Michael Pleyer
@symbolicstorage.bsky.social
nerd. cognitive/evolutionary linguist. Assistant Prof at Center for Language Evolution Studies, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland
(he/him)
www.michaelpleyer.com
@symbolicstorage@scholar.social
@symbolicstorage
(he/him)
www.michaelpleyer.com
@symbolicstorage@scholar.social
@symbolicstorage
Pinned
Hello new followers! If you're interested in what I do why not have a look at @stefanhartmann.bsky.social and my little #openaccess monograph on Cognitive #Linguistics and #Language Evolution!
As a colleague said: "I really liked it, because it's very short!"
www.cambridge.org/core/element...
As a colleague said: "I really liked it, because it's very short!"
www.cambridge.org/core/element...
🚨NEW PUBLICATION ALERT🚨
"From extant to extinct: The role of experiments and interdisciplinary inferences in studying cognitive and #language evolution." (with Svetlana Kuleshova)
Out now in #OpenAccess in Journal of Archaeological Science
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
"From extant to extinct: The role of experiments and interdisciplinary inferences in studying cognitive and #language evolution." (with Svetlana Kuleshova)
Out now in #OpenAccess in Journal of Archaeological Science
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
From extant to extinct: The role of experiments and interdisciplinary inferences in studying cognitive and language evolution
This article evaluates the role of experiments and interdisciplinary inferences in the field of language evolution and, more broadly, studies of cogni…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 8, 2025 at 4:14 PM
🚨NEW PUBLICATION ALERT🚨
"From extant to extinct: The role of experiments and interdisciplinary inferences in studying cognitive and #language evolution." (with Svetlana Kuleshova)
Out now in #OpenAccess in Journal of Archaeological Science
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
"From extant to extinct: The role of experiments and interdisciplinary inferences in studying cognitive and #language evolution." (with Svetlana Kuleshova)
Out now in #OpenAccess in Journal of Archaeological Science
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
New paper alert!
In my newest paper, which has just appeared in Discourse, Context & Media, I analyse how people living with dementia use conceptual metaphor to construct self and their condition and as a tool for sense-making for dementia-induced changes
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
1/
In my newest paper, which has just appeared in Discourse, Context & Media, I analyse how people living with dementia use conceptual metaphor to construct self and their condition and as a tool for sense-making for dementia-induced changes
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
1/
November 7, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Reposted by Michael Pleyer
Okay but it is very funny to make a LIVING EDITION of your academic zombie handbook
October 30, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Okay but it is very funny to make a LIVING EDITION of your academic zombie handbook
The deadline for Evolang 2026, the International Conference on the Evolution of Language, has been extended to November 3rd.
Do consider submitting, it's my favourite conference and will take place in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, the age-old "city of the seven hills"! #language #linguistics
Do consider submitting, it's my favourite conference and will take place in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, the age-old "city of the seven hills"! #language #linguistics
October 28, 2025 at 7:07 PM
The deadline for Evolang 2026, the International Conference on the Evolution of Language, has been extended to November 3rd.
Do consider submitting, it's my favourite conference and will take place in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, the age-old "city of the seven hills"! #language #linguistics
Do consider submitting, it's my favourite conference and will take place in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, the age-old "city of the seven hills"! #language #linguistics
Very sad and tragic news! ("Words in the brain's language" is still an all-timer of a title).
I once attended one of his talks where he graciously agreed to be a plenary speaker for a student conference. He started his talk with: "I can give this talk in two languages: Swabian or Swabian English."
I once attended one of his talks where he graciously agreed to be a plenary speaker for a student conference. He started his talk with: "I can give this talk in two languages: Swabian or Swabian English."
I'm so sorry to share that Friedemann Pulvermüller, brilliant neuroscientist, has passed. He gave Embodiment ideas legs and worked tirelessly on treatments for stroke victims during his storied career. His kindness and wry humor made him sparkle.
October 21, 2025 at 8:24 AM
Very sad and tragic news! ("Words in the brain's language" is still an all-timer of a title).
I once attended one of his talks where he graciously agreed to be a plenary speaker for a student conference. He started his talk with: "I can give this talk in two languages: Swabian or Swabian English."
I once attended one of his talks where he graciously agreed to be a plenary speaker for a student conference. He started his talk with: "I can give this talk in two languages: Swabian or Swabian English."
Reposted by Michael Pleyer
Fellow language-evolutionists (other linguists welcome):
What do you think is the most exciting thing happening in the field now?
#linguistics #language #LanguageEvolution
What do you think is the most exciting thing happening in the field now?
