Research interests and research topics

Research interests
First, bilingual, second/third language acquisition, language attrition, diachronic language change, syntactic variation, comparative syntax, word order, noun phrase structure (gender, definiteness, possessive constructions), English, Norwegian, Russian, German.

Current research projects, networks and groups

• Center for Language, Brain & Learning (C-LaBL), Director 2024, Adjunct Professor 2025-. Funding: Trond Mohn Foundation (approximately NOK 70 million), 2024-2029.
• MOVA: Multilingual Onset, Variation & Attrition. Language Development and Language Preservation of Ukrainian Refugee Children in Europe. Funding: Research Council of Norway 2026-2029 (NOK 12 million). PI: Natalia Mitrofanova.
• GenPath: The Cognitive Pathways of Gender: A Cross-Linguistic Electrophysiological Assessment. Funding: DFG Emmy Noether grant, 2025-2030. PI: Ana Rita Sá Leite.
• LangInLife: A lifetime with language: the nature and ontogeny of linguistic communication. Member of International Scientific Advisory Board, 2025-2029. Funding: Operational Programme Jan Amos Komensky. PI: Pavel Caha, Masaryk University, Brno.
• MuMin Multilingual Minds – Grammar Interactions in Multilingual Acquisition, 2021-2026. Funding: Research Council of Norway. PI: Natalia Mitrofanova, UiT.
• CLIMA Crosslinguistic Influence in Multilingual Acquisition, 2021-2026. Funding: Research Council of Norway. PI: Anne Dahl, NTNU.
• Associate member of CeLM Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism, University of Reading (a UK Centre of Excellence), 2013 – .

Previous research projects, networks and groups (selection)

• AcqVA Aurora: The Dynamic Nature of Languages in the Mind (Director), a UiT Aurora Centre, funded by UiT (NOK 30 million), 2020-2024.
• AcqCESS: Acquisition & Attrition Crosslingiustic Effects of Structural Similarity: Ukrainian meets Polish, German and Norwegian. PI. Funding: Centre for Advanced Study, Oslo, 2023-2025.
• MultiBridge: Bridging the Gap Between Multilingual Research and Society. PI. Funding: Funding source: Narodowe Centrum Nauki (National Science Centre of Poland), 2024-2025.
• ADIM Across-domain Investigations in Multilingualism, 2022-2024. Funding: EEA Norway grants (Polish-Norwegian bilateral program GRIEG), EUR 1.2 mill. Participating institutions: Adam Mickiewicz University (AMU), Poznan, UiT & NTNU. PIs: Magdalena Wrembel (AMU) & Marit Westergaard.
• GenVAC Grammatical Gender in Norwegian Dialects: Variation, Acquisition & Change. Funding: Research Council of Norway 2020-2024. PI: Terje Lohndal, NTNU.
• DFG Network: Optionality and variation in multilingual syntax (participant), Funding: German Research Foundation. PIs: Leah Bauke & Tom Rankin, 2020-2024.
• CLIMAD Cross-linguistic influence in multilingualism across domains: Phonology and syntax, funded by OPUS-19-HS grant (UMO-2020/37/B/HS2/00617), Polish National Science Centre NCN (PLN 1 139 264,00), PI: Magdalena Wrembel, 2021-2024. Collaborators: Adam Mickiewicz University (Poznań), UiT The Arctic University of Norway, NTNU.
• AcqVA Acquisition, Variation & Attrition (Director), joint NTNU/UiT research group, funded by the Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education & Department of Language and Culture, 2015-2023.
• MultiGender: A Multilingual Approach to Grammatical Gender, 2019-2020 (extended to 2022). Funding: Centre for Advanced Study (Oslo), PIs: Terje Lohndal (NTNU), Marit Westergaard
• MiMS Micro-variation in Multilingual Acquisition and Attrition Situations, Funding: Research Council of Norway, 2016-2021 (NOK 9 mill.)
• LAVA Language Acquisition, Variation & Attrition (Leader), research group funded by the Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education, 2015-2019.
• BLINK Bilingual Literacy and Input Negotiates Knowledge: Tracing Heritage Language Bilingual Development (co-supervisor, with Jason Rothman), 2018-2021. Funding: MSCA, PI: Fatih Bayram.
• LIA Language Infrastructure made Accessible (participant), funded by the Research Council of Norway, directed by Professor Janne Bondi Johannessen, MultiLing, University of Oslo.
• Acquiring Figurative Meanings: A Study in Developmental Pragmatics (participant), funded by the RCN 2015-2019, PI Ingrid Falkum, UiO.
• GenBiLex Multiple Perspectives on Grammatical Gender in the Bilingual Lexicon (supervisor), MSCA grant 2017-2019, PI Rachel Klassen.
• DiVA Disentangling Variation: A crosslinguistic investigation of bilingualism and non-standardization (supervisor), MSCA grant 2017-2019, PI Evelina Leivada.
• CASTL Center for Advanced Study in Theoretical Linguistics (Director 2009-2012, Affiliate 2003-2008, 2013- ), a Norwegian Center of Excellence funded by the Research Council of Norway 2003-2012 (approx. 12 mill. per year) and by the Tromsø Research Foundation 2013-2017.
• From signal to grammar in Cree: Breaking through grammatical opacity in first language acquisition (Collaborator), funded by an Insight Grant (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada) 2013-2018, PI Julie Brittain, Memorial University, Newfoundland (Other participants: Carrie Dyck, Marguerite MacKenzie, Yvan Rose, Shanley Allen, Phil Branigan).
• LAMBA: Latvian Language in Monolingual and Bilingual Acquisition: Tools, theories and applications, 2015-2017. Funding: EEA Norway grants; PIs: Dace Markus, Olga Urek.
• NorAmDiaSyn (Norwegian Heritage Language in America), directed by Professor Janne Bondi Johannessen, MultiLing, University of Oslo.
• Affiliate of MultiLing Multilingualism in society across the lifespan, University of Oslo (a Norwegian Centre of Excellence), 2013 – 2023.
• NoRus Bilingual Norwegian-Russian Children in North Norway: Language Acquisition and Language Use (PI), funded by the Tromsø Research Foundation 2012-2014 (Co-investigator: Yulia Rodina).
• English as an L3 (PI), funded by Kompetanse for mangfold 2014-2015 (Co-investigator Roksolana Mykhaylyk).

