Linguistics Program - Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants

The Linguistics Program supports basic science in the domain of human language, encompassing investigations of the grammatical properties of individual human languages, and of natural language in general. Research areas include syntax, linguistic semantics and pragmatics, morphology, phonetics, and phonology.


The program encourages projects that are interdisciplinary in methodological or theoretical perspective, and that address questions that cross disciplinary boundaries, such as (but not limited to):



What are the psychological processes involved in the production, perception, and comprehension of language?

What are the computational properties of language and/or the language processor that make fluent production, incremental comprehension or rapid learning possible?
How do the acoustic and physiological properties of speech inform our theories of language and/or language processing?
What role does human neurobiology play in shaping the various components of our linguistic capacities?
How does language develop in children?
What social and cultural factors underlie language variation and change?


The Linguistics Program does not make awards to support clinical research projects, nor does it support work to develop or assess pedagogical methods or tools for language instruction.


DDRI proposals to document the linguistic properties of endangered languages should be submitted to the Dynamic Language Infrastructure (DLI-DDRI) Program: https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2019/nsf19607/nsf19607.htm.

The Linguistics Program supports basic science in the domain of human language, encompassing investigations of the grammatical properties of individual human languages, and of natural language in general. Research areas include syntax, linguistic semantics and pragmatics, morphology, phonetics, and phonology.


The program encourages projects that are interdisciplinary in methodological or theoretical perspective, and that address questions that cross disciplinary boundaries, such as (but not limited to):

• 
  
  What are the psychological processes involved in the production, perception, and comprehension of language?
  
  


• What are the computational properties of language and/or the language processor that make fluent production, incremental comprehension or rapid learning possible?


• How do the acoustic and physiological properties of speech inform our theories of language and/or language processing?


• What role does human neurobiology play in shaping the various components of our linguistic capacities?


• How does language develop in children?


• What social and cultural factors underlie language variation and change?

The Linguistics Program does not make awards to support clinical research projects, nor does it support work to develop or assess pedagogical methods or tools for language instruction.


DDRI proposals to document the linguistic properties of endangered languages should be submitted to the Dynamic Language Infrastructure (DLI-DDRI) Program: https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2019/nsf19607/nsf19607.htm.

*Who May Submit Proposals: Proposals may only be submitted by the following:
-Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs): Two- and four-year IHEs (including community colleges) accredited in, and having a campus located in the US, acting on behalf of their faculty members. Special Instructions for International Branch Campuses of US IHEs: If the proposal includes funding to be provided to an international branch campus of a US institution of higher education (including through use of sub-awards and consultant arrangements), the proposer must explain the benefit(s) to the project of performance at the international branch campus, and justify why the project activities cannot be performed at the US campus.

*Who May Serve as PI:

DDRI proposals must be submitted with a principal investigator (PI) and a co-principal investigator (co-PI). The PI must be the advisor of the doctoral student or another faculty member at the USIHE where the doctoral student is enrolled. The doctoral student must be a co-PI.