Dr. Vanessa Wilson and Prof. Klaus Zuberbühler explain in a podcast how they trace the origins of human language at the Zoo Basel.
Research and teaching fellow at the University of Geneva, Raphael Liégeois has been selected by the European Space Agency to become an astronaut.
Does the history of our languages match the history of our genes? A team of scientists have revealed a large number of matches – but also widespread mismatches in around 20 percent of cases, including in Malta, Hungary and Namibia.
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?
Our Network
Evolving Language is led by Balthasar Bickel (Department of Comparative Language Science, UZH), Anne-Lise Giraud (Department of Basic Neurosciences, University of Geneva) and Klaus Zuberbühler (Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel). Over 30 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 organizations.
Leading house
Co-leading house
Funding agency
Partners
Swiss Data Science Center
Wyss Center
Citizen Science Centre Zürich
Fondation Campus Biotech
Zoo Basel
Neurocenter Science Zurich
Liri
Sonova
