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The Language, Interaction, and Social Organization (LISO) program at UC Santa Barbara consists of two main parts: an interdisciplinary Ph.D. Emphasis available to graduate students as part of their doctorate, and a Research Focus Group under the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center that organizes lectures by guest speakers. The Ph.D. Emphasis formally involves faculty from the Departments of Communication, Education, Linguistics, and Sociology, though participation is open to scholars and students from all academic fields.
LISO researchers and students explore how language and communication function in real-world settings, emphasizing how these immediate social environments shape human behavior and the necessity of recorded interactions for analysis. Their work examines everyday conversations as well as structured environments like classrooms and emergency calls. Some focus on how children learn language and social norms within natural contexts, while others explore relationships between grammar and social interaction or investigate links between language and cultural practices.