#linguistics #language #LanguageEvolution
October 15, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Fellow language-evolutionists (other linguists welcome):
What do you think is the most exciting thing happening in the field now?
#linguistics #language #LanguageEvolution
What do you think is the most exciting thing happening in the field now?
#linguistics #language #LanguageEvolution
Reposted by Michael Pleyer
New article from the lab, suggesting to me a way in which children's autobiographical memory may differ from their event memory more generally--
Autobiographical memory in children: relation to neural white matter www.tandfonline.com/eprint/B7FZ8...
Autobiographical memory in children: relation to neural white matter www.tandfonline.com/eprint/B7FZ8...
www.tandfonline.com
September 27, 2025 at 12:32 PM
New article from the lab, suggesting to me a way in which children's autobiographical memory may differ from their event memory more generally--
Autobiographical memory in children: relation to neural white matter www.tandfonline.com/eprint/B7FZ8...
Autobiographical memory in children: relation to neural white matter www.tandfonline.com/eprint/B7FZ8...
Reposted by Michael Pleyer
The first of the three corpora of German-English bilingual children's early speech that we've been working on for the last few years is finally publicly available! 🥳 🎉 talkbank.org/childes/acce...
CHILDES English-German MPI-EVA-Leipzig Corpus
talkbank.org
September 19, 2025 at 5:48 AM
The first of the three corpora of German-English bilingual children's early speech that we've been working on for the last few years is finally publicly available! 🥳 🎉 talkbank.org/childes/acce...
Reposted by Michael Pleyer
It's been a while since I've written a book review - here's our review of Herbst & Hoffmann (2024), my first but definitely not last collaboration with the brilliant @bbunzeck.bsky.social doi.org/10.1017/S136... ($)
Thomas Herbst and Thomas Hoffmann, A Construction Grammar of the English language: CASA – a constructionist approach to syntactic analysis (Cognitive Linguistics in Practice 5). Amsterdam and Philadel...
Thomas Herbst and Thomas Hoffmann, A Construction Grammar of the English language: CASA – a constructionist approach to syntactic analysis (Cognitive Linguistics in Practice 5). Amsterdam and Philadel...
doi.org
September 26, 2025 at 8:05 AM
It's been a while since I've written a book review - here's our review of Herbst & Hoffmann (2024), my first but definitely not last collaboration with the brilliant @bbunzeck.bsky.social doi.org/10.1017/S136... ($)
Reposted by Michael Pleyer
Vorankündigung:
Im Wintersemester 2025/2026 finden erstmalig die Heidelberg Gender Lectures statt. Mit Gastvorträgen von Sabine_ Hark (TU Berlin) und Carolin Müller-Spitzer (IDS Mannheim), sowie Beiträgen der Heidelberger Gender & Queer Studies.
Mark your calendars, das wird wundervoll!
Im Wintersemester 2025/2026 finden erstmalig die Heidelberg Gender Lectures statt. Mit Gastvorträgen von Sabine_ Hark (TU Berlin) und Carolin Müller-Spitzer (IDS Mannheim), sowie Beiträgen der Heidelberger Gender & Queer Studies.
Mark your calendars, das wird wundervoll!
September 25, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Vorankündigung:
Im Wintersemester 2025/2026 finden erstmalig die Heidelberg Gender Lectures statt. Mit Gastvorträgen von Sabine_ Hark (TU Berlin) und Carolin Müller-Spitzer (IDS Mannheim), sowie Beiträgen der Heidelberger Gender & Queer Studies.
Mark your calendars, das wird wundervoll!
Im Wintersemester 2025/2026 finden erstmalig die Heidelberg Gender Lectures statt. Mit Gastvorträgen von Sabine_ Hark (TU Berlin) und Carolin Müller-Spitzer (IDS Mannheim), sowie Beiträgen der Heidelberger Gender & Queer Studies.
Mark your calendars, das wird wundervoll!
Super cool workshop on "Artificial Languages in the Linguist's Toolbox" at FU Berlin. 2nd talk is by @kennysmithed.bsky.social on "the relationship between frequency and irregularity in language change: an experimental approach using iterated artificial language learning"
September 25, 2025 at 9:37 AM
Super cool workshop on "Artificial Languages in the Linguist's Toolbox" at FU Berlin. 2nd talk is by @kennysmithed.bsky.social on "the relationship between frequency and irregularity in language change: an experimental approach using iterated artificial language learning"
The Poznań #Linguistics Meeting 2025 Grand Debate: "Human #Language: is it unique?" feat. Wolfgang Dressler, Magdalena Wrembel, Raymond Hickey, Nikki Ritt, @thematzing.bsky.social and @neilcohn.bsky.social
September 24, 2025 at 12:20 PM
The Poznań #Linguistics Meeting 2025 Grand Debate: "Human #Language: is it unique?" feat. Wolfgang Dressler, Magdalena Wrembel, Raymond Hickey, Nikki Ritt, @thematzing.bsky.social and @neilcohn.bsky.social
Reposted by Michael Pleyer
Please boost! #linguistics student here at Swarthmore is running a survey for English speakers (who don't know Mandarin / any other tone languages) about how we learn tones. Take a few minutes to help out with this student research!
