MEXT Grand-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas Evolinguistics: Integrative Studies of Language Evolution for Co-creative Communication

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MEXT Grand-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas Evolinguistics: Integrative Studies of Language Evolution for Co-creative Communication

Message from Project Leader

Kazuo Okanoya
Head Investigator
Kazuo Okanoya
(Professor, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo)

The purpose of this research project is twofold: First, we aim to construct a scenario of language evolution which is consistent with linguistics, biology, and human evolutionary and developmental studies, the adequacy of which is to be evaluated by constructive methods including mathematical models. Second, based on the scenario we make proposals for our successful future communication. Through these endeavors, our goal is to form a new area of human science which studies language evolution for co-creative communication. We call it Evolinguistics.

Language is an epoch-making technology which allowed humans to integrate individual knowledge into civilizations. Currently we are about to create new forms of communication based on language and information technology. We believe that by understanding the origins and evolution of language we can attain a deeper clarifying of our human nature and design our successful future communication. We try to provide solutions to today’s problems, including international conflicts brought about by globalization, welfare gaps caused by unequal information accessibility and mal-adaptiveness to rapidly changing communication styles.

What is Evolinguistics?

  • With “hierarchy” and “intention sharing” as the two main conceptual grounds, we elucidate the mechanism of language evolution (co-creative language evolution) by integrating these two.
  • We advocate a future form of communication for continued existence of human beings.

The purpose of this project is to build and establish Evolinguistics as an interdisciplinary science of co-creative language evolution.

figure01

Evolutionary Linguistics

A scientific endeavor to elucidate when human language began under what kind of biological adaptation, how it took its present form through what kind of mechanism, and how it will change in the future.

