Research Interests
1. First Language Acquisition (typical development and language disorders)
1.1. Typical Development
My research on typical development focuses on the acquisition of certain morpho-syntactic categories associated with the noun (gender) and the verb (S-V agreement, tense, aspect), the acquisition of complex syntactic structures involving movement (wh-questions, relative clauses), and the acquisition of phenomena at the syntax-pragmatics interface (anaphora, binding). In my research I combine the study of longitudinal corpora (CHILDES database) with the use of experimental designs that tap language production and comprehension. I was a member of the Management Committee in a European COST Action network on language development (COST A33: Cross-linguistically Robust Stages of Children’s Linguistic Performance) and coordinator of one of the working groups (WG1 – Binding) (2006-2010).
Selected Publications
Varlokosta, S. (2011). The role of morphology in grammatical gender assignment: A psycholinguistic study in Greek. In A. Galani, G. Hicks & G. Tsoulas (Eds.), Morphology and its Interfaces. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 49-76.
Zombolou, K., Varlokosta, S., Alexiadou, A., & Anagnostopoulou, E. (2010). Acquiring anticausatives vs. passives in Greek. Proceedings of the 34thAnnual Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD 34). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press, 515-524.
Varlokosta, S. (2005). Eventivity, modality and temporal reference in child Greek. In M. Stavrou & A. Terzi (Eds.), Advances in Greek Generative Grammar. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishers, 217-240.
Armon-Lotem, S., Crain, S., & Varlokosta, S. (2004). Interface conditions in child language: Crosslinguistic studies on the nature of possession. Language Acquisition, 12, 171-217.
Varlokosta, S. (2001). On the acquisition of pronominal and reflexive reference in child Greek. In M. Almgren, A. Barreña, M.-J. Ezeizabarrena, I. Idiazabal & B. MacWhinney (Eds.), Research on Child Language Acquisition. Somerville MA: Cascadilla Press, 1383-1400.
Varlokosta, S., Karafoti, P., & Karzi, V. (2000). On the acquisition of pronominal reference in child Greek. In M. Perkins & S. Howard (Eds.), New Paths in Language Development and Disorders. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 97-103.
Varlokosta, S. (2000). Lack of clitic pronoun distinctions in the acquisition of Principle B in child Greek. Proceedings of the 24th Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD 24). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press, 738-748.
Varlokosta, S., Rohrbacher, B., & Vainikka, A. (1998). Functional projections, markedness, and ‘root infinitives’ in early child Greek. Linguistic Review, 15, 187-207.
Selected Publications
Varlokosta, S. (2011). The role of morphology in grammatical gender assignment: A psycholinguistic study in Greek. In A. Galani, G. Hicks & G. Tsoulas (Eds.), Morphology and its Interfaces. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 49-76.
Zombolou, K., Varlokosta, S., Alexiadou, A., & Anagnostopoulou, E. (2010). Acquiring anticausatives vs. passives in Greek. Proceedings of the 34thAnnual Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD 34). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press, 515-524.
Varlokosta, S. (2005). Eventivity, modality and temporal reference in child Greek. In M. Stavrou & A. Terzi (Eds.), Advances in Greek Generative Grammar. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishers, 217-240.
Armon-Lotem, S., Crain, S., & Varlokosta, S. (2004). Interface conditions in child language: Crosslinguistic studies on the nature of possession. Language Acquisition, 12, 171-217.
Varlokosta, S. (2001). On the acquisition of pronominal and reflexive reference in child Greek. In M. Almgren, A. Barreña, M.-J. Ezeizabarrena, I. Idiazabal & B. MacWhinney (Eds.), Research on Child Language Acquisition. Somerville MA: Cascadilla Press, 1383-1400.
Varlokosta, S., Karafoti, P., & Karzi, V. (2000). On the acquisition of pronominal reference in child Greek. In M. Perkins & S. Howard (Eds.), New Paths in Language Development and Disorders. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 97-103.
Varlokosta, S. (2000). Lack of clitic pronoun distinctions in the acquisition of Principle B in child Greek. Proceedings of the 24th Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD 24). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press, 738-748.
Varlokosta, S., Rohrbacher, B., & Vainikka, A. (1998). Functional projections, markedness, and ‘root infinitives’ in early child Greek. Linguistic Review, 15, 187-207.
