science

LACITO

LACITO is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand LACITO rather than just read about it. In short: LACITO (Langues et Civilisations à Tradition Orale) is a multidisciplinary research organisation, principally devoted to the study of languages and civilizations with oral traditions. LACITO is a branch of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)), the principal network of researchers in France.

LACITO — illustration

Key takeaways

LACITO belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect LACITO to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of LACITO from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

LACITO (Langues et Civilisations à Tradition Orale) is a multidisciplinary research organisation, principally devoted to the study of languages and civilizations with oral traditions. LACITO is a branch of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)), the principal network of researchers in France. It is thus occasionally referred to as LACITO–CNRS or CNRS–LACITO.

Scientific activities Created in 1976 by André-Georges Haudricourt, LACITO is specialized in the description, documentation and analysis of under-documented languages of the world. The members of LACITO are linguists and linguistic anthropologists. The main perspective adopted by LACITO’s researchers is that of linguistic typology, as linguistic structures are compared in search of universals, yet with special attention to their diversity. Besides language documentation and grammatical description, research at LACITO also includes historical linguistics, lexicography, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, verbal art and cultural diversity. An important contribution of LACITO is the Pangloss Collection, for the preservation of valuable audio archives in the world's endangered languages.

Language expertise

Linguistic research at LACITO involves fieldwork in various language families, including:

Domains of research

Notes

External links Homepage of LACITO Archived 2021-12-06 at the Wayback Machine. Map of languages studied at LACITO Who’s who at LACITO Les Carnets du LACITO (LACITO's blog) Homepage of the Pangloss Collection

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with LACITO

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what LACITO claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to LACITO before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about LACITO ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of LACITO

In research: LACITO appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses LACITO in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: LACITO is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics French National Centre for Scientific Research, French UMR, Linguistics organization stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for LACITO outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study LACITO in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what LACITO means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain LACITO out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is LACITO in simple terms?

Why does LACITO matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study LACITO?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on LACITO.