swarthmore.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
swarthmore.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
Online Survey Software | Qualtrics Survey Solutions
Qualtrics sophisticated online survey software solutions make creating online surveys easy. Learn more about Research Suite and get a free account today.
swarthmore.az1.qualtrics.com
September 22, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Please boost! #linguistics student here at Swarthmore is running a survey for English speakers (who don't know Mandarin / any other tone languages) about how we learn tones. Take a few minutes to help out with this student research!
swarthmore.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
swarthmore.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
Great plenary by @neilcohn.bsky.social at the 2025 Poznań #Linguistics Meeting: "Reimagining linguistic uniqueness in a multimodal paradigm"
September 22, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Great plenary by @neilcohn.bsky.social at the 2025 Poznań #Linguistics Meeting: "Reimagining linguistic uniqueness in a multimodal paradigm"
🚨 New Publication Alert! 🚨
Out now in #Language and #Linguistics Compass with
@stefanhartmann.bsky.social
& Antonio Benítez-Burraco:
"The role of play in language structure, acquisition and evolution" (this time with a working link)
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Out now in #Language and #Linguistics Compass with
@stefanhartmann.bsky.social
& Antonio Benítez-Burraco:
"The role of play in language structure, acquisition and evolution" (this time with a working link)
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
The Role of Play in Language Structure, Acquisition and Evolution
Similarly to language, play is an essential component of human behaviour and culture. However, the links between play and language have been underexamined and often neglected beyond the aesthetic use...
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
September 11, 2025 at 10:52 AM
🚨 New Publication Alert! 🚨
Out now in #Language and #Linguistics Compass with
@stefanhartmann.bsky.social
& Antonio Benítez-Burraco:
"The role of play in language structure, acquisition and evolution" (this time with a working link)
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Out now in #Language and #Linguistics Compass with
@stefanhartmann.bsky.social
& Antonio Benítez-Burraco:
"The role of play in language structure, acquisition and evolution" (this time with a working link)
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
🚨 New Publication Alert! 🚨
Out now in Language and Linguistics Compass with @stefanhartmann.bsky.social & Antonio Benítez-Burraco:
"The role of play in language structure, acquisition and evolution"
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ln…
Out now in Language and Linguistics Compass with @stefanhartmann.bsky.social & Antonio Benítez-Burraco:
"The role of play in language structure, acquisition and evolution"
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ln…
September 11, 2025 at 10:09 AM
🚨 New Publication Alert! 🚨
Out now in Language and Linguistics Compass with @stefanhartmann.bsky.social & Antonio Benítez-Burraco:
"The role of play in language structure, acquisition and evolution"
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ln…
Out now in Language and Linguistics Compass with @stefanhartmann.bsky.social & Antonio Benítez-Burraco:
"The role of play in language structure, acquisition and evolution"
compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ln…
Congratulations to Alexandra Bosshard for winning the #SLE2025 award for best presentation by a post-doctoral researcher with her excellent talk on processing perspectives in animal compositionality!
August 29, 2025 at 12:59 PM
Congratulations to Alexandra Bosshard for winning the #SLE2025 award for best presentation by a post-doctoral researcher with her excellent talk on processing perspectives in animal compositionality!
#SLE2025 plenary by @dagmardivjak.bsky.social & Petar Milin: Top-down wisdom versus bottom-up noise: can data (ever) replace linguistic expertise? Dagmar contrasts two ways of knowing language, in linguistics & machine learning. LLMs successfully generate & respond to text w/o linguistic insights
August 28, 2025 at 8:34 AM
#SLE2025 plenary by @dagmardivjak.bsky.social & Petar Milin: Top-down wisdom versus bottom-up noise: can data (ever) replace linguistic expertise? Dagmar contrasts two ways of knowing language, in linguistics & machine learning. LLMs successfully generate & respond to text w/o linguistic insights
Reposted by Michael Pleyer
😊 Happy authors, happy publisher!