• NorPhLex Phonological and lexical acquisition in mono- and bilingual children in the Nordic and the Baltic states (Leader of the Tromsø group). Organized by Professor Hanne Gram Simonsen, University of Oslo, funded by NordForsk 2012-2014.
• ISWOC Information Structure and Word Order Change in Germanic and Romance Languages (Project participant).  PIs Kristin Bech and Kristine Eide, University of Oslo, funded by the Research Council of Norway 2010-2014 (Other participants: Jan Terje Faarlund, Susan Pintzuk, Ann Taylor, Roland Hinterhölzl, Svetlana Petrova, Bettelou Los, Ans van Kemenade, etc.).
• HSL Faculty Research Group on The Lexicon (Leader, together with Professor Peter Svenonius), funded by HSL 2010-2014.
• BIC Bilingual Immigrant Children in North Norway: The Norwegian Welfare Society and the Language of Norwegian-Russian Children (PI) 2010-2012: An inter-disciplinary project combining linguistics with the social sciences. Funded by the Regional Research Fund of North Norway (RFF-Nord) 2010-2011 and the Tromsø Research Foundation 2011-2013 (Other participants: Yulia Rodina, Tore Nesset, Natalia Kukarenko and Ann Therese Lotherington).
• HSL Faculty Research Group on Multilingualism (Leader), 2010-2012, interdisciplinary research group with members from linguistics, education and the social sciences. The group received seed funding from HSL.
• VIA Variation in the Input in Acquisition (Leader), 2006-2012 (with Merete Anderssen, Kristine Bentzen, Yulia Rodina). The project had a postdoc position funded by the University of Tromsø (filled by Kristine Bentzen 2008-2011). A subcomponent of the project involved a consideration of how children’s behavior with respect to word order variation may lead to diachronic change.
• VAMOS Variation and Acquisition: Multiple Object and Subject positions (Project participant): A subproject of VIA. PI Professor Paula Fikkert, funded by the Tromsø Research Foundation 2008-2012 (Other participants: Merete Anderssen, Yulia Rodina).
• N’CLAV Nordic Collaboration on Language Variation studies (Participant), network of twelve research groups (researchers and students) in theoretical, descriptive and applied linguistics focusing on variation across the Nordic languages, funded by NordForsk 2010–2012.
• NORMS Nordic Center of Excellence in Microcomparative Syntax (Participant), funded by NOS-HS 2005-2010.
• ScanDiaSyn Scandinavian Dialect Syntax (Participant), a collaboration of several research groups in the Nordic countries to investigate syntactic variation in the dialects of the Nordic languages, funded by NordForsk 2005-2010.

Service to the community

• Flere språk til flere, a branch of the web service Bilingualism Matters, directed by Professor Antonella Sorace at the University of Edinburgh. Flere språk til flere offers research-based information about bilingualism to families, schools, public administrators and politicians.