
semantic roles, and grammatical relations: A comprehensive bibliography.
Vol. 2. (1996) Willy Van Langendonck & William Van Belle. The
Dative: Volume 1: Descriptive studies.
Vol. 3. (1998) William Van Belle & Willy Van Langendonck. The
Dative: Volume 2: Theoretical and contrastive studies.
Vol. 4. (2002) Kristin Davidse & Béatrice
Lamiroy. The
Nominative & Accusative and their counterparts.
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