Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
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the Netherlands | |
Parent organization | Max Planck Society |
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Website | (in English) (in German) (in Dutch) |
The Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics (
Research
The institute specializes in
Current departments
The MPI for Psycholinguistics has four primary organizational units besides research groups.[5]
Language and Genetics
Established in October 2010, the language and genetics department is headed by Simon E. Fisher. The department takes advantage of the latest innovations in molecular methods to discover how the human genome helps to build a language-ready brain. It aims to uncover the DNA variations which ultimately affect different facets of human communicative abilities, not only in children with language-related disorders but also in the general population. Crucially, its work attempts to bridge the gaps between genes, brains, speech and language, by integrating molecular findings with data from other levels of analysis, including cell biology, experimental psychology and neuroimaging. In addition, it hopes to trace the evolutionary history and worldwide diversity of key genes, which may shed new light on language origins.[6]
Language Development
The original Language Acquisition Department (1980-2015) investigated processes of language acquisition and use in a broad perspective. The department combined attention to both first and second languages, researching production as well as comprehension of speakers of different ages and cultures, and the developmental relationship between language and cognition. The focus was on morpho-syntax, semantics and discourse structure. Headed by
The Language Acquisition Department has returned in 2016 as the Language Development Department, headed by Caroline F. Rowland.[11]
Neurobiology of Language
The Neurobiology of Language Department, headed by
Psychology of Language
The Psychology of Language Department, headed by Antje S. Meyer, identifies characteristics of the cognitive system that determine behavior in a broad range of linguistic tasks and the relationships between language production, comprehension, and learning via speaking, listening and cognition. The department also understands variability in adult language production and comprehension. Using various approaches, the Psychology of Language utilizes a combination of experimental and correlational work and inclusion of diverse samples of participants. With such methods, it has close links to the Language and Genetics and Neurobiology of Language departments.[13]
Former departments
Language and Cognition
The Language and Cognition Department 1994-2017, headed by
Language Comprehension
The Language Comprehension Department 1993-2013, headed by Anne Cutler, undertook empirical investigation and computational modeling of the understanding of spoken language. Until 2009, the work within the department was largely divided between two research projects: decoding continuous speech and phonological learning for speech perception; thereafter, most work was in the project called Mechanisms and Representations in Comprehending Speech. This project focused on core theoretical issues in speech comprehension such as on how episodic memories (e.g. hearing someone speak in an unfamiliar dialect) influence the speech perception system, or how prior knowledge about one's language (phonotactic probabilities, lexical knowledge, frequent versus infrequent word combinations) is used during perception.[7]
Independent Research Groups
Communication before Language
This MPI research group, headed by Daniel Haun, investigates the social and cognitive foundations of human communication in infancy specifically on infants' developing social cognition and social motivation in relation to their emerging prelinguistic communication within social and cultural contexts. Their work is motivated by the idea that there is a psychological basis of human communication that develops ontogenetically prior to language and can be first expressed in gestures.[15]
Evolutionary Processes in Language and Culture
Started in 2009, the research group investigates language diversity and change as part of an integrated cultural evolutionary system. Headed by Michael Dunn, the group takes a modern evolutionary perspective, using computational tools from genetics and biology, and integrating probabilistic, quantified approaches to phylogenetics with rigorous tests of different models of the interaction between elements of language, contact and geography, and cultural variation.[16]
Syntax, Typology and Information Structure
The research group, headed by
References
- ^ Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics. "Unique in the world". Retrieved April 23, 2014.
- ^ Max Planck Society. "International institutes". www.mpg.de. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
- ^ Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (2019). "Max Planck Institutes". Retrieved December 19, 2023.
- ^ Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics. "Home". Retrieved April 23, 2014.
- ^ Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics. "Research". Retrieved December 11, 2021.
- ^ Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics. "Language and genetics". Retrieved April 23, 2014.
- ^ a b c Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics. "Former Departments and Groups". Retrieved December 11, 2021.
- ^ Introduction: New Comparative Perspectives in the Study of Language Acquisition – Clive Perdue’s Legacy in Comparative Perspectives on Language Acquisition: A Tribute to Clive Perdue, edited by Marzena Watorek, Sandra Benazzo and Maya Hickmann, Bristol, Blue Ridge Summit: Multilingual Matters, 2012, pp. 1-20. https://doi.org/10.21832/9781847696045-002
- ^ Hendriks, H. (2005). The Structure of Learner Varieties: Introduction to the volume. Hendricks, H.(Hg.): The Structure of Learner Varieties. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1-18.
- ^ Perdue, Clive 1996 Pre-basic varieties: the first stages of second language acquisition. Toegepaste Taalwetenschap in Artikelen 55: 135-150 Klein, Wolfgang and Clive Perdue (1992) Utterance Structure: Developing Grammars Again. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Klein, Wolfgang and Clive Perdue (1997) The Basic Variety or: Couldn't natural languages be much simpler? Second Language Research 13,4: 301-347.
- ^ Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics. "Language Development". www.mpi.nl. Retrieved 11 December 2021.
- ^ Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics. "Neurobiology of language - Research mission". Retrieved April 23, 2014.
- ^ Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics. "Psychology of language - Home". Retrieved April 23, 2014.
- ISBN 9781139507318.
- ^ Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics. "Communication before language - Home". Retrieved April 23, 2014.
- ^ Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics. "Evolutionary processes in language and culture - Home". Retrieved April 23, 2014.
- ^ Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics. "Syntax, Typology, and Information Structure - Home". Retrieved April 23, 2014.