Language is what distinguishes human beings from all other species. However, its evolutionary origins remain poorly understood. In addition, today’s communicative environment is being reshaped by digitalisation and artificial intelligence: the way we learn and use language has changed, raising the question of how language might develop in the future. The National Centre of Competence in Research “The Origins and Future of Language” (NCCR Evolving Language) explores the evolutionary origins and future development of linguistic communication in a research programme that integrates expertise from linguistics, neuroscience, biology, anthropology, psychology, medicine, genetics, computer science, mathematics and philosophy in a new joint discipline, Evolutionary Language Science. In the long run, the NCCR will establish NISLE, the National Centre for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution.
The NCCR encompasses two projects that target the core dynamics of language across generations, acquisition and diversification, and three projects that address specific properties of language – syntax, meaning and interaction. These projects are complemented by Transversal Task Forces, which stimulate collaboration by sharing methods, technologies and by fostering discussions on conceptual and ethical issues. Various internal grant opportunities stimulate innovative, outside-the-box research.
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From Phase 1 to Phase 2
In the first four years of its existence, the consortium has grown together in our vision of jointly exploring the three modes of evolution that characterize human language:
the biological evolution that has defined the basic neuro-cognitive and anatomical substrates of language;
the cultural evolution of technology and social practices that has shaped and continues to (re-)shape the niche that language operates in;
and the linguistic evolution that characterises the relentless – but in the long term stationary – dynamics when languages are transmitted over generations.
In Phase 2, we continue to examine these modes not only in their own terms but also in how they interact and shape each other. To this end, we have selected two core projects that address foundational evolutionary processes in language — diversification and learning — which we interlink with three domain-specific projects constituting the core properties of language — syntax, meaning, and interaction. This has led to a set of thirteen different work packages comprising 39 distinct tasks.
More about Phase 1:
Overview of the projects
Support and other research projects
As there are many research projects under the NCCR Evolving Language, Transversal Task Forces (TTFs) continue to exist, as essential support structures to other projects. Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are also implemented, as innovative think-tanks across projects.
Finally, the Support Activities are also present to support the projects with their needs outside of research.