Centre for Language Evolution Studies

Kontakt Faculty of Humanities
Collegium Maius, Room 26,
ul. Fosa Staromiejska 3, 87-100 Toruń
cles@umk.pl

Research

Pantomime and other bodily communication


PROJECTS & FUNDING

Environmental impact on the evolution of communication: testing Linguistic Niche Hypothesis
(Polish National Science Centre, 2023/49/B/HS2/02222)

Let me show you! – Gestural repertoire of preschoolers in Poland
(Polish National Science Centre, 2022/45/N/HS2/04155)

Protostories: features of stories „told” before the mergence of fully-fledged language
(Polish National Science Centre, 2021/43/D/HS2/01866)

Metaphor and Semiotics in (Inter)Action
(Polish National Science Centre, 2021/43/P/HS2/02729)

Pantomime in language evolution: Expressive potential and structural characteristics of bodily mimetic acts
(Polish National Science Centre, UMO-2017/27/B/HS2/00642)

Mimetic scenarios of language emergence: formulation of a research project and development of research competences [COMPLETED]
(Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange, PPN/BEK/2018/1/00289/U)

Strategie komunikacyjne w komunikacji za pomocą mimezy cielesnej – przygotowanie materiału [COMPLETED]
(Polish National Science Centre, 2017/01/X/HS2/01722)


PARTNERS & COOPERATING RESEARCHERS

 


Cooperation and alignment in conversation


SCOPE
Investigates the role of verbal and nonverbal coordination in conversation, and in particular, the potential role of low-level coordination behaviours in language evolution as a candidate mechanism for bootstrapping conversational cooperation.
Another focus is the role of the unique morphology of the human eye in the evolutionary development of trust and cooperation in hominins.


PROJECTS & FUNDING

The human white sclera: the role of colouration and contrast in perceiving the eyes of others
(Polish National Science Centre, 2023/49/B/HS6/02343)

Researching Computer-mediated Communication from a Psycholinguistic Perspective
(Polish National Science Centre, UMO-2019/33/N/HS2/00541)

Seeing to signaling: ocular signaling as preverbal scaffold to linguistic communication
(Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange, The Stanislaw Ulam Programme, BPN/ULM/2023/1/00172)

EvoSAL: The Evolution of Semantic Ambiguity in the Lab [COMPLETED]
(Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange, The Stanislaw Ulam Programme 2019)

Evolutionary sources of the cooperative structuring of conversation. The role of nonverbal mechanisms [COMPLETED]
(Polish National Science Centre, UMO-2012/07/E/HS2/00671)


PARTNERS & COOPERATING RESEARCHERS

 


The Science of Language Evolution


PROJECTS & FUNDING

The science of language evolution: the state of the art and significance to language sciences
(Polish National Science Centre, UMO-2019/34/E/HS2/00248)

The Evolution of Language. Towards Gestural Hypotheses: translation into English [COMPLETED]
(Polish National Programme for the Development of Humanities, 049/NPRH5/H21/84/2017)

Between speech and gesture [COMPLETED]
(Polish National Science Centre, 3704/B/H03/2011/40)


PARTNERS & COOPERATING RESEARCHERS

 


Other research


PROJECTS & FUNDING

Association between social media use and attribution of facial characteristics
(YUFE4postdocs – Research Training Project)

The effects of instructor presence in educational videos on learning
(Ministry of Education and Science, PN/01/0232/2022)

Why speak politely? The evolutionary stability of expressions of gratitude [COMPLETED]
(Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange, PPN/BEK/2018/1/00382/U)

PARTNERS & COOPERATING RESEARCHERS