1.2. Language Disorders
My research on developmental language disorders focuses on Specific Language Impairment (SLI) and Williams Syndrome (WS). SLI and WS are often viewed as mirror images of each other with better non-verbal than verbal abilities in the former and better verbal than non-verbal abilities in the latter. The goal of my research on SLI is the characterization of the morpho-syntactic and syntactic deficits in Greek-speaking children with SLI within current theories of grammatical development (domain-specific (linguistic) accounts vs. domain-general (processing) accounts), contributing thus to the cross-linguistic characterization of SLI. WS has received considerable attention in the literature because of the reported uneven neurolinguistic profile, characterized by relatively spared linguistic abilities (in particular, grammar and morpho-syntactic abilities) in the face of serious deficits in other cognitive domains such as visuo-spatial abilities, suggesting a potential dissociation between language and other aspects of cognition. The reported sparing of grammatical abilities has been challenged by a number of researchers who present evidence for impaired grammatical abilities and deviant development in WS. The goal of my research on WS is to investigate the potential dissociation of linguistic and non-linguistic abilities in WS, by assessing the production and comprehension of a wide range of linguistic phenomena (morpho-syntactic, syntactic, and semantic/pragmatic). My research on verbal and non-verbal abilities in WS was funded in 2003 by the Economic and Social Research Council, UK.
Selected Publications
Economou, A., & Varlokosta, S. (to appear). Specific language impairment (H ειδική γλωσσική διαταραχή). In M. H. Kosmidis (Edt.), Neuropsychology of Learning Dissabilities (Νευροψυχολογία των Μαθησιακών Διαταραχών). [Invited chapter] [in Greek]
Varlokosta, S., Archonti, A., Thomaidis, L., & Joffe, V. (2008). Past tense formation in Williams syndrome: Evidence from Greek. In A. Gavarró & M. J. Freitas (Eds.), Language Acquisition and Language Development. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press, 481-491.
Smith, N., Edwards, S., Stojanovik, V., & Varlokosta, S. (2008). Object clitics, definite articles and genitive possessive clitics in Greek specific language impairment (SLI): Deficits and explanations. Proceedings of the Child Language Seminar 2007, 30th Anniversary. University of Reading, 146-156.
Joffe, V., & Varlokosta, S. (2007). Language abilities in Williams syndrome: Exploring comprehension, production and repetition skills. Advances in Speech-Language Pathology, 9 (3), 213-225.
Joffe, V., & Varlokosta, S. (2007). Patterns of syntactic development in children with Williams syndrome and Down’s syndrome: Evidence from passives and wh-questions. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 21(9), 705-727.
Varlokosta, S., & Joffe, V. (2007). Lexical and grammatical abilities in Williams syndrome: Evidence from past tense and plural inflection. Proceedings of the 31st Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD 31). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press, 656-667.
Kateri, L., Revithiadou, A., & Varlokosta, S. (2005). Continuity vs. multiple grammars: A case study from Greek SLI. In M. Tzakosta, C. Levelt & J. van de Weijer (Eds.), Leiden Papers in Linguistics, Special Edition on Developmental Paths in Phonological Acquisition, 2.1, 13-38.
Varlokosta, S. (2002). (A)symmetries in the acquisition of principle B in typically-developing and specifically language impaired (SLI) children. In I. Lasser (Edt.), The Process of Language Acquisition. Berlin: Peter Lang Verlag Publishing, 81-98.
Selected Publications
Economou, A., & Varlokosta, S. (to appear). Specific language impairment (H ειδική γλωσσική διαταραχή). In M. H. Kosmidis (Edt.), Neuropsychology of Learning Dissabilities (Νευροψυχολογία των Μαθησιακών Διαταραχών). [Invited chapter] [in Greek]
Varlokosta, S., Archonti, A., Thomaidis, L., & Joffe, V. (2008). Past tense formation in Williams syndrome: Evidence from Greek. In A. Gavarró & M. J. Freitas (Eds.), Language Acquisition and Language Development. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press, 481-491.
Smith, N., Edwards, S., Stojanovik, V., & Varlokosta, S. (2008). Object clitics, definite articles and genitive possessive clitics in Greek specific language impairment (SLI): Deficits and explanations. Proceedings of the Child Language Seminar 2007, 30th Anniversary. University of Reading, 146-156.
Joffe, V., & Varlokosta, S. (2007). Language abilities in Williams syndrome: Exploring comprehension, production and repetition skills. Advances in Speech-Language Pathology, 9 (3), 213-225.
Joffe, V., & Varlokosta, S. (2007). Patterns of syntactic development in children with Williams syndrome and Down’s syndrome: Evidence from passives and wh-questions. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 21(9), 705-727.
Varlokosta, S., & Joffe, V. (2007). Lexical and grammatical abilities in Williams syndrome: Evidence from past tense and plural inflection. Proceedings of the 31st Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD 31). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press, 656-667.
Kateri, L., Revithiadou, A., & Varlokosta, S. (2005). Continuity vs. multiple grammars: A case study from Greek SLI. In M. Tzakosta, C. Levelt & J. van de Weijer (Eds.), Leiden Papers in Linguistics, Special Edition on Developmental Paths in Phonological Acquisition, 2.1, 13-38.
