Antonella Sorace

Antonella Sorace is an experimental linguist, specializing in bilingualism across the lifespan. She is currently Professor of Developmental Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh,[1] as well as a Fellow of British Academy, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh[2] and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.[3][4]

Sorace received a first degree from the University of Rome 'La Sapienza', a Master of Arts degree from the University of Southern California, and a PhD from the University of Edinburgh.

Sorace's research has focused on multilingual acquisition across the lifespan, with a particular focus on highly advanced or near-native second language speakers, the changes in the native language of second language learners, and differences in acquisition in younger or older bilingual children. She is also the originator of the influential interface hypothesis. The hypothesis posits that linguistic structures that are sensitive to conditions external to the language domain, such as pragmatic, discourse, or contextual information, may remain variable in bilingual speakers, even at very advanced proficiency levels. She has recently turned her attention to the interactions between language and general cognition, which may partly be responsible for this variability.

Sorace is known for her research on the lexicon-syntax interface and especially for her work on gradience in split intransitivity across languages.[5][6] She has contributed to experimental linguistics methods by pioneering the use of Magnitude Estimation for the elicitation of acceptability judgments.[7][8]

Sorace is also the founder and director of Bilingualism Matters, an information and public engagement centre with branches in Europe and the United States, which aims to bridge the divide between researchers and the community at large about the facts and benefits of learning multiple languages, particularly among children.[9]