NEWS

  • 【JEWEL(Joint East-West Early Language Project) x Evolinguistics】 Joint Symposium
    Date                 : 2022/7/20 (Wed) 9:00-11:00(JST)
    Lecturer           : Michael Tomasello(Max Planck Institute / Duke University)
    Host　　          : Reiko Mazuka(RIKEN CBS)
    Commentator  : Kazuo Okanoya(（Advanced Comprehensive Research Organization, Teikyo University）
                              Harumi Kobayashi（Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Denki University）
    Title 　             :Mini-symposium on paths to word meaning #1「Continuities in children’s prelinguistic and linguistic communication」
    Details:             : See here
     （2022/6/20）
  • 【JEWEL Seminar Series#6】Joint East-West Early Language Project
    Date         : 2022/4/13 16:00-17:30(JST)
    Lecturer    : Alex (Alejandrina) Cristia（Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, CNRS, Paris）
    Host　　   : Reiko Mazuka(RIKEN CBS)
    Title 　      : CHILDES: Going beyond WEIRD
    Details:     : See here
    Abstract    : Seminar Series06
    （2022/4/5）
  • Joint Conference on Language Evolution will take place from September 5th to 8th, 2022 in Kanazawa, Japan + online. Now call for papers and workshop proposals of Joint Conference on Language Evolution is out. For details, please check event page.（2021/12/15）
  • The studies of Ms. Hiromi Matsumae, Assistant Professor of School of Medicine, Tokai University, of B02 Human Evolution Team, is mentioned on  Science Advances Vol.7 No.41. Please see the article  ”Do languages and genes share cultural evolutionary history?”（2021/11/29）
  • The comment of Mr.Cedric Boeckx, Professor of  ICREA / Universitat de Barcelona(A01 Linguistic Theory Team) is mentioned on the New Scientist＜24 November 2021＞. Please see the article ”Survival of the friendliest? Why Homo sapiens outlived other humans”（2021/11/29）
  • 【JEWEL Seminar Series#4】Joint East-West Early Language Project
    Date         : 2021/12/10 10:00-11:30(JST)
    Lecturer    : Leher Singh, National University of Singapore
    Host　　    : Reiko Mazuka(RIKEN CBS)
    Title 　      : Representation and Diversity in Infant Language Acquisition: The case of lexical tone
    Details:     : See here
    Abstract    : Seminar Series04
    （2021/11/13）
  • 【JEWEL Seminar Series #3】Joint East-West Early Language Project
    Date         : 2021/11/12 16:00-17:30(JST)
    Lecturer   : Reiko Mazuka(RIKEN CBS)
    Host　　  : Sho Tsuji (International Research Center for Neurointelligence, The University of Tokyo)
    Language : English
    Title 　     : Sampling Biases in Language Development Research: Contributions from Asian Languages
    Details:   :See here
    Abstract  : Seminar Series03
    （2021/11/12）
  • 【JEWEL Seminar Series #2】Joint East-West Early Language Project
    Lecturer   : Kazuo Okanoya (University of Tokyo)
    Host　　  : Reiko Mazuka (RIKEN CBS)
    Date         : 2021/10/15 16：00-17:30(JST)
    Language : English
    Title 　     : What we can learn from birdsongs and rat tweetsWhy Only Humans Have Language
    （2021/10/1）
  • 【Evolinguistics seminar】17th Evoringuistics seminar is now on You tube. Please apply here.
    Lecturer  : Robin Dunbar (Emeritus Professor, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, UK)
    Date        : 2021/8/31 (Tue) 17:30-19:00 JST
    Language: English
    Title 　    : Why Only Humans Have Language
    Open period ： 2021/9/2（Thu) JST-2021/9/27（Wed)15:00 JST
    （2021/9/2）
  • 【Evolinguistics seminar】16th Evoringuistics seminar is now on You tube. Please apply here.
    Lecturer  : Mutsumi Imai (Professor,Faculty of Environmental Information, Keio University）
    Date        : 2021/8/3 (Tue) 17:30-19:00 JST
    Language: English
    Title 　    : Inference involved in lexical acquisition: from grounding the first words to the construction of mature lexical systems
    Open period ： 2021/8/5（Thu) JST-2021/8/23（Mon)15:00 JST
    （2021/8/5）
  • 【17th Evolinguistics seminar】
    Date    : 2021/8/31（Tue）17:30-19:00 JST（2021/8/31(Tue) 9:30-11:00 WEST）
    Lecturer : Robin Dunbar (Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, UK)
    Title  : Why Only Humans Have Language
    Language : English
    For detail, please refer Event page.
    （2021/8/5）
  • 【16th Evolinguistics seminar】
    Date    : 2021/8/3（Tue）17:30-19:00 JST
    Lecturer : Mutsumi Imai (Professor,Faculty of Environmental Information, Keio University）
    Title  : Inference involved in lexical acquisition: from grounding the first words to the construction of mature lexical systems
    Language : Japanese
    For detail, please refer Event page.
    （2021/7/7）
  • 【Evolinguistics seminar】15th Evoringuistics seminar is now on You tube. Please apply here.
    Lecturer  : Thom Scott-Phillips (Senior Research Scientist, the Social Mind Center and the Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University (Budapest))
