Human languages vary in their phonology, morphosyntax and semantics, but there are important constraints on this variation. What explains these typological similarities and differences across languages? Recent work has combined tools from linguistics, cognitive psychology and computer science to address this question. In addition to empirical discoveries, this has led to novel hypotheses for how similarities and differences are to be accounted for, invoking internal (e.g. cognitive) and/or external (e.g. communicative, historical, geographical) pressures on language structure. The aims of the workshop are two-fold: (i) expand the knowledge of different internal and external pressures on language, and how they explain cross-linguistic similarities and differences in different aspects of language structure, (ii) invite a critical discussion of implications of this work for the study of human cognition more generally.

‍

Keynote speakers:

Roni Katzir (Tel Aviv University)

Mora Maldonado (Université de Nantes)

Shane Steinert-Threlkeld (University of Washington)

‍

Workshop dates: 

July 31-August 4, 2023