Project description
Understanding how language evolves while people walk
This project investigates human language in the very environment in which it has evolved, is acquired, and very frequently is used: while walking. Yet, moving communication contexts differ significantly from static ones, as they are dynamic. This unique character of walking and the challenges it yields for perception and experience is prone to impact grammar, lexicon, and verbal interaction profoundly. In Walk and Talk, we conduct a cross-linguistic investigation into grammar and lexicon as they unfold in real time when traditionally mobile Indigenous foragers are walking. The approach involves innovating methodologies for studying language in motion and a data collection from a diverse language sample to develop an explanatory model describing how language takes shape in dynamic speech contexts.
Objective
This project investigates human language in the very environment in which it has evolved, is acquired, and very
frequently is used: while walking. Yet, moving communication contexts differ significantly from static ones, as
they are dynamic: it is in this moving realm where the speech situation is fluid, where reference and topic
environments unfold, and where our bodies interact in ever-changing ways with each other and with the
environment. This unique fleeting character of walking and the challenges it yields for perception and experience
is prone to impact grammar, lexicon, and verbal interaction profoundly. While linguistics extensively studies how
humans talk about motion, the impact of motion on language remains underexplored. To bridge this gap, I ask:
how can language be shaped by the unique perceptual nature of mobility, and how does this affect our
understanding of language once we factor mobility into explanations of linguistic phenomena? Walk and Talk
breaks new ground in the language sciences by introducing mobility as an underexplored realm to linguistic
research. To this end, I and my team of language specialists will conduct a cross-linguistic investigation into
grammar and lexicon as they unfold in real time when traditionally mobile Indigenous foragers are walking. My
approach involves innovating methodologies for studying language in motion and a data collection from a diverse
language sample to reach Walk and Talks overarching goal. That is, the development of an explanatory model
describing how language takes shape in dynamic speech contexts. To accomplish these objectives, the research
agenda is tailored to: describe, explore, and compare language use in moving speech settings, explain the
relationship between mobility and language, and document language practices in moving contexts.
Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsHost institution
22100 Lund
Sweden