The
CRIL, an interdisciplinary speech and
language research centre, is the brainchild of Mirko Grimaldi who has
been assisted since its incipiency by Barbara Gili Fivela. Part of
the Department of Philology, Linguistics and Literature of the
University of the Salento, it was set up with European Union Funds
under the National Operative Program (NOP) 2000-2006, [Scientific
Research, Technological Development, Higher Education, for regions
listed in objective number 1 (Directorial Decree of the Ministry for
Education and Research, MIUR, number 1312, 09.07.2003).] The
main feature of the CRIL is its heterogeneous and highly
sophisticated equipment, of kinds rarely available in the same
laboratory.
At
the CRIL, it is possible to observe, in an integrated way, the
complex activity of larynx, tongue, lips, oro-facial muscles, as well
as eye movements during the performance of audio-visual tasks in
different communicative contexts, and to analyze at the same time the
neurophysiologic responses of the cerebral cortex.
Exploiting
interdisciplinary scientific skills, it is possible to make different
equipment interact, with the aim of collecting observable data from
different perspectives and deepening the integration between
empirical data and theories.
Thus
the CRIL is likely to be the ideal place for creating cross border
fields of research among different disciplines, e.g. the areas of
linguistics, medicine and engineering. Although researchers in those
areas may make different assumptions and have different traditions,
they may be all interested in studying the nature of human language,
its variation and its invariance, its pathologies, and the
acquisition processes for both first and second languages, as well as
linguistic variation.
In
short, the equipment of the CRIL laboratory
allows an interdisciplinary approach with an aim to:
study of the acoustic-auditory and articulatory-aerodynamic nature of human
language and its relationship with the neurophysiologic
activity of the brain.
explore extensively the cerebral organization of human language
from a neurocognitive perspective in the quest for a neural
theory of human language.
