Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄
Group leader LEADS MPI_NL & Radboud ➡️ Language Evolution; Cultural Evolution; Animal & Human Cognition; Open Science; DON'T DREAM IT - BE IT!
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄Truly one to watch! Congrats @damianblasi.bsky.social !
- The CogSci Society would like to congratulate the brilliant Dr. Damián Blasi @damianblasi.bsky.social for being awarded the 2026 Early Career Impact Award from the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences @fabbs.org 👏👏👏 Learn more at cognitivesciencesociety.org/fabbs-early-...
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄What a thrilling start to 2026 – honored to be recognised by @cogscisociety.bsky.social and @fabbs.org ! Can’t wait to meet you all in Rio this July, one of the absolute gems of my beloved South America!
- The CogSci Society would like to congratulate the brilliant Dr. Damián Blasi @damianblasi.bsky.social for being awarded the 2026 Early Career Impact Award from the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences @fabbs.org 👏👏👏 Learn more at cognitivesciencesociety.org/fabbs-early-...
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄The CogSci Society would like to congratulate the brilliant Dr. Damián Blasi @damianblasi.bsky.social for being awarded the 2026 Early Career Impact Award from the Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences @fabbs.org 👏👏👏 Learn more at cognitivesciencesociety.org/fabbs-early-...
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄It warms my linguistics heart to see the current generation of scientists engaging with the history of linguistic thought. More please 🙏
- 🚨NEW PUBLICATION ALERT!🚨 The 'Design Features' of Language Revisited (w/ @mperlman.bsky.social @glupyan.bsky.social Koen de Reus & @limorraviv.bsky.social) Feature Review out now in #OpenAccess in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social! #language #linguistics Paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.ti...
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄Really nice to see this reappraisal of "design features for language". Our book "A Multimodal Language Faculty" also discusses design features, and I believe presents the only model of language that satisfies the type of linguistic framework that they advocate www.bloomsbury.com/us/multimoda...
- Super proud of this fabulous team for challenging old comparative frameworks and rethinking what makes language language. Read more in the thread below 👇 or here 📖😊: www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄Sign language research provides some key data supporting this framework for language evolution
- Origins of language, one of humanity’s most distinctive traits, may be best explained as a unique convergence of multiple capacities each with its own evolutionary history, involving intertwined roles of biology & culture. This framing can expand research horizons. A 🧵 on our @science.org paper.🧪1/n
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄Fascinating thread and review, questioning the 'big bang' view of the emergence of language.
- Origins of language, one of humanity’s most distinctive traits, may be best explained as a unique convergence of multiple capacities each with its own evolutionary history, involving intertwined roles of biology & culture. This framing can expand research horizons. A 🧵 on our @science.org paper.🧪1/n
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄Thank you for this very insightful explainer thread about (y)our latest @science.org paper, @profsimonfisher.bsky.social - must read for everyone in linguistics!
- Origins of language, one of humanity’s most distinctive traits, may be best explained as a unique convergence of multiple capacities each with its own evolutionary history, involving intertwined roles of biology & culture. This framing can expand research horizons. A 🧵 on our @science.org paper.🧪1/n
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄Happy World #Linguistics Day everyone! If you're interested in #language and its evolution, these two threads are a good place to start! bsky.app/profile/symb...
- Origins of language, one of humanity’s most distinctive traits, may be best explained as a unique convergence of multiple capacities each with its own evolutionary history, involving intertwined roles of biology & culture. This framing can expand research horizons. A 🧵 on our @science.org paper.🧪1/n
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄Looking forward to future projects with this crew! Was a joy to work on this admittedly difficult paper! Very proud of the final product. Have a look!
- Interesting re-reading & re-appraisal of a classic paper on the design features of specific cognitive systems like human language, by @symbolicstorage.bsky.social @mperlman.bsky.social @glupyan.bsky.social K de Reus & @limorraviv.bsky.social @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social 🧪
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄The ‘design features’ of language revisited. Just published (open access) by Pleyer, Perlman, Lupyan, de Reus & @limorraviv.bsky.social. doi.org/10.1016/j.ti...
