Just as humans unconsciously pick up words, accents and speech habits from the people around them, marmoset monkeys make their calls sound more and more alike when they bond together. This curious discovery reveals the evolutionary roots of the mechanisms that support social learning, cooperation and communication.
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?
Upcoming events
-
2761706 BJF6E7RS 1 apa-6th-edition 1 date desc 2 https://evolvinglanguage.ch/wp-content/plugins/zotpress/> All publications%7B%22status%22%3A%22success%22%2C%22updateneeded%22%3Afalse%2C%22instance%22%3Afalse%2C%22meta%22%3A%7B%22request_last%22%3A0%2C%22request_next%22%3A0%2C%22used_cache%22%3Atrue%7D%2C%22data%22%3A%5B%7B%22key%22%3A%22WWWAHKK4%22%2C%22library%22%3A%7B%22id%22%3A2761706%7D%2C%22meta%22%3A%7B%22lastModifiedByUser%22%3A%7B%22id%22%3A6235216%2C%22username%22%3A%22CeliaLazzarotto%22%2C%22name%22%3A%22%22%2C%22links%22%3A%7B%22alternate%22%3A%7B%22href%22%3A%22https%3A%5C%2F%5C%2Fwww.zotero.org%5C%2Fcelialazzarotto%22%2C%22type%22%3A%22text%5C%2Fhtml%22%7D%7D%7D%2C%22creatorSummary%22%3A%22Hong%20et%20al.%22%2C%22parsedDate%22%3A%222026-06-23%22%2C%22numChildren%22%3A0%7D%2C%22bib%22%3A%22%26lt%3Bdiv%20class%3D%26quot%3Bcsl-bib-body%26quot%3B%20style%3D%26quot%3Bline-height%3A%202%3B%20padding-left%3A%201em%3B%20text-indent%3A-1em%3B%26quot%3B%26gt%3B%5Cn%20%20%26lt%3Bdiv%20class%3D%26quot%3Bcsl-entry%26quot%3B%26gt%3BHong%2C%20T.%2C%20Witzlack-Makarevich%2C%20A.%2C%20%26amp%3B%20Bickel%2C%20B.%20%282026%29.%20The%20evolutionary%20dynamics%20of%20ergative%20alignment%20of%20case%20marking.%20%26lt%3Bi%26gt%3BJournal%20of%20Language%20Evolution%26lt%3B%5C%2Fi%26gt%3B%2C%20%26lt%3Bi%26gt%3B11%26lt%3B%5C%2Fi%26gt%3B.%20%26lt%3Ba%20class%3D%26%23039%3Bzp-DOIURL%26%23039%3B%20href%3D%26%23039%3Bhttps%3A%5C%2F%5C%2Fdoi.org%5C%2F10.1093%5C%2Fjole%5C%2Flzag004%26%23039%3B%26gt%3Bhttps%3A%5C%2F%5C%2Fdoi.org%5C%2F10.1093%5C%2Fjole%5C%2Flzag004%26lt%3B%5C%2Fa%26gt%3B%26lt%3B%5C%2Fdiv%26gt%3B%5Cn%26lt%3B%5C%2Fdiv%26gt%3B%22%2C%22data%22%3A%7B%22itemType%22%3A%22journalArticle%22%2C%22title%22%3A%22The%20evolutionary%20dynamics%20of%20ergative%20alignment%20of%20case%20marking%22%2C%22creators%22%3A%5B%7B%22creatorType%22%3A%22author%22%2C%22firstName%22%3A%22Tai%22%2C%22lastName%22%3A%22Hong%22%7D%2C%7B%22creatorType%22%3A%22author%22%2C%22firstName%22%3A%22Alena%22%2C%22lastName%22%3A%22Witzlack-Makarevich%22%7D%2C%7B%22creatorType%22%3A%22author%22%2C%22firstName%22%3A%22Balthasar%22%2C%22lastName%22%3A%22Bickel%22%7D%5D%2C%22abstractNote%22%3A%22%22%2C%22date%22%3A%222026-06-23%22%2C%22section%22%3A%22%22%2C%22partNumber%22%3A%22%22%2C%22partTitle%22%3A%22%22%2C%22DOI%22%3A%2210.1093%5C%2Fjole%5C%2Flzag004%22%2C%22citationKey%22%3A%22%22%2C%22url%22%3A%22http%3A%5C%2F%5C%2Fdx.doi.org%5C%2F10.1093%5C%2Fjole%5C%2Flzag004%22%2C%22PMID%22%3A%22%22%2C%22PMCID%22%3A%22%22%2C%22ISSN%22%3A%22%22%2C%22language%22%3A%22%22%2C%22collections%22%3A%5B%22BJF6E7RS%22%5D%2C%22dateModified%22%3A%222026-08-03T09%3A50%3A07Z%22%7D%7D%5D%7DHong, T., Witzlack-Makarevich, A., & Bickel, B. (2026). The evolutionary dynamics of ergative alignment of case marking. Journal of Language Evolution, 11. https://doi.org/10.1093/jole/lzag004
Upcoming Events
Our Network
Evolving Language is led by Balthasar Bickel (Institute for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), UZH), Nina Kazanina (Department of Basic Neurosciences, 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.
Leading house
Co-leading houses
Funding agency
Partners
Swiss Data Science Center
Wyss Center
Citizen Science Zürich
Fondation Campus Biotech
Zoo Basel
Neurocenter Science Zurich
Liri
Sonova
Google Research
NCCR Research Facilities
