30Apr
Variation in Individual Linguistic Behavior
VIBe Ling Project
Mission
We envisage
- to put the individual center-stage
- that everyone's language is unique - what you read, write, text and talk about, who you communicate with, and in what kind of setting
We are interested
- in a speaker's very own use of their language rather than the ‘average’ language of a large group
We are complete for now!
About the project
How To Participate
Who can join
- Native English speakers from North America
- Aged 18 and older
What you get
- A total of 3000€ over study period of 2,5 years
- Personal insights into your own language style
More
By tracing and documenting the linguistic in- and output of individual speakers of English in the US and Canada, our aim is to answer the following questions:
- How does your experience with language shape your individual grammar, that is, what kind of words, phrases or construction do you use and how do they become yours?
- How do you adjust your language in different situations (e.g. work e-mails or group chats)?
- How is your language similar/different to the average of your speech community - in other words, how come that others may recognize both your unique stylistic signature and belonging at the same time?
Our Commitments
- Appreciation
- To value every speaker's unique grammar
- Diversity
- To create a space where speakers from any socio-cultural and socio-economic background can be come a part of this project
- Authenticity
- To help speakers feel comfortable and natural when sharing their specific language experience
- Professionalism
- To maintain the highest research standards by having only trained linguists monitor and document a speaker's linguistic behavior
- Ethics
- To make sure that all the data collected will be fully anonymous and that no personal information will ever be shared with anyone
Check out our Instagram account!
Our Team
What have we been up to?
coming soon
Upcoming Events
15Oct
Starting Round 2 of Interviews
Within October and November 2026 we will be conducting the second round of interviews with our lovely participants - looking forward to it!
24May 2027
ISLE Forum Workshop on The Linguistic Individual
Language exists in the minds and practices of individual speakers, yet linguistic research has traditionally privileged abstract systems and community-level patterns over individual linguistic experience. This workshop places the linguistic individual at the center, bringing together researchers across linguistic fields to explore how speakers acquire, represent, use, and reshape language, and how individual differences relate to broader patterns of variation and change. It also addresses the theoretical and methodological challenges of an individual-centered perspective, including the need for new approaches and datasets capturing intra-speaker variation across contexts and the lifespan.