Jump directly to main navigation Jump directly to content Jump to sub navigation
MPI-EVA_Linguistic_and_Cultural_Evolution.svg

Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution

Director: Prof. (Univ. Auckland) Dr. Russell Gray

Understanding language and culture is fundamental to understanding what it is to be human. The Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution aims to describe and explain patterns of linguistic and cultural regularity and diversity across the globe. We bring anthropologists, computer scientists, evolutionary biologists, linguists and social scientists together to achieve this aim. We tackle these questions by combining a digital ecosystem of linked global linguistic and cultural databases with analyses using evolutionary theories and computational methods. This thoroughly interdisciplinary approach enables us to combine the quantitative rigour of the natural sciences while still utilising the insights that only come from maintaining close contact with the primary linguistic and cultural data.

News

Axisthesisfigure_-__09.02.24.jpg

Did Eurasia's dominant East-West axis "turn the fortunes of history"?

Linguistic and Cultural Evolution

New research shows that environmental barriers have influenced the spread of cultural innovations but do not…

more
map_press_release.png

The evolution of complex grammars

Linguistic and Cultural Evolution

A new study shows that changes in grammatical complexity are not shaped by social environments

more
MPI-PH-Hypothesis3-PressRelease.jpg

New insights into the origin of the Indo-European languages

Linguistic and Cultural Evolution

Linguistics and genetics combine to suggest a new hybrid hypothesis for the origin of the Indo-European…

more