Human language as an object of study

Human language is an object of study in various areas of knowledge. Falling within the sphere of the University of Lisbon, the PhD Programme in Voice, Language and Communication is a meeting point for the interests of several Faculties, Departments, Schools, Research Centres and Institutes. It aims at enhancing the interaction among areas of knowledge such as, Linguistics, Biology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Psychology, Health, Artificial Intelligence, Education, Communication, Sociology, Anthropology, Law, the Performing Arts, Theatre, Cinema, Singing, Literature, History, Geography, Architecture or Music.

Since the second half of the 20th Century, the recognition of the specific quality of human language has involved the concept of ‘faculty of language’. Where Linguistics is concerned, over the last few decades this concept has led to the formulation and reformulation of various theoretical models which have been frequently associated with new observation and analytical methodologies and technologies in order to learn more about how human language is processed and produced.

At the moment, cross-studies according to linguistic, social, biological, neurophysiological, neuropsychological and cognitive perspectives of human language have allowed us to get to know a little more about the normal and pathological dimensions of acquiring, developing, understanding and producing natural languages.