Varlokosta, S. (2002). (A)symmetries in the acquisition of principle B in typically-developing and specifically language impaired (SLI) children. In I. Lasser (Edt.), The Process of Language Acquisition. Berlin: Peter Lang Verlag Publishing, 81-98.
2. Neurolinguistics - Aphasia
My research in aphasia focuses primarily on the investigation of core morphological and syntactic phenomena in agrammatic, Broca’s aphasic speakers. I am also interested in the association of the different levels of the “microstructure” (morphology, syntax/ sentence-level) to the “macrostructure” (communicative ability/ discourse) of language, through analysis of spontaneous language and narrative production. Through collaborative work with colleagues from the University of Athens we have been looking also at the different sources of variability in the performance of speakers with aphasia, as a function of the processing ability of the speakers and the resource demands of the tasks.
Selected Publications
Fyndanis, V., Varlokosta, S., & Tsapkini, K. (2010). Exploring wh-questions in agrammatism: Evidence from Greek. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 23, 644-662.
Economou, Α., Varlokosta, S., Protopapas, A., & Kakavoulia, M. (2007). Factors affecting the production of verb inflections in Greek aphasia. Brain & Language, 103, 53-54.
Edwards, S., & Varlokosta, S. (2007). Pronominal and anaphoric reference in agrammatism. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 20, 423-444.
Fyndanis, C., Tsapkini, K., Varlokosta, S., Papathanasiou, I., & Petropoulou, K. (2006). Negation in agrammatism: Evidence from Greek. Brain & Language, 99, 162-163.
Varlokosta, S., Valeonti, N., Kakavoulia, M., Economou, A., & Protopapas, A. (2006). The breakdown of functional categories in Greek aphasia: Evidence from agreement, tense and aspect. Aphasiology, 20, 723-743.
Edwards, S., Varlokosta, S., & Payne, E. (2003). Pronominal reference and agrammatic comprehension. Brain & Language, 87 (1), 21-22.
Selected Publications
Fyndanis, V., Varlokosta, S., & Tsapkini, K. (2010). Exploring wh-questions in agrammatism: Evidence from Greek. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 23, 644-662.
Economou, Α., Varlokosta, S., Protopapas, A., & Kakavoulia, M. (2007). Factors affecting the production of verb inflections in Greek aphasia. Brain & Language, 103, 53-54.
Edwards, S., & Varlokosta, S. (2007). Pronominal and anaphoric reference in agrammatism. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 20, 423-444.
Fyndanis, C., Tsapkini, K., Varlokosta, S., Papathanasiou, I., & Petropoulou, K. (2006). Negation in agrammatism: Evidence from Greek. Brain & Language, 99, 162-163.
Varlokosta, S., Valeonti, N., Kakavoulia, M., Economou, A., & Protopapas, A. (2006). The breakdown of functional categories in Greek aphasia: Evidence from agreement, tense and aspect. Aphasiology, 20, 723-743.
Edwards, S., Varlokosta, S., & Payne, E. (2003). Pronominal reference and agrammatic comprehension. Brain & Language, 87 (1), 21-22.
3. Syntax
My research in syntax has focused on embedding, particularly on the syntactic properties of sentential complements (factive vs. non-factive, subjunctive) and various types of relative clauses (restrictive relative clauses, free relatives, pseudoclefts), as well as on the syntactic principles that govern their internal structure.
Selected Publications
Philippaki-Warburton, I., & Varlokosta, S. (2010). Formal approaches to language: The case of transformational generative grammar. Glossologia (Γλωσσολογία), 18, 37-48.
Kotzoglou, G., & Varlokosta, S. (2008). Resumption in Greek restrictive relatives: Matching and copy reduction. Proceedings of the North Eastern Linguistic Society (NELS) 38, 27-38 (2nd volume).
Alexiadou, A., & Varlokosta, S. (2007). On the structure and matching effects of free relatives in Greek. In A. Alexiadou (Edt.), Studies in the Morpho-syntax of Greek. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 222-248.
Philippaki-Warburton, I., Varlokosta, S., Georgiafentis, M., & Kotzoglou, G. (2004). Moving from theta-positions: Pronominal clitic doubling in Greek, Lingua, 114, 963-989.
Iatridou, S., & Varlokosta, S. (1998). Pseudoclefts crosslinguistically. Natural Language Semantics, 6, 3-28.
Varlokosta, S. (1994). Factive complements and wh-movement. Studies in the Linguistic Sciences, 23, 441-453.
