The Language & Communication research group, part of the Utrecht Institute of Linguistics OTS, aims to understand how language is used to get things done in the real world, as well as how such actual, goal-oriented language use can be made more effective, particularly in the communication between institutions and individuals. We analyze the nature of the texts or conversations involved, the cognitive and affective processes they elicit in the language user, and the resulting representations and/or behavior. Group members use a wide range of methods from linguistics, psychology and cognitive (neuro)science, and conduct their research in the laboratory as well as in real-life communicative arena’s, the latter often in collaboration with societal partners.

In a formal evaluation of our work, the group’s research has recently received the highest possible grades, on research quality (‘excellent’), on societal relevance (‘excellent’) and on viability, i.e. future perspective (‘excellent’). From the evaluation report: “A world-class group with respect to all of the evaluation criteria […] innovative, multidisciplinary work […] theoretically driven […] scientific methods and results are significant for the field of linguistics while at the same time being socially relevant and useful for improving communication in society — this characteristic is very rare.”

More information:

• Check out our self-assessment reportover the years 2012-2017 (13 pages), where you can find much more information about our profile, research ambitions, projects, and results (see L&Cgroup-publications2012_2017 for the associated list of publications).
• Explore the options we offer for consultancy and/or research collaboration with societal partners, via the UiL OTS wide UCCO website (Utrechts Centrum voor Communicatieonderzoek; in Dutch), or by contacting our UCCO coordinator Daniel Janssen.
• Directly get in touch with one of our specific researchers, via their personal webpages.
• Ask the research group’s coordinator Jos van Berkum(easiest to reach by email).