For decades, we have seen dogs as expert interpreters of human cues – animals that we’ve shaped through artificial selection to fit in with our lifestyles. What if that was only half of the story? Recent findings from researchers of the NCCR Evolving Language challenge this one-sided model and propose a more reciprocal one: communication between humans and canids evolved not just as a linear result of human-driven selection, but rather developed through an interactive process of mutual influence.
After being an SNSF professor for 6 years, Rico Sennrich has taken on a new role. This August, he became an assistant professor in computational linguistics at the University of Zurich. During his masters in English Literature, his minor on computational linguistic drew him into the field. “In computational linguistics, it’s easy to test your theories,” he says.
The northern coast of Peru is a region known for its rich archaeological heritage, but its people’s history is still underexplored. An international team of geneticists and linguists investigated the deep genetic roots and historical continuity of the region, in a new study published in Scientific Reports.
Exploring the past, present and future of language
The Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Evolving Language is a nationwide interdisciplinary research consortium bringing together research groups from the humanities, from language and computer science, the social sciences, and the natural sciences at an unprecedented level. Together, we aim at solving one of humanity’s great mysteries: What is language? How did our species develop the capacity for linguistic expression, for processing language in the brain, and for consistently passing down new variations to the next generation? How will our capacity for language change in the face of digital communication and neuroengineering?
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Evolving Language is led by Balthasar Bickel (Department of Comparative Language Science, UZH), Daphné Bavelier (Cognitive Neuroscience group, UNIGE) and Klaus Zuberbühler (Institute of Biology, UNINE). Over 40 research groups across Switzerland are taking part in this NCCR, from 9 different institutions as well as partners in industry (Google AI, Sonova) and public organisations. The project has 3 leading houses: the University of Zurich, the University of Geneva and the University of Neuchâtel.
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