Varlokosta, S., & Hornstein, N. (1993). A bound pronoun in Modern Greek. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 11, 175-195.
Varlokosta, S., & Hornstein, N. (1993). Control in Modern Greek. Proceedings of the North East Linguistic Society (NELS) 22, 507-521.
Selected Publications
Philippaki-Warburton, I., & Varlokosta, S. (2010). Formal approaches to language: The case of transformational generative grammar. Glossologia (Γλωσσολογία), 18, 37-48.
Kotzoglou, G., & Varlokosta, S. (2008). Resumption in Greek restrictive relatives: Matching and copy reduction. Proceedings of the North Eastern Linguistic Society (NELS) 38, 27-38 (2nd volume).
Alexiadou, A., & Varlokosta, S. (2007). On the structure and matching effects of free relatives in Greek. In A. Alexiadou (Edt.), Studies in the Morpho-syntax of Greek. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 222-248.
Philippaki-Warburton, I., Varlokosta, S., Georgiafentis, M., & Kotzoglou, G. (2004). Moving from theta-positions: Pronominal clitic doubling in Greek, Lingua, 114, 963-989.
Iatridou, S., & Varlokosta, S. (1998). Pseudoclefts crosslinguistically. Natural Language Semantics, 6, 3-28.
Varlokosta, S. (1994). Factive complements and wh-movement. Studies in the Linguistic Sciences, 23, 441-453.
Varlokosta, S., & Hornstein, N. (1993). A bound pronoun in Modern Greek. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 11, 175-195.
Varlokosta, S., & Hornstein, N. (1993). Control in Modern Greek. Proceedings of the North East Linguistic Society (NELS) 22, 507-521.
4. Second language Acquisition - Bilingualism - Language Assessment
My research on second language acquisition focuses on the acquisition of morphological and syntactic phenomena, as well as on the development of tools for assessing levels of proficiency in young learner of Greek as an L2. My research on the acquisition of Turkish by L2 Greek learners (’Comparative Analysis of Greek and Turkish: Grammatical Analysis of Turkish and Learning Turkish as a Foreign Language’) was funded by the Greek Ministry of Education and the European Union (Pythagoras I) in 2004. I am currenty the co-ordinator of the ’Language’ action within the research project ’Education of Romani Children in the Areas of Central Greece, Athens and South Aegean’, funded by the Greek Ministry of Education and the European Union (2010-2013). I am also a member of the Management Committee in a European COST Action network on bilingual acquisition and language impairment (COST ISO804: Language Impairment in a Multilingual Society: Linguistic Patterns and the Road to Assessment) (2009-2012).
Selected Publications
Papadopoulou, D., Varlokosta, S., Spiropoulos, V., Kaili, X., Prokou, S., & Revithiadou, A. (2010). Case morphology and word order in L2 Turkish: Evidence from Greek learners. Second Language Research, 27(2), 173-205.
Varlokosta, S. (2003). The acquisition of functional categories in child L2 Greek: Evidence for the full transfer/full access hypothesis. Glossologia (Γλωσσολογία), 14, 59-82.
Varlokosta, S., & Dullaart, J. (2001). The acquisition of pronominal reference by Greek-Dutch bilingual children: Evidence for early grammar differentiation and autonomous development in bilingual first language acquisition. Proceedings of the 25th Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD 25). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press, 780-791.
Triantafillidou, L., & Varlokosta, S. (2000). Immigrant children in mainstream classrooms in Greece: Assessing their language proficiency. In K. Nicolaidis & M. Mattheoudakis (Eds.), Proceedings of the 13th International Symposium on Theoretical and Applied Linguistics. Thessaloniki: University of Thessaloniki, 477-489.
Selected Publications
Papadopoulou, D., Varlokosta, S., Spiropoulos, V., Kaili, X., Prokou, S., & Revithiadou, A. (2010). Case morphology and word order in L2 Turkish: Evidence from Greek learners. Second Language Research, 27(2), 173-205.
Varlokosta, S. (2003). The acquisition of functional categories in child L2 Greek: Evidence for the full transfer/full access hypothesis. Glossologia (Γλωσσολογία), 14, 59-82.
Varlokosta, S., & Dullaart, J. (2001). The acquisition of pronominal reference by Greek-Dutch bilingual children: Evidence for early grammar differentiation and autonomous development in bilingual first language acquisition. Proceedings of the 25th Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD 25). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press, 780-791.
Triantafillidou, L., & Varlokosta, S. (2000). Immigrant children in mainstream classrooms in Greece: Assessing their language proficiency. In K. Nicolaidis & M. Mattheoudakis (Eds.), Proceedings of the 13th International Symposium on Theoretical and Applied Linguistics. Thessaloniki: University of Thessaloniki, 477-489.