    Date        : 2021/6/30 (Wed) 17:30-19:00 JST
    Language: English Title 　    : Understanding Animal Linguistics Open period ： 2021/7/2（Fri)12:00 JST-2021/7/19（Mon)15:00 JST
    （2021/7/2）
  • 【15th Evolinguistics seminar】
    For detail, please refer Event page.
    Date    : 2021/6/30（Wed）17:30-19:00 JST (2021/6/30(Wed)   10:30-12:00 CEST)
    Lecturer : Thom Scott-Phillips (Senior Research Scientist, the Social Mind Center and the Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University (Budapest)
    Title   : Understanding animal linguistics
    Language : English
    （2021/6/14）
  • 【Evolinguistics seminar】14th Evoringuistic seminar is now on You tube. Please apply here.
    Date : 2021/6/11 (Fri) 18:00-19:30 JST Lecturer : Juichi Yamagiwa (Director-General, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature) Title 　 : Consideration on the evolution of co-creative communication Language: Japanese
    Open period ： 2021/6/14（Mon)12:00 JST-2021/6/30（Wed)15:00 JST
    （2021/5/28）
  • 【14th Evolinguistics seminar】
    For detail, please refer Event page.
    Date    : 2021/6/11（Fri.）18:00-19:30 JST
    Lecturer : Juichi Yamagiwa, Director-General, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature
    Title   : Consideration on the evolution of co-creative communication
    Language : Japanese
    （2021/5/4）
  • 【Evolinguistics seminar】13th Evoringuistic seminar is now on You tube. Please apply here.
    Lecturer　： Charles Yang (Professor, Department of Linguistics, Computer Science, and Psychology, University of Pennsylvania) https://www.ling.upenn.edu/~ycharles/
    Title  　　：Ready to Learn
    Language：English
    Open period ： 2021/5/13（Thu)09:00 JST-2021/5/31（Mon)15:00JST
    （2021/5/1）
  • 【13th Evolinguistics seminar】
    For detail, please refer Event page.
    Date    : 2021/5/12（Wed）09:30-11:00 JST (5/11 19:30-21:00 EDT summer time)
    Lecturer : Charles Yang (Professor, Department of Linguistics, Computer Science, and Psychology, University of Pennsylvania) https://www.ling.upenn.edu/~ycharles/
    Title   : Ready to Learn
    Language : English
    （2021/4/30）
  • 【Evolinguistics seminar】12th Evoringuistic seminar is now on You tube. Please apply here.
    Lecturer： Taniguchi, Kazumi, Professor, UGraduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University
    Title  　　：A View of Cognitive Evolinguistics: An Exploration of Evolution of Linguistic Forms and Meanings
    Language：Japanese
    Open period ： 2021/4/30（Fri)12:00 JST-2021/5/17（Mon)15:00JST
    “>here.
    （2021/4/30）
  • 【12th Evolinguistics seminar】
    For detail, please refer Event page.
    Date    : 2021/4/28（Wed）17:30-19:00 JST
    Lecturer : Kazumi Taniguchi (Professor, Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University)
    Title   : A View of Cognitive Evolinguistics : An Exploration of Evolution of Linguistic Forms and Meanings
    Language : Japanese
    （2021/4/19）
  • 【Evolinguistics seminar】10th Evoringuistic seminar is now on You tube. Please apply here.
    Lecturer： Kei Ito, Professor, University of Cologne, Institute of Zoology Experimental Morphology/Neuroanatomy
    Title  　　：Whole brain connectome analysis using the fruit fly Drosophila brain
    Language：Japanese
    Open period ： 2021/3/17（Wed)12:00 JST-2021/4/5（Wed)15:00JST
    （2021/3/17）
  • 【11th Evolinguistics seminar】 For detail, please refer Event page.
    Date          : 2021/4/2（Tue）17:30-19:00 JST
    Lecturer  : Reiko Mazuka,　RIKEN Center for Brain Science Team, Leader
    Title        : Intonational Phonology can shed light on the nature of prosody in Japanese children with ASD: Dissociating linguistic and para-linguistic aspects of intonation
    Language : Japanese
    （2021/3/17）
  • 【10th Evolinguistics seminar】 For detail, please refer Event page.
    Date          : 2021/3/16（Tue）17:30-19:00 JST
    Lecturer    : Kei Ito,　Professer, 
     University of Cologne, Institute of Zoology Experimental Morphology/Neuroanatomy
    Title          : Whole brain connectome analysis using the fruit fly Drosophila brain
    Language : Japanese
    （2021/2/10）
  • 【9th Evolinguistics seminar】 For detail, please refer Event page.
    Date          : 2021/2/22（Mon）15:00ー17:00 JST
    Lecturer    : Toshiharu Matsumoto,
    　　　　　　　　　Representative, Center for Educational psychology support “GAJUMARU”
    Title          : Autistic children rarely talk in Tsugaru dialect
    Language : Japanese
    （2021/1/19）
  • 【8th Evolinguistics seminar】 For detail, please refer Event page.
    Date          : 2021/2/11（Thu）17:30:00ー19:00 JST
    Lecturer    : Hiroto Yonenoh
    　　　　　　　　　Postdoctoral Researcher, School of Informatics graduate school of Informatiatics, Nagoya Univ. 
    Title          : Constructive approach to the co-evolution of language and linguistic ability
    Language : Japanese
    （2021/1/11）
