My research develops at the interface of theoretical linguistics, psycho-/neurolinguistics, and clinical linguistics. Grounded in formal approaches to grammar, with a focus on morphosyntax, it investigates sentence processing and its neural correlates in both typical and impaired language, with a particular emphasis on aphasia and acquired language disorders. My work is explicitly cross-linguistic, drawing on typologically diverse languages, and multimodal, combining evidence from spoken and sign languages.
I am currently funded by the IdEx Excellence Fellowship for Young Researchers 2025 at Université Côte d’Azur (Nice, France), where I am conducting an independent postdoctoral project entitled "Passive Structures in Aphasia across Languages and Modalities" (Pass-ALM). In parallel, I contribute to several collaborative research networks, including the European COST Action 22139 (Y-JustLang), the Collaboration of Aphasia Trialists (CATs), and the international research network CauLaGe (CNRS).
The sections below present my ongoing research lines, associated collaborations, and selected outputs.
This line of research investigates sentence processing across languages through a series of experimental studies focusing on structurally complex constructions, particularly object relative clauses and passives. By systematically manipulating morphosyntactic features, these studies examine the interface between syntax and morphology and test the predictions of competing theoretical accounts, including structural, resource-based and linear approaches.
Using a wide range of behavioural methods such as comprehension accuracy, priming, eye-tracking, self-paced reading and maze tasks, the research adopts a psycholinguistic perspective to disentangle the potentially distinct contributions of syntactic and morphological levels to sentence processing.
Extending this investigation to clinical populations, including individuals with post-stroke aphasia and primary progressive aphasia, and incorporating neuroimaging techniques, the project also takes a neuroscientific perspective by exploring whether and how morphosyntactic deficits vary across distinct clinical phenotypes.
Seçkin Arslan (BCL CNRS, Nice); Marc Teichmann (APHP, Paris); Carlo Cecchetto (SFL CNRS, Paris); Barbara Casolla (CHU, Nice); Giulia Gilardone (Casa di Cura Igea, Milan); Manana Gabashvili (GIPA, Tbilisi).
Viganò, M., Toneatto, C., & Cecchetto, C. (2026). A quest for a unitary explanation of the object disadvantage in incremental processing: evidence from a modified maze task with Italian relative clauses. Applied Psycholinguistics, 47. DOI: 10.1017/S0142716426100514.
Viganò, M., Gilardone, G., Cassinelli, D., & Cecchetto, C. (2025). The challenge of variability for syntactic accounts of agrammatism: A study of feature dissimilarity in Italian relatives. Studies in Language and Mind, 6, 93-108. DOI: 10.19090/slm.6.9.
Viganò, M., Ferrieux, S., Grimont, L., Muzerelle, M., Rebillard, C., Cecchetto, C., & Teichmann, M. (2026). Abstract syntactic structure matters: Minimality effects and number dissimilarity with subject and object relatives in primary progressive aphasias. 44° European Workshop on Cognitive Neuropsychology (EWCN), Brixen (Italy).
This line of research focuses on the cross-linguistic validation of assessment and rehabilitation tools for aphasia, with the aim of translating theoretical research on language processing into clinically relevant and socially impactful applications.
The primary focus is on the assessment and rehabilitation of morphology and syntax, with particular emphasis on structurally complex sentences as sensitive markers for the detection and treatment of fine-grained language deficits. At the same time, this research addresses language and communication abilities more broadly, recognising the multifaceted nature of aphasic impairments.
This line of research comprises multiple studies developed through multiprofessional collaborations, many of which originated during my clinical work in hospital settings. The cross-linguistic dimension of this research reflects its international scope and its goal of developing assessment and intervention tools that are both theoretically informed and applicable across languages and populations.
Seçkin Arslan (BCL CNRS, Nice) and members of CATs; Marc Teichmann (APHP, Paris); Elena Barbieri (Northwestern University, Chicago); Giulia Gilardone (Casa di Cura Igea, Milan); Costanza Papagno (CIMEC, Trento); Carlo Cecchetto (SFL CNRS, Paris).
Viganò, M., Barbieri, E., Thompson, C.K., Vitali, C., & Cecchetto, C. (2025). The Italian adaptation of the Treatment of Underlying Forms for object relatives in agrammatic aphasia: training efficacy, generalization patterns and crosslinguistic implications. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. DOI: 10.1044/2025_JSLHR-24-00305.
Gilardone, G., Viganò, M., Longo, C., Aiello, E.N., De Luca, G., Curti, B., Giglio, F., Cecchetto, C., & Papagno, C. (2025). RiComprendo: An assessment test for fine-graded alterations of syntactic processing. Neurological Sciences. DOI: 10.1007/s10072-025-08192-w.
This research line originates from a clinical and social need: the lack of standardised language assessment tools for sign language users. This gap represents a major limitation for accessibility and fairness within healthcare systems for Deaf signers, and it also constitutes a key issue for the linguistic and cognitive study of bimodal bilingualism.
The main objective of this collaborative work is the development and adaptation of assessment tools for Italian Sign Language (LIS), French Sign Language (LSF), and, prospectively, other sign languages, targeting acquired language disorders. A parallel and equally important aim is to map healthcare accessibility for Deaf people and to examine awareness within healthcare systems of Deafness and language disorders in this population.
From a neuroscientific perspective, this research also contributes to the study of the neural correlates of language processing across modalities by investigating pathological language behaviour.
Charlotte Hauser, Anna Pietrzak, Justine Mertz, and Carlo Cecchetto (SFL CNRS, Paris); Beatrice Giustolisi, Anastasia Parini, and Emanuele Carcano (Univeristy Milano-Bicocca).
Parini, A., Pietrzak, A., Carcano, E., & Viganò, M. (2026). First assessment tools for aphasia in French and Italian Sign Languages: Development and preliminary data. Neurolinguistics Workshop of ConSOLE34, Pavia (Italy).
Pietrzak, A., Parini, A., Hauser, C., Giustolisi, B., Mertz, J., & Viganò, M. (2025). Sign Language Assessment in Aphasia: New tools, preliminary data, and insights for clinical practice. Interdisciplinary Workshop “Sign Language Grammars, Parsing Models, & the Brain”, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive & Brain Sciences, Leipzig (Germany).
A transcranial magnetic stimulation study investigating cerebellar contributions to language processing: with Carlo Cecchetto (SFL CNRS, Paris), Costanza Papagno and collaborators (CIMEC, Trento).
A syntactic analysis of the functional correlates of passive sentences in Italian and French Sign Languages: with Adrien Dadone (Leiden University) and Emanuele Carcano (University of Milan-Bicocca).
An investigation of the linguistic manifestations of Developmental Language Disorder during adolescence: with Marta Manenti (University of Tours) and members of the COST Action 22139.