Basic information
Position: assistant professor
Field: linguistics
Specializations: generative syntax, corpus linguistics, psycholinguistics
E-mail: <marcin.opacki@uw.edu.pl>
Office Address: Faculty of Modern Languages, UW, ul. Dobra 55, 00-312 Warsaw, Poland, Room: 3.237
Academic profile
I am a linguist and an assistant professor at the Faculty of Modern Languages, University of Warsaw. My research interests are founded upon three pillars: theoretical linguistics (syntax and syntactic theories), natural language processing (corpus linguistics), and psycholinguistics (grammaticality judgements, cross-linguistic influence, bilingualism, and SLA).
One can say that I am mainly interested in how linguistic knowledge and linguistic information can be represented through the use of descriptive grammars. I am also interested in rule- and constraint-based systems in general. I consider experimental research a crucial proving ground for linguistic theories, a much needed bridge between the empirical and the rational, hence my participation in the LingLab team.
Research interests
Some overarching questions that define my academic exploits include:
- How do the various structures (“layers”) of natural language (e.g. syntax, semantics, pragmatics) constrain and regulate each other?
- What factors contribute to the perception of grammaticality, well-formedness, and acceptability?
- To what extent are the aforementioned factors related to cross-linguistic influence and prior language knowledge?
- How can we use linguistic theories of grammar to operationalize the abstract structures of natural language for the purpose of linguistic research?
- How do different methods of operationalization (especially the aforementioned descriptive grammars) influence construct validity?
- How does the information load of particular linguistic signs influence language processing, language acquisition, and language learning?
Past work
Throughout my career as a linguist, I have been involved in several research projects funded by a variety of agencies and consortia. These have included work on the following:
- a study of the language of bilingual migrant children (NPRH)
- the development of a framework for CLIL in vocational education and training (Erasmus+)
- an evaluation of language teaching in Polish primary schools (BENJA),
- Walenty: the Polish Valency Dictionary (CESAR, NEKST, CLARIN-ERIC)
- the development of a staff training program in computational linguistics for academics (NCBiR)
- the development of a CLIL-based program that fosters critical thinking aimed at Polish high school students (NCBiR)
Current work
Currently, I am working on investigations of:
- transfer effects in the context of bilingualism and multilingualism
- the influence of valency on vocabulary acquisition
- the psycholinguistic reality of control and raising phenomena in Polish
- communication abilities of children affected by Angelman Syndrome
- language change in Polish under the influence of English
- automatization of bilingual child narrative analysis using AI
Published lab-related work can be found in the publications section of this site, while an up-to-date list of my exploits and employment history is available via the various links below.