  • 【7th Evolinguistics seminar】 For detail, please refer Event page.
    Date ： 2020/12/23（Wed）17:30～19:00 JST
    Lecturer：Tomoya Nakai (Researcher, Center for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), National Institute of Information and Communications Technology)
    Title   ： Quantitative modeling of brain representations of multiple linguistic information
    Language： Japanese
    （2020/12/2）
  • 【Evolinguistics seminar】7th Evoringuistic seminar is now on You tube. Please apply here.
    Lecturer： Tomoya Nakai, Researcher
    Center for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), National Institute of Information and Communications Technology
    Title  　　：Quantitative modeling of brain representations of multiple linguistic information
    Language：Japanese
    Open period ： 2020/12/25（Fri)12:00 JST-2021/1/18（Mon)15:00JST
    （2020/12/1）
  • 【Evolinguistics seminar】5th Evoringuistic seminar is now on You tube. Please apply here.
    Lecturer： Prof. Cedric Boeckx
    (Research Professor, Catalan Institute for Advanced Studies (ICREA), Universitat de Barcelona Institute of Complex Systems (UBICS))
    Title  ： A compositional view of the origins of the modern human language faculty
    Language ： English
    Open period ： 2020/12/3（Thu)11:00 JST-2020/12/21（Mon)15:00JST
    （2020/11/20）
  • 【Evolinguistics seminar】6th Evoringuistic seminar is now on You tube. Please apply here.
    Lecturer ：Takashi Morita (Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University)
    Title ：  Unsupervised machine learning for cognitive modeling of language learning and analysis of animal vocalization
    Language : Japanese
    （2020/11/20）
  • 【6th Evolinguistics seminar】 For detail, please refer Event page.
    Date ： 2020/11/26（Thu.）17:30～18:30 JST
    Lecturer：Takashi Morita (Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University)
    Title   ： Unsupervised machine learning for cognitive modeling of language learning and analysis of animal vocalization
    Language： Japanese
    （2020/11/8）
  • 【5th Evolinguistics seminar】 For detail, please refer Event page.
    Date　  ： 2020/11/5（Thu.）18:00～19:30 JST(10:00-11:30 CET)
    Lecturer： Prof. Cedric Boeckx
    (Research Professor, Catalan Institute for Advanced Studies (ICREA), Universitat de Barcelona Institute of Complex Systems (UBICS))
    Title  　 ： A compositional view of the origins of the modern human
                    language faculty
    Language ： English
    （2020/10/21）
  • Evoringuistic seminar series on You tube. Please apply here.
    【4th Evolinguistics seminar】
    Lecturer： Harumi Kobayashi (Professor, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Denki University)
    Title      ：Why do people use language-redundant gestures?
    Language     : Japanese
    Open Period :  2020/10/16-2020/11/2
    （2020/10/2）
  • Our International adviser, Prof.Tecumseh　Fitch is awarded The Ig Nobel Prize in Acoustics 2020. See details（2020/10/1）
  • 【4th Evolinguistics seminar】 For detail, please refer Event page.
    Date ： 2020/10/13（Tue.）17:30～18:30 JST
    Lecturer： Prof. Harumi Kobahyashi (Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Denki University)
    Title   ： Why do people use language-redundant gestures?
    Language： Japanese
    （2020/10/1）
  • EvoIinguistic seminar series on You tube. Please apply here.
    【3rd Evolinguistics seminar】
    Lecturer： Prof. Terrence Deacon (University of California, Berkeley)
    Title      ：The symbol un-grounding process and the semiotic basis of grammar and syntax
    Language     : English
    Open Period :  2020/10/5-2020/10/20
    （2020/9/30）
  • 【3rd Evolinguistics seminar】 For detail, please refer Event page .
    Date ： 2020/10/1（Thu）10:30～12:00 JST (9/30 (Wed) 18:30-20:00 PDT）
    Lecturer： Prof. Terrence Deacon (University of California, Berkeley)
    Title   ： The symbol un-grounding process and the semiotic basis of grammar and syntax
    Language： English
    （2020/8/26）
  • Evoringuistic seminar series on You tube. Please apply here.
    【2nd Evolinguistics seminar】
    Lecturer： Katsuhiro SANO(Center for Northeast Asian Studies, Tohoku Univ.)
    Title      ：Development of the hierarchical structure in human tools and language
    Language     : Japanese
    Open Period :  2020/9/9-2020/9/28
    （2020/8/25）
  • We herewith inform you of starting to share Evolinguistics seminar on Youtube.
    【1st Evolinguistics seminar】 For detail, please refer Event page .
    Date ： 2020/9/4（Fri）17:00-18:00 JST
    Lecturer： Luc Steels    (Research Professor,Catalan Institute for Advanced Studies (ICREA) (IBE-UPF/CSIC) Barcelona)
    Title      ： Constructive approaches to language evolution
     （2020/8/20）
  • 【2nd Evolinguistics seminar】 For detail, please refer Event page .
    Date ： 2020/9/4（Fri）17:00-18:00 JST
    Lecturer： Prof.Katsuhiro SANO （Center for Northeast Asian Studies, Tohoku University)
