The Institute of Language Sciences at Shanghai International Studies University is a research and teaching institution that integrates language science research, undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral education, and the development of language science and technology products. Established in 2024, the Institute was formed by integrating the Institute of Language Research and the Institute of Corpus Research, both of which are research and teaching institutions and academic platforms of Shanghai International Studies University.

The Institute has two key research bases jointly supported by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (111 Project), and it houses the first research base of the National Language Commission and an important think tank in the field of national language planning and research, the China Foreign Language Strategy Research Center. It is also responsible for the operation of the "National Language and Character Promotion Base of Shanghai International Studies University".

The Institute focuses on language science research, with its main research areas being the development and change patterns of languages and the cognitive processing mechanisms of language. Based on the disciplinary strengths in sociolinguistics and language education, it promotes the development of theoretical and applied linguistics research, conducts cutting-edge research in language data science and neurocognitive linguistics, develops language science and technology products, and cultivates high-end language science talents.

The Institute currently has 38 full-time teaching and research staff, including 19 professors/researchers, 10 associate professors/associate researchers, and 9 lecturers/assistant researchers. All full-time teaching and research staff hold doctoral degrees and graduated from renowned universities at home and abroad, with overseas study experience. Additionally, the Institute has 8 full-time foreign experts and several well-known scholars from home and abroad as part-time or visiting researchers. The Institute has two "Distinguished Scholars", two "Young and Outstanding Talents", four "Highly Cited Chinese Researchers" by Elsevier, and four chief editors and associate editors of SSCI and A&HCI journals. Moreover, the "Language Data Science and Application" teaching team of the Institute has been selected as the third batch of "Huang Daian-style Teacher Teams" by the Ministry of Education. The Institute has four research centers: "Linguistic Theory", "Language, Discourse and Society", "Psycholinguistics and Neurolinguistics", and "Language Data Science and Application". It offers four programs: "Linguistics" (undergraduate), "Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics" (master's, doctoral, and postdoctoral), "Language Data Science" (master's, doctoral, and postdoctoral), and "Language Policy and Language Education" (master's, doctoral, and postdoctoral), providing students with broad learning and development opportunities.

The Institute has research and teaching facilities in the Songjiang campus of Shanghai International Studies University. The Songjiang campus is equipped with multiple student activity rooms, modern multimedia conference rooms, and a university-level key laboratory - the Language Science and Multilingual Intelligent Application Laboratory (including behavioral laboratories, eye-tracking laboratories, electroencephalography laboratories, speech laboratories, and children's laboratories, language data processing and application laboratories, and smart learning laboratories). Additionally, the brain function imaging center, which is centered around functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), has been built by the university, further elevating the hardware level of this discipline to a first-class standard in China.

The Institute of Language Sciences will continue to uphold the spirit of scientific research innovation, fully leverage the language research advantages of Shanghai International Studies University, align with the cutting-edge of contemporary language science research, and promote the development of language science.