“Multilingual individuals in a multilingual context” Experimental Linguistics Chair Tenure-track Professor Chair
The Research Centre for Basque Language and Texts IKER (UPPA/CNRS/Université Bordeaux Montaigne) has launched the construction of an experimental multilungual laboratory (AHAL) in Bayonne designed to work on topics such as bilingualism, language acquisition, linguistic pathologies and experimental sociolinguistics.
The Experimental Linguistics tenure-track Professor Chair created in September 2024 accompanies the creation of this laboratory. It aims to provide a rigorous description of the developmental stages of the multilingual child, particularly for the region's minority languages.
Experimental studies are essential for understanding language processing and acquisition. However, most experimental research focuses on monolingual speakers of widely spoken languages, limiting its relevance to multilingual contexts.
The Experimental Linguistics chair aims to fill this gap by studying language development in Bayonne's diverse environment. It will analyze the developmental trajectory of bilingual children, with a particular focus on the acquisition of Basque and its grammatical and phonological specificities.
This research will be carried out within the Aquitaine Multilingual Experimental Lab (AHAL) of the IKER research center, in close collaboration with local educational institutions and families.
The Chairholder
The Chair is held by Arrate Isasi-Isasmendi, previously a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Zurich. A specialist in cognitive mechanisms related to language processing, Arrate has previously worked on the syntax and phonology of Basque, as well as on language processing in code-switching contexts.
Tenure-track Professor Chairs
Tenure-track Professor Chairs were introduced by the French Research Programming Act (LPR) of December 24, 2020. They represent a conditional pre-tenure (“tenure-track”) in the corps of university professors or research directors at the end of the 5-year chair.
The conditions for tenure are the successful completion of the research director's habilitation (HDR) and the assessment of the researcher's scientific merit and professional aptitude by commission.