🎉 Congratulations to our author Carmelo Alessandro Basile for winning the prestigious Eugenio Coseriu Award presented by the Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE) at their 58th Annual Meeting in Bordeaux. #SLE2025
🎉 Congratulations to our author Carmelo Alessandro Basile for winning the prestigious Eugenio Coseriu Award presented by the Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE) at their 58th Annual Meeting in Bordeaux. #SLE2025
August 27, 2025 at 1:41 PM
😊 Happy authors, happy publisher!
🎉 Congratulations to our author Carmelo Alessandro Basile for winning the prestigious Eugenio Coseriu Award presented by the Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE) at their 58th Annual Meeting in Bordeaux. #SLE2025
🎉 Congratulations to our author Carmelo Alessandro Basile for winning the prestigious Eugenio Coseriu Award presented by the Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE) at their 58th Annual Meeting in Bordeaux. #SLE2025
Roundtable discussion at #SLE2025 "How to do #linguistics with #AI, How to do #AI with #linguistics" with
@emilymbender.bsky.social , Claire Larsonneur, Benoît Le Blanc & Christian Ludwig
@emilymbender.bsky.social , Claire Larsonneur, Benoît Le Blanc & Christian Ludwig
August 27, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Roundtable discussion at #SLE2025 "How to do #linguistics with #AI, How to do #AI with #linguistics" with
@emilymbender.bsky.social , Claire Larsonneur, Benoît Le Blanc & Christian Ludwig
@emilymbender.bsky.social , Claire Larsonneur, Benoît Le Blanc & Christian Ludwig
Reposted by Michael Pleyer
UPDATE: Abstract deadline: Nov 1, 25! Invited speakers: Corrine Occhino, Dagmar Divjak, Idan Blank, Randy Allen Harris, Gary Lupyan, Laura Michaelis, Kanishka Misra !
@dagmardivjak.bsky.social @randyallenharris.bsky.social @congramqueen.bsky.social @glupyan.bsky.social @kanishka.bsky.social
@dagmardivjak.bsky.social @randyallenharris.bsky.social @congramqueen.bsky.social @glupyan.bsky.social @kanishka.bsky.social
📌 👉 The 14th International Construction Grammar conference will be held at Princeton, June 4-7, 2026
Usage-based analyses and Empirical methods
Stay tuned for updates!
Usage-based analyses and Empirical methods
Stay tuned for updates!
August 24, 2025 at 2:45 PM
UPDATE: Abstract deadline: Nov 1, 25! Invited speakers: Corrine Occhino, Dagmar Divjak, Idan Blank, Randy Allen Harris, Gary Lupyan, Laura Michaelis, Kanishka Misra !
@dagmardivjak.bsky.social @randyallenharris.bsky.social @congramqueen.bsky.social @glupyan.bsky.social @kanishka.bsky.social
@dagmardivjak.bsky.social @randyallenharris.bsky.social @congramqueen.bsky.social @glupyan.bsky.social @kanishka.bsky.social
The next talk in the #SLE2025 workshop "From #Linguistics to animal communication and back" is by @tozbu.bsky.social on vocal combinations in chimpanzees and relating it to bigger questions regarding the evolution of complex combinatorial communication
August 27, 2025 at 7:58 AM
The next talk in the #SLE2025 workshop "From #Linguistics to animal communication and back" is by @tozbu.bsky.social on vocal combinations in chimpanzees and relating it to bigger questions regarding the evolution of complex combinatorial communication
Out now from our lab & Uni Wrocław in Scientific Data, "The Apemen Faces Database (ApeFD):" 620 photorealistic, artificially generated facial images of 31 generalized hominin models, available in multiple ocular coloration variants" to study face perception
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The Apemen Faces Database (ApeFD) - Scientific Data
Scientific Data - The Apemen Faces Database (ApeFD)
www.nature.com
August 22, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Out now from our lab & Uni Wrocław in Scientific Data, "The Apemen Faces Database (ApeFD):" 620 photorealistic, artificially generated facial images of 31 generalized hominin models, available in multiple ocular coloration variants" to study face perception
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A classic example of the problems with google translate when it uses English as an intermediate, pivot language to translate from one language into another.
Polish "nijaki" means (grammatically) "neuter" (or featureless, nondescript) not "kastrieren" (to castrate) #language #linguistics
Polish "nijaki" means (grammatically) "neuter" (or featureless, nondescript) not "kastrieren" (to castrate) #language #linguistics
August 21, 2025 at 10:39 AM
A classic example of the problems with google translate when it uses English as an intermediate, pivot language to translate from one language into another.
Polish "nijaki" means (grammatically) "neuter" (or featureless, nondescript) not "kastrieren" (to castrate) #language #linguistics
Polish "nijaki" means (grammatically) "neuter" (or featureless, nondescript) not "kastrieren" (to castrate) #language #linguistics