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄Interesting re-reading & re-appraisal of a classic paper on the design features of specific cognitive systems like human language, by @symbolicstorage.bsky.social @mperlman.bsky.social @glupyan.bsky.social K de Reus & @limorraviv.bsky.social @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social 🧪
- Super proud of this fabulous team for challenging old comparative frameworks and rethinking what makes language language. Read more in the thread below 👇 or here 📖😊: www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄We hope this paper leads to renewed discussions and can provide a roadmap for future research comparing human language and non-human animal communication and for the study of language evolution. Full paper here: doi.org/10.1016/j.ti... Press release: www.mpi.nl/news/65-year...
- Super proud of this fabulous team for challenging old comparative frameworks and rethinking what makes language language. Read more in the thread below 👇 or here 📖😊: www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
- 🚨NEW PUBLICATION ALERT!🚨 The 'Design Features' of Language Revisited (w/ @mperlman.bsky.social @glupyan.bsky.social Koen de Reus & @limorraviv.bsky.social) Feature Review out now in #OpenAccess in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social! #language #linguistics Paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.ti...
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄🚨NEW PUBLICATION ALERT!🚨 The 'Design Features' of Language Revisited (w/ @mperlman.bsky.social @glupyan.bsky.social Koen de Reus & @limorraviv.bsky.social) Feature Review out now in #OpenAccess in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social! #language #linguistics Paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.ti...
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄Despite their allure, “silver bullet” arguments (in which uniqueness of our species is defined by one explanatory factor) are untenable in light of modern biology. Many scholars now view language emergence as dependent on convergence of multiple facets (physical, cognitive, social, cultural). 4/n
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄Origins of language, one of humanity’s most distinctive traits, may be best explained as a unique convergence of multiple capacities each with its own evolutionary history, involving intertwined roles of biology & culture. This framing can expand research horizons. A 🧵 on our @science.org paper.🧪1/n
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄Review on language evolution just published - haven't read properly yet but from a quick skim looks important! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄New paper argues language emerged from the interaction of biology and culture - not a single mutation. Vocal learning, grammar, and social sharing each evolved on their own but converged to make human language possible. www.mpi.nl/news/interac...
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄Excellent @science.org review by an outstanding group, including @inbalarnon.bsky.social @profsimonfisher.bsky.social @limorraviv.bsky.social @simonkirby.bsky.social @lirancarmel.bsky.social @kazuookanoya.bsky.social @luciewolters.bsky.social What enables human language? A biocultural framework 🧪
- Interested in the evolution of human language? Check out our new paper in @science.org where we synthesize latest findings and outline a multifaceted, bio-cultural approach for studying how language evolved. Super proud of this work, and hoping it leads to exciting new research! tinyurl.com/ykacvanp
- Excellent @science.org review by an outstanding group, including @inbalarnon.bsky.social @profsimonfisher.bsky.social @limorraviv.bsky.social @simonkirby.bsky.social @lirancarmel.bsky.social @kazuookanoya.bsky.social @luciewolters.bsky.social What enables human language? A biocultural framework 🧪
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄What enables human language? A biocultural framework. New paper by Inbal Arnon & al. with @limorraviv.bsky.social , @profsimonfisher.bsky.social doi.org/10.1126/science.adq8303
- The amazing Bart de Boer is organizing a workshop at @evolangconf.bsky.social for exchanging techniques and ideas on how to use AI productively and correctly in language evolution research. Submissions are now open. Please spread the word! ai.vub.ac.be/~bart/AI_in_...
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄For decades, linguists assumed kids drive language change through ‘imperfect’ learning. New research by Raviv, Blasi & Kempe (Psychological Review) show that instead, adolescents and young adults are more likely to spread, normalize, and cement linguistic shifts. www.mpi.nl/news/young-c...
- Read more here: www.mpi.nl/news/young-c...
- Super proud of this work and very grateful for all the amazing people who provided valuable feedback along the way @remivantrijp.bsky.social @sheinalew.bsky.social @cedricboeckx.bsky.social @inbalarnon.bsky.social ❤️❤️❤️🙏
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄💡 The idea that children drive language change is widely accepted — but does it hold up? New research co-authored by Dr Vera Kempe challenges this view, showing little evidence that child-led innovations spread through communities. Read more: www.mpi.nl/publications...
