Linguistics
The NSF Linguistics Program supports basic research on human language including syntax, semantics, morphology, phonetics, and more, but doesn't fund clinical or applied research.
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Funder: U.S. National Science Foundation
Due Dates: January 15, 2027 (Closing date / full proposal target) | July 15, 2027 (Full proposal target)
Funding Amounts: $6,000,000 estimated total program funding; no cost sharing or matching required
Summary: Supports basic research on human language, including grammatical properties and intersections with cognition, computation, biology, and society.
Key Information: Excludes research primarily aimed at clinical practice, applied policy, or developing or assessing language-instruction methods and tools.
Description
The National Science Foundation’s Linguistics Program supports basic science on human language, encompassing the grammatical properties of individual languages and natural language in general. Research areas include syntax, semantics, morphology, phonetics, and phonology. The program encourages interdisciplinary methodological and theoretical perspectives that connect linguistics with other areas of science.
Relevant questions include the psychological processes underlying language production, perception, and comprehension; computational properties supporting fluent production, incremental comprehension, and rapid learning; and how speech acoustics, physiology, and human neurobiology inform language theory. The program also supports investigations of language development in natural learning contexts across the lifespan and the social and cultural factors underlying language variation and change. It accepts research, doctoral dissertation research improvement, CAREER, and conference proposals.
