37.1243, Jobs: Cognitive Science, General Linguistics, Psycholinguistics, Sociolinguistics: Fully Funded 4-year PhD Position in Language Evolution Using Communication Games, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-37-1243. Fri Mar 27 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.1243, Jobs: Cognitive Science, General Linguistics, Psycholinguistics, Sociolinguistics: Fully Funded 4-year PhD Position in Language Evolution Using Communication Games, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics

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Date: 27-Mar-2026
From: Angela Heuts [HR at mpi.nl]
Subject: Cognitive Science, General Linguistics, Psycholinguistics, Sociolinguistics: Fully Funded 4-year PhD Position in Language Evolution Using Communication Games, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics


Job Location: Nijmegen, Gelderland, Netherlands
Web Address:
https://www.mpi.nl/career-education/vacancies/vacancy/fully-funded-4-year-phd-position-language-evolution-using
Job Title: Fully Funded 4-year PhD Position in Language Evolution
Using Communication Games
Job Rank: Researcher

Minimum Education: Masters’ degree

Specialty Areas: Cognitive Science; General Linguistics;
Psycholinguistics; Sociolinguistics

Other Specialties: Language evolution, Human evolution, Evolutionary
linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Cultural evolution.
Description:
This 4-year PhD project will focus on experimentally testing the
social and cognitive pressures that shape human language evolution
from the very early stages of language emergence, to the ongoing
diversification and change we see across languages today.
The project will use group communication games and artificial language
learning experiments to investigate the role of social biases,
language contact, and prior knowledge on the evolution of miniature
languages created by groups of participants in the lab and online. As
part of this project, you will investigate the impact of social
prestige - asking how varying participants’ social attributes and
attitudes towards each other shape their linguistic preferences, their
imitation strategies, and their transmission and diffusion patterns.
You will also use these experimental paradigms to simulate real-world
scenarios of language evolution under contact conditions, for example
by testing the formation of new languages when individuals come from
different linguistic and cultural backgrounds (as in the case of
Creoles), or when established language communities are introduced with
naïve vs. experienced participants (simulating the role of L1/L2
learners).

Application Deadline: 18-May-2026
Web Address for Applications:
https://www.mpi.nl/career-education/vacancies/vacancy/fully-funded-4-year-phd-position-language-evolution-using
Contact Information:
        Limor Raviv
        Email: limor.raviv at mpi.nl



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