Where does language come from? How does language work? What is the nature of language structure and how is meaning encoded into language? Advances in research and new technologies are revolutionizing the way people try to answer these questions. Using the latest equipment and investigative approaches, University of Ottawa’s research laboratories make it possible for students to analyze spoken sounds, track eye movement and brain activity during language processing, explore language variation and acquisition, and probe dozens of other theoretical and empirical aspects of language including unfamiliar languages. 

These programs can serve as an entry point for a master's degree in either speech-language pathology or audiology, as well as for subsequent graduate study in theoretical and empirical linguistics.