New Study Reveals Key Role of Weak Elements in Language Development!

New Study Reveals Key Role of Weak Elements in Language Development!

On March 31, 2025, the University of Marburg announced the founding of a new research group that will focus on weak elements in language development. This group, led by Prof. Dr. Ulrike Domahs, is entitled “Weak Elements in Phonology: Development, Processing and Modality” and is supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) with a total of around 4.1 million euros over a period of four years. The main goal of this research initiative is to better understand the functions of weak units in language development and processing in order to advance language acquisition research.

An initial pilot study within the group showed that young children have difficulty correctly producing unstressed syllables at the end of words. These difficulties can have a negative impact on overall language acquisition. A central element of the research is prosody, which describes the interplay of tempo, melody and rhythm in language. Interestingly, weak syllables often carry grammatical information, such as singular and plural forms.

Research questions and interdisciplinary approaches

The research group investigates a variety of questions, including the acquisition of weak elements under different conditions and their historical development. The focus is also on the neural processes that occur when understanding these elements. In addition, the role of weak elements in meter and their influence on the processing of grammatical information is analyzed in detail. This research is carried out in close collaboration with institutions such as the University of Erfurt, the University of Mannheim, the Goethe University Frankfurt and others.

Various neurocognitive approaches are used to support the research objectives. According to reports from the Max Planck Society, current research is focused on developing a neurocognitive model that describes auditory speech comprehension in adults. The differences in the processing of syntactic, semantic and lexical processes, which are localized in separate networks of the left cerebral hemisphere, are examined. Prosodic processes, on the other hand, take place in areas of the right hemisphere. Such findings could expand the overall understanding of the hierarchical processing systems of language.

Clinical linguistics and speech pathologies

Another aspect of current research deals with clinical linguistics. Here we investigate how neural mechanisms can reveal impaired speech in children and adults. By analyzing such patterns, new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches can be developed. In the KLing speech therapy center, research and clinical practice are closely linked in order to make findings from speech pathology usable for speech processing.

In addition, individual language development processes are examined in language acquisition research. This is done taking age into account and by analyzing long- and short-term diachrony. Various methods, such as production data and EEG studies, make it possible to research acquisition patterns in monolingual and bilingual children and to examine the learnability of basic language categories.

The announced research group at the University of Marburg, together with the ongoing projects of the Max Planck Society and the approaches of clinical linguistics, represents a significant step towards better understanding the complex connections between language, brain and their development. The results of this research could not only contribute to the theoretical development of linguistics, but also provide practical inspiration for language didactics.