Tightening the relation between the NCCR Evolving Language and the Society for the Neurobiology of Language (SNL)
The 17th Annual Meeting of the Society for the Neurobiology of Language (SNL) took place on September 12-14 2025, at Gallaudet University in Washington DC. 590 researchers from all over the world and all career statuses came together to share the latest insights on the cognitive and neurobiological basis of language.
Among the event’s silver sponsors was the NCCR Evolving Language, represented by Nina Kazanina, Valentina Borghesani, and Giulia Li Calzi. “Among others, we had the pleasure of chatting with researchers from Switzerland currently working in China, that were curious about what’s developing here, many master’s and PhD candidates keen on pursuing their career in Switzerland, and colleagues and friends interested in the concept of “evolving language,” says Valentina Borghesani.
On October 1st, Valentina Borghesani and Piera Filippi also organized a virtual activity on the evolution of language as a follow-up to the conference. They walked the audience through a thought-provoking discussion that started with foundational definitions, distinguishing language as a modality-independent system from speech and framing evolution as both a biological and cultural process. The group then identified the necessity of an interdisciplinary approach to its study, emphasizing the integration of evidence from neuroscience, genetics, comparative biology, and archeology to investigate its empirical basis.
The NCCR’s team’s participation served as a beautiful teaser for SNL 2026, which will be hosted in Geneva from September 30 to October 2, 2026.
