Language Acquisition and Processing Laboratory

Department of Philology

Director

Vina Tsakali

Website

www.philology.uoc.gr/en/research/laboratories-research-facilities/language-acquisition-and-processing-laboratory

Objectives

The Language Acquisition and Processing Laboratory at UoC (LAP-Lab at UoC) was founded in 2018. The LAP-Lab investigates how infants and children comprehend and express themselves in their native language (emergence of L1) and how adolescences and adults process their native language (processing of L1). Focusing on the growth and implementation of the language faculty in individuals, the projects conducted by the LAP-Lab aim at contributing to a better understanding of various aspects of the language system, including phonology, morphology and morphosyntax and the syntax-semantics interface. Moreover, we are also interested in language and literacy disorders, as well as language development and processing in a-typical and multilingual populations. By systematically investigating the mechanisms responsible for the expression of the linguistic system in actual, observable linguistic behavior we also hope to be ultimately able to aid in clarifying broader methodological questions regarding the study of language acquisition.

The LAP-Lab at UoC promotes and explicitly encourages the discourse between theoretically oriented and more applied aspects of explorations into language, so as to make our research results directly accessible both to educational institutions and society as a whole. Following this general philosophy of optimizing information transfer, the LAP-Lab actively pursues collaborations with other labs located in Greece and abroad, and is seeking cooperations with public and private sectors organizations invested in language-related matters that will result in mutually beneficial professional relations.

The LAP-Lab at UoC, located in the department of Philology in Gallos (Rethymnon), is staffed by the faculty of the Linguistics Section in the Philology Department, technical staff members, doctorate students working on language acquisition and it is affiliated with researchers from various universities. It is equipped with state-of-the-art tools, such as Tobii Pro TX-300, portable Tobii X3-120, Eye tracking software for experimental research, Tobii Pro Lab, E-Prime extensions for Tobii Pro eye trackers and Tobii Pro Lab.

The research produced by the members of the Lab are supported and communicated to the academic and non-academic community via seminars, symposiums, talks and conferences along with publications on academic and social media.

Topics

Child language data collection for analysis of the development of Greek as L1 and L2
Theoretical model of first language development
Theoretical model of second language development
Model of language processing in children and adults

Members

Official lab members:

Elena Anagnostopoulou, Professor, Department of Philology

Aleksis Kalokerinos, Professor, Department of Philology

Ioanna Kappa, Professor, Department of Philology

Vina Tsakali, Assistant Professor, Department of Philology (director)

Stergios Chatzikyriakidis, Professor, Department of Philology

External Collaborators:

Artemis Alexiadou (Linguist), Humboldt University of Berlin

Despina Oikonomou (Linguist), Humboldt University of Berlin

Elena Theodorou (Speech Therapist), Cyprus University of Technology

PhD Students:

Konstantina Vamvouka

Maria Gatsou

Sandy (Kiriaki) Giannadaki

Katerina Iiopoulou

Giorgos Pitsilis

Irini Ploumidi

Tasos Poulidakis

Masters Students:

Irini Amanaki

Marina Mastrokosta

Evi Simou

Efrosini Skoulataki

Christina Stefanidou

Eleni Troulaki

Evaggelia Xasouraki

Erofili Psaltaki

Research Projects (after 2010)

Special Account for Research Funds of University of Crete (SARF UoC)

Principal Investigator: Vina Tsakali

Project Title: “The complete portrait of Acquisition of Clitics” [Code: 4488]

Special Account for Research Funds of University of Crete (SARF UoC)

Principal Investigator: Vina Tsakali

Project Title: “The acquistion of Conditionals and Counterfactuals” [Code: 4476]

Special Account for Research Funds of University of Crete (SARF UoC)

Principal Investigator: Vina Tsakali

Project Title: “Theoretical and applied methods in evaluating (a-)typical language” [Code: 4555]