- Children are not the main agents of language change. New paper by @limorraviv.bsky.social @damianblasi.bsky.social & @vkempe.bsky.social. psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/... www.mpi.nl/publications...
- Super proud of this work and very grateful for all the amazing people who provided valuable feedback along the way @remivantrijp.bsky.social @sheinalew.bsky.social @cedricboeckx.bsky.social @inbalarnon.bsky.social ❤️❤️❤️🙏
- Children are not the main agents of language change. New paper by @limorraviv.bsky.social @damianblasi.bsky.social & @vkempe.bsky.social. psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/... www.mpi.nl/publications...
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄The de-neonatizing of linguistics takes another step forward
- Children are not the main agents of language change. New paper by @limorraviv.bsky.social @damianblasi.bsky.social & @vkempe.bsky.social. psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/... www.mpi.nl/publications...
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄So rewarding to work with these two brilliant people to check whether the existing evidence supports the persistent claim that children's simplifying errors drive language change. It doesn't. psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?d... @limorraviv.bsky.social @damianblasi.bsky.social
- Children are not the main agents of language change. New paper by @limorraviv.bsky.social @damianblasi.bsky.social & @vkempe.bsky.social. psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/... www.mpi.nl/publications...
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄Children are not the main agents of language change. New paper by @limorraviv.bsky.social @damianblasi.bsky.social & @vkempe.bsky.social. psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/... www.mpi.nl/publications...
- New paper with the brilliant @vkempe.bsky.social looking at potential age differences in the interpretation and conventionalization of a recently introduced semiotic system: emojis! 😍 Unlike popular belief, we see that young & older folks mostly agree on what face emojis mean (with some exceptions)!
- No evidence for generational differences in the conventionalisation of face emojis. New paper by Kempe and @limorraviv.bsky.social. doi.org/10.1016/j.ch...
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄No evidence for generational differences in the conventionalisation of face emojis. New paper by Kempe and @limorraviv.bsky.social. doi.org/10.1016/j.ch...
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄I'm teaching a grad seminar this Fall on the Cognitive Science of LLMs focusing on how they can act to stress test cognitive theories. If you have any readings that scream *yes this one!!* please send them my way!
- Based on the thesis of my brilliant student Lucia from @ccniuofg.bsky.social @uofglasgow.bsky.social, we see that gendered language (Italian) can be a painful source of non affirmation for non binary people. We also make some suggestions for how to improve their experiences and create safer spaces 🙏
- The inescapable cage of a man and a woman: Experiences of non-binary people with gender identity (non-)affirmation in the context of a gendered language. New paper by Feketova and @limorraviv.bsky.social. doi.org/10.1080/2689....
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄The inescapable cage of a man and a woman: Experiences of non-binary people with gender identity (non-)affirmation in the context of a gendered language. New paper by Feketova and @limorraviv.bsky.social. doi.org/10.1080/2689....
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄Call for papers for Evolang 2026 is now posted! evolang2026.org. Workshop proposals due Sept 22nd. Paper submissions October 26th. Evolang is interdisciplinarity at its best. We hope to see you in Plovdiv!!
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄This sounds like a really cool project! If only I had the required experience I would jump at it 🤩
- I am advertising 2 positions in language evolution with my group at @dondersinst.bsky.social: 📢 Fully-funded PhD position (Robotics/AI 🤖) www.ru.nl/en/working-a... 📢 Postdoc position (Virtual Reality 🎮) www.ru.nl/en/working-a... Deadline for applications is August 14th. Please RT! :)
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄A not to be missed opportunity.
- I am advertising 2 positions in language evolution with my group at @dondersinst.bsky.social: 📢 Fully-funded PhD position (Robotics/AI 🤖) www.ru.nl/en/working-a... 📢 Postdoc position (Virtual Reality 🎮) www.ru.nl/en/working-a... Deadline for applications is August 14th. Please RT! :)
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄My first ever book cover! Made with maths, pencil, drawing robot, and photographic negative. Thank you @limorraviv.bsky.social and @cedricboeckx.bsky.social for asking me to do it, and for the lovely handwritten dedication inside 😊
- I am advertising 2 positions in language evolution with my group at @dondersinst.bsky.social: 📢 Fully-funded PhD position (Robotics/AI 🤖) www.ru.nl/en/working-a... 📢 Postdoc position (Virtual Reality 🎮) www.ru.nl/en/working-a... Deadline for applications is August 14th. Please RT! :)
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄It's out! 🎉 Together with @maelmleroux.bsky.social , @chimpsahoi.bsky.social, and S. Townsend, we wrote a chapter on methods for studying animal sequences. Huge thanks to @limorraviv.bsky.social and @cedricboeckx.bsky.social for editing this amazing volume! academic.oup.com/edited-volum...
