News
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How did Proto-Indo-European reach Asia? 15 July 2024
Five thousand years before the common era (BCE), Proto-Indo-European, the mother of many languages that are spoken today in Europe, Central Asia and S...
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PhD candidate Camil Staps figured out what ‘out’ means 20 June 2024
Words originally intended to indicate space, such as ‘out’, are also regularly used to indicate cause and effect. Why does this happen? And how does i...
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Presentation of Greek-Dutch dictionary: ‘In the end, you have to decide what to do’ 10 June 2024
After a process of more than two decades, the new Greek-Dutch dictionary was presented on Wednesday 5 June. University lecturer Lucien van Beek acted ...
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‘Stemmen van Afrika’ wins popularisation prize: 'Language is more than grammar' 19 March 2024
The Voices of Africa platform is ten years old and has just recently won the annual popularisation prize of the Netherlands Graduate School of Linguis...
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New professor Alwin Kloekhorst: 'The origin of your language also says something about you' 08 February 2024
Where does Dutch come from? Newly appointed Professor Alwin Kloekhorst looks for an answer to that question in millennia-old languages from Anatolia, ...
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Artificial intelligence and clay tablets: not yet a perfect match 10 October 2023
Translating ancient texts, filling in missing parts of clay tablets: articles are popping up more and more often about the possibilities offered by ar...
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Michaël Peyrot appointed professor: 'We have a bright future ahead of us' 11 September 2023
Michaël Peyrot has been appointed professor of Comparative Indo-European Linguistics at the Leiden University Centre for Linguistics with retroactive ...
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How seals point to an undocumented prehistoric language 03 July 2023
Language can be a time machine: we can learn from ancient texts how our ancestors interacted with the world around them. But can language also teach u...
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What influence did French really have on Dutch? 15 May 2023
Just as some people today dislike English influences on the Dutch language, in early modern times people also criticised the Frenchification of Dutch....
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Who spoke what language in north-western sixth-century China? 14 March 2023
Fifteen hundred years ago, the north-west of what we now call China was a jumble of peoples. How did those Indians, Khotanese and Tocharians influence...
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ERC Consolidator Grants for six Leiden researchers 31 January 2023
From the effects of hormone fluctuations in women via the interior structure of giant planets to the prehistory of the languages and more: six Leiden ...
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Lucien van Beek receives LUF grant: 'It is a great feeling to be able to work on my ideas' 20 January 2023
University lecturer Lucien van Beek has been awarded a LUF Praesidium Libertatis Grant. He will use the sum of 75,000 euros to research the thinking o...
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Maarten Mous: ‘Your language is part of the world’ 20 June 2022
In the new video series 'The World of Linguistics', alumni and researchers talk about their passion for their field. Professor of African Linguistics ...
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Benjamin Suchard: ‘The more you send out into the world, the more likely it will stick’ 25 April 2022
How do you make niche subjects interesting and accessible? Benjamin Suchard, historical linguist and researcher, seems to have created the perfect rec...
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Opposing the French participle clause 10 February 2022
The Dutch phrase ‘ijs en weder dienende’ (literally, ‘ice and weather serving’) is a good example of what is known as a participle clause and is perha...