    Title   ： Development of the hierarchical structure in human tools and language
    （2020/8/6）
  • 【1st Evolinguistics seminar】 For detail, please refer Event page .
    Date ： 2020/9/4（Fri）17:00-18:00 JST
    Lecturer： Luc Steels    (Research Professor,Catalan Institute for Advanced Studies (ICREA) (IBE-UPF/CSIC) Barcelona)
    Title      ： Constructive approaches to language evolution
     （2020/8/6）
  • Evolinguistic seminar series will start in August 2020. You can deepen understanding of “Evolinguistics” throug this seminar series. Please see events page to get the information of each seminar.（2020/8/5）
  • Prof.Hiroaki Wagatsuma is invited as a guest speaker for the workshop “AdaPtive beHavioRal mODels of robotic systems based on brain-inspired AI cogniTivE architectures (APHRODITE)” on zoom. For detail, please refer here（2020/8/1）
  • Under the influence of the COVID-19,   sorry to cancel below events:
    • Symposium on March 4th
    • Symposium on March 9th
    • International seminar on march 17th
     （2020/2/25）
  • International seminar to be held on March 17th, 2020 at the University of Tokyo Komaba campas.  For detail, please refer to event page  （2020/2/6）
  • An article “Did kindness prime our species for language?” posted in Science Magazine, Aug 3, Vol 361, Issue 6401.  Please refer to the Research Output page for details.（2018/8/29）
  • “Evolinguistics 2018”, our first large-scale international symoisia, will be held from August 1st through 9th in Tokyo and Kyoto.  For details, please refer to the special website.（2018/7/12）
  • EVOSLACE: Workshop on the emergence and evolution of social learning, communication, language and culture in natural and artificial agents will be held on July 25th, 2018 at Miraikan, as a part of ALIFE 2018.  Please refer to Event page for details（2018/6/12）
  • Workshop “the (co-)evolution of genes, languages, and music from data analyses to theoretical models”, co-funded by Evolinguistics and University of Zurich, will be held on July 17th Tue at KIBR Yokohama City University.  For details, please refer to Event Page.（2018/6/1）
  • International Symposium：Cutting Edge Technology for EEG Data Analysis will be held on June 23rd Sat 12:30-17:30 at  U Tokyo Komaba I campus.  For details, plese refer to the Event Page.（2018/5/25）
  • International Symposium for “Potentials and Perspectives of Communication among Humans and Agents Including Robots and Animals” will be held at Kitakyushu Science and Research Park on May 22 & 23.  Please see the event page for details.（2018/5/15）
  • The 3rd  Whole Group Meeting will be held on May 12th Sat at The University of Tokyo (Komaba).  Please refer to Event page for details.（2018/4/24）
  • Tokyo Conference on Evolinguistics will be held on Marh 7th Wed at University of Tokyo (Komaba), please refer to Event page for details.（2018/1/29）
  • Our facebook official page and twitter account opened. Click icons at the top-right corner.（2017/12/14）
  • A Seminar on “Fish hearing and communication” will be held on December 8th Fri at The University of Tokyo. For details, please refer to Event page.（2017/12/7）
  • Seminars on Birdsong will be held on October 23rd Mon at The University of Tokyo. For details, please refer to Event page.（2017/10/20）
  • Seminar on Linguistics and Biology will be held on November 10th Fri at Kyoto University.  For details, please refer to Event page（2017/10/18）
  • Kyoto Conference on Evolinguistics will be held on November 10th Fri at Kyoto University.  For details, please refer to Event page.（2017/10/16）
  • Public call for research grant applications posted（2017/9/6）
  • Official Home Page opened（2017/9/1）
  • Meeting Information on Public Call for Research Grant Briefing including Research Overview is now available. Download from here（2017/8/30）
  • The book Archeology of Cultural Evolution (ed. by H. Nakao, T. Matsuki and N. Minaka) will be published by Keiso Shobo. It features the paper “Theory of Contemporary Cultural Evolution” by our B02 Project Leader Yasuo Ihara.（2017/8/26）
  • Journal of the Phonetic Society of Japan 21(1) features contributions by our members on “Excavating Phonetic/Phonological Fossils in Language: Current Trends in Evolutionary Linguistics,” edited by Shin-ichi Tanaka, A01 Co-project Leader.（2017/8/26）
  • Our Head Investigator Kazuo Okanoya will publish a collection of book reviews highly relevant to our project.  Can the Brain Read the Mind? – 90 Books to Understand the Evolution of Mind.（2017/8/4）
  • Dates & venue for Project Kick-off Meeting and Discussions with Briefing of Call for Research Application determined [9/19 Tue in Kyoto, 9/24 Sun in Tokyo]（2017/8/3）
  • A01 will host an invited lecture in linguistics.（2017/7/11）
  • A tentative project home page has been created（2017/7/11）
  • The 1st meeting of the management team was held（2017/7/11）