Centre for Language Evolution
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uoe-cle.bsky.social
Centre for Language Evolution
@uoe-cle.bsky.social
Interdisciplinary centre at the University of Edinburgh. We‬ study the cultural evolution of language using experimental and computational approaches. https://cle.ppls.ed.ac.uk/
Reposted by Centre for Language Evolution
I'll be presenting this work at the @uoe-cle.bsky.social in Edinburgh on the 22nd January. I look forwards to robust discussion!
December 3, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Reposted by Centre for Language Evolution
The New episode of PPLS Perspectives is available now!

Maisy Hallam chats with Prof. Jenny Culbertson about how #technology, #AI, and global change are reshaping the future of language — and why #linguistic diversity matters more than ever.

Listen now: edin.ac/4r7axdA
November 18, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Reposted by Centre for Language Evolution
⚠️ New paper! Why do words sound so similar? In an agent-based model + communication game, we show that production/comprehension pressures trade off to shape lexicon structure.

In @cognitionjournal.bsky.social w/ @simonkirby.bsky.social & Jenny Culbertson.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
The lexicon adapts to competing communicative pressures: Explaining patterns of word similarity
Cross-linguistically, lexicons tend to be more phonetically clustered than required by the phonotactics of the language; that is, words within a langu…
www.sciencedirect.com
November 10, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Reposted by Centre for Language Evolution
Interacting agents can create shared communication systems without ever knowing if signals are successfully received. The conventionalisation process involves a curious interaction between joint attention and individual behavioural differences. doi.org/10.1371/jour.... Work with Casimir Fisch.
Exploiting individual differences to bootstrap communication
Author summary A fundamental question in the field of language evolution is how a communication system can emerge in a population that is initially unable to communicate. One theory is that human comm...
doi.org
November 12, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Reposted by Centre for Language Evolution
How will language shape the future of AI, education & society? At the GESDA Global Summit last month, Prof Jennifer Culbertson explored why understanding language structure & evolution is vital in the age of AI. Read more and watch her talk: edin.ac/3X8WDJY
#Linguistics #AI
PPLS Linguistics Professor talks of the importance of understanding language structure and evolution in the age of AI | School of Philosophy, Psychology & Language Sciences | School of Philosophy, Psy...
Last month Personal Chair of Experimental Linguistics Prof Jennifer Culbertson spoke at the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator (GESDA) Summit on Science of Language and Communication and how new...
edin.ac
November 4, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Reposted by Centre for Language Evolution
New paper in @openmindjournal.bsky.social with @simonkirby.bsky.social, @kennysmithed.bsky.social and Fiona Jordan! Kinship terms overwhelmingly exhibit predictive structure - terms in one part of the system help us predict other terms - a pattern which emerges because it helps us generalise better.
Predictive Structure Emerges During the Generalisation of Kin Terms to New Referents
Abstract. Despite cross-linguistic diversity in how kin relations map to terminology, there are constraints on which kin may be categorised together. But what are the constraints on kin term variation...
direct.mit.edu
October 1, 2025 at 10:47 AM
Semi-compositional language like “kick the habit” takes longer for humans to process than both fully-compositional AND fully-idiomatic units! Also, a memory model with sBERT embeddings fails more on the same items. What's so special about these units? (1/2) 👇
What does memory retrieval leave on the table? Modelling the Cost...
Despite being ubiquitous in natural language, collocations (e.g., kick+habit) incur a unique processing cost, compared to compositional phrases (kick+door) and idioms (kick+bucket). We confirm this...
edin.ac
July 25, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Different ML datasets use wildly different definitions of “systematic generalization”. To REALLY tell how well a model generalizes, we must look for systematicity of the model's representations. (1/2) 👇
July 25, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Less than 3 weeks to go until #CogSci2025! Here is some of the work that members of the CLE will be presenting 🧵(1/)
July 17, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Reposted by Centre for Language Evolution
Really awesome study by ‪@kennysmithed.bsky.social‬‬, Josephine Bowerman & @andrewdmsmith.bsky.social out now in Cognition: Semantic extension in a novel communication system is facilitated by salient shared associations
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Semantic extension in a novel communication system is facilitated by salient shared associations
Creative processes of semantic extension play a key role in language change, grammaticalisation, and (by hypothesis) the early origins and evolution o…
www.sciencedirect.com
July 8, 2025 at 11:14 AM
Reposted by Centre for Language Evolution
Some happy science news (a small light in times of darkness). New paper out with @luciewolters.bsky.social and Mits Ota: : Skewed distributions facilitate infants’ word segmentation. sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Skewed distributions facilitate infants' word segmentation
Infants can use statistical patterns to segment continuous speech into words, a crucial task in language acquisition. Experimental studies typically i…
sciencedirect.com
July 10, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Reposted by Centre for Language Evolution
Introducing Dr Keogh! 🎓 Very emotional to have finally closed the chapter on my time at the @uoe-cle.bsky.social 😭 but glad to have passed this milestone in the company of my wonderful supervisors @simonkirby.bsky.social and Jenny Culbertson, and my PhD twin Elizabeth Pankratz. We made it!

#PhDone
July 7, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Language and Communication is on the GESDA science breakthrough radar for the first time! Language evolution, AI, empirical method and multilingualism are the four core topics. Make your views known on how likely breakthroughs are in these areas, and how soon they might happen: tinyurl.com/2r29yep6
July 7, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Join us at the National Museum of Scotland July 19th to learn about animal communication and what makes human communication different from the rest of our primate family! 🐵 www.nms.ac.uk/events/monke...
June 30, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Reposted by Centre for Language Evolution
Delighted to announce the publication of a collaborative effort, co-led by @limorraviv.bsky.social @mpi-nl.bsky.social, showcasing the ways in which researchers have made language evolution an empirical issue: A handbook of experimental approaches to the fascinating problem of language evolution 🧪
May 27, 2025 at 5:56 AM