- 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 🧪
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄Special thanks to @simonkirby.bsky.social for designing a superb cover for the handbook. Simon’s work has inspired Limor and me a great deal, and it meant a lot to us to involve him in this volume
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄The volume consists of over 30 chapters, and features over twice as many contributors. It is supremely inter-disciplinary. Huge thanks to each and everyone of them for making this possible 🙏
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄Reading through the chapters made me wish I had had such a volume when I entered the field.
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄we also restricted our attention on those that are empirically tractable (sorry to the ‘Chomskyan’ linguists if they feel left out)
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄We put together this volume hoping that it would help newcomers in the field assess their analytical options. We crucially did not try to illustrate all the interesting hypotheses regarding how human language evolved (that would require more than one volume),
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄we also commissioned multiple chapters offering complementary methods for particularly controversial or complex topics, so readers can weigh the pros and cons of each
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄We tried to do justice to the many facets of the field (if you think we failed to represent an approach, drop us a line; we really thought hard about this, but it’s a fast-changing field)
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄We are so grateful to everyone for sticking to the plan and delivering chapters that, while not boringly uniform, all have the same shape: If this is the specific problem concerning language evolution you are interested in, here is how to test your hypothesis experimentally.
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄We managed to convince a stellar cast of both leading figures and rising stars in the field to team up and spell out which specific experimental method could shed light on specific questions regarding language evolution 🧪
- New handbook alert on approaches to language evolution 🚩🚩 See thread below! Huge thank you to everyone who contributed to this fantastic endeavor, and most importantly to my amazing co-editor @cedricboeckx.bsky.social who made this all possible 👏👏
- 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 🧪
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄Language depends on copying (e.g. of words, signs). And language in turn is needed for many other things. When and why did our ancestors gain this ability to copy? Our (Ron, Elisa & me) archaeological reanalysis says: in the last million years. Just out: dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfo...
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄🚨New publication alert! "Corpus-based approaches to evolutionary dynamics in language" (w/ @stefanhartmann.bsky.social) out now in the in the Oxford Handbook of Approaches to Language Evolution. Kudos to @limorraviv.bsky.social & @cedricboeckx.bsky.social for putting this great volume together!
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄#linguistics I'm looking for recent meta analyses in experimental linguistics that explicitly show publication bias. Please share your work here!
- Interested in the evolution of human language and in understanding the pressures that shape languages today? Come do a PhD with me! Fully funded PhD position available in my group @mpi-nl.bsky.social, application deadline June 2nd: www.mpi.nl/career-educa...
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄Cool postdoc position in language evolution in Toruń www.umk.pl/en/jobs/?tas...
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄A bidirectional association between language development and prosocial behaviour in childhood: Evidence from a longitudinal birth cohort in the United Kingdom. Final version by Dimitris I. Tsomokos & @limorraviv.bsky.social doi.org/10.1037/dev0001875 Paper: tinyurl.com/yha38k5h
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄We uncovered the same statistical structure that is a hallmark of human language in whale song, published today in Science. @inbalarnon.bsky.social @simonkirby.bsky.social @jennyallen13.bsky.social @clairenea.bsky.social @emma-carroll.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄Do whales optimize their vocalizations for efficiency, just like human language? 🐋🎶 My latest study in Science Advances (@science.org) suggests they do—following linguistic laws seen in human speech. 🧵 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
- Reposted by Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄"Methods based on infant speech segmentation, applied to 8 years of humpback recordings, uncovered in whale song the same statistical structure that is a hallmark of human language." Cool new paper by @inbalarnon.bsky.social, @simonkirby.bsky.social, @ellengarland.bsky.social out in @science.org. 🧪