Publications

Rouvoli, L., V. Tsakali & N. Kazanina (2019) “If they had been more transparent, the child would have discovered them more easily: how counterfactuals develop”, in the Proceeding of Boston University Conference on Language Development 43, pp. 549-560.
Kappa, I. & M. Tzakosta (2019). Vowel harmony patterns in Greek dialectal child speech. In Juan- Andrés Villena-Ponsoda, Francisco Díaz Montesinos, Antonio Ávila Muñoz and Matilde Vida Castro (Eds), Language Variation–European Perspectives VII. Series: Studies in Language Variation (SILV). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Company. 133-143.
Kappa, I., N. Paracheraki & A. Lengeris (2019). Perceptually driven blocking of palatalization in L1 Greek child speech. In Pedro Guijarro Fuentes, Cristina Suárez Gómez (eds.) Language Acquisition and Development. Proceedings of GALA 2017. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 425-436.
Kappa, I. & M. Papoutsi (2019). OCP factors governing the realization of [Obstruent+Sonorant] Clusters in Child Greek: a case study In Pedro Guijarro Fuentes, Cristina Suárez Gómez (eds.) Language Acquisition and Development. Proceedings of GALA 2017. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 437-450.
Tsakali, V. (2020) “Child’s interpretation of OR and AND: either or both?”, in the Proceedings of International Conference on Greek Linguistics 14, 2019.
Tsakali, V. & K. Vamvouka (2020) “The development of before and after in Greek”, in the Proceedings of International Conference on Greek Linguistics 14, 2019.
Oikonomou, D., E. Anagnostopoulou & V. Tsakali (2021) “The Development of Dative Clitics”, in the Proceeding of Boston University Conference on Language Development 45, 2021.
Tsakali, V. (2021) “The Developmental Interplay of OR and AND”, in the Proceeding of Boston University Conference on Language Development 45,
Tsakali, V. & M. Mastrokosta (2021) “Children’s understanding of OR, AND, Either..Or, and Neither..Nor”, in the Proceedings of the International Conference on Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, ISTAL 24,
Oikonomou, D., E. Anagnostopoulou & V. Tsakali (2022) “The Development of Dative Clitics”, in the Proceeding of AMGL41-Thessaloniki, May 2021.
Tsakali, V., M. Mastrokosta & D. Oikonomou (2022). “Not-Or versus Neither: Logical inferences in child Greek”, in the Proceeding of Boston University Conference on Language Development 46,
Kappa, Ioanna, Katerina Iliopoulou, & Maria Gatsou (2022). ‘Relics’ of place harmony in atypical phonological development in child Greek. In Proceedings of the Thirty-third Western Conference on Linguistics, Vol. 27. (Ed.) Sho Akamine. California State University, Fresno. 95-106. https://wecol.weebly.com/uploads/1/2/6/6/126620555/wecol2021_volume27.pdf
Tsakali, V., M. Mastrokosta & D. Oikonomou (to appear). “Conjunction, Disjunction and their interaction with Negation in child Greek” in the Proceedings of Bucharest Colloquium on Language Acquisition,
Ιliopoulou, K. & I. Kappa (to appear). Αsymmetry in the simplification of reversed sonority clusters in (a)typical phonological development: evidence from Greek. In Proceedings of Syntax, Phonology and Language Analysis 14 - SinFonIJA 14. Novi Sad: Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad.

Events

Conference organization

The 1^st Conference on Interdisciplinary Approaches to Linguistic Theory (CIALT-1)

Theme: “The interaction of theoretical and applied methods in evaluating a-typical language”

Rethymnon, 6 -8 Oct. 2017

(in collaboration with Rueshel Lab at Humboldt University of Berlin –

co-organizer with Artemis Alexiadou & Despina Oikonomou).

The 2^nd Conference on Interdisciplinary Approaches to Linguistic Theory (CIALT-2)

Theme: “Theoretical and applied methods in studying multiple grammars”

Berlin, 25 -27 Οκτ. 2018

(in collaboration with Rueshel Lab at Humboldt University of Berlin –

co-organizer with Artemis Alexiadou & Despina Oikonomou).

Collaborations/ Affiliations

Synergy Grant, part of Horizon 2020

Funding Organization: European Reasearch Council

UoC Investigator: Vina Tsakali-Main Investigator for Greek Language

Project Title: “Realizing Leibniz’s Dream: Child Languages as a Mirror of the Mind Project”

[PIs: Artemis Alexiadou, Uli Sauerland, Maria Teresa Guasti]

[Code: LeibnizDream, Total Amount: 10.000.000 euros, Duration: 2021-2026]

Contact

Email: tsakali@uoc.gr

Office number: +30-2831077292

Research Projects (after 2010)

Publications

Events

Collaborations/ Affiliations

Contact

Sign In