The Center for Language Science (CLS), located in the Moore Building, is an interdisciplinary group of linguists, psycholinguists, applied linguists, speech-language pathologists, speech scientists, and cognitive neuroscientists who share an interest in language acquisition and bilingualism. Our research focuses on language science from a diverse set of perspectives. These include:
Typical language development
Atypical language development
Psycholinguistics
Cognitive neuroscience
Using sophisticated behavioral and neuroscience methods such as eye tracking, acoustic analysis, and electrophysiological recording of brain activity, members of the CLS seek to learn about the inner workings of language with a special focus on bilingualism. The CLS meets weekly to discuss research, read papers together, share new methodological developments, and practice giving conference talks. One of our main goals is to foster collaborative research projects across the disciplines. Our many national and international collaborations bring distinguished visitors to the Penn State campus, and provide opportunities for our students to gain valuable research experience at other U.S. universities as well as in other countries. The CLS is an affiliate of the NSF Science of Learning Center at Gallaudet University, opening up further opportunities for collaboration in deaf studies, translation, and sign languages. Support for the CLS is provided from within Penn State by the Children, Youth, and Families Consortium, the College of Liberal Arts, and the College of Health and Human Development. Funding for individual faculty and graduate students is provided by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.
