{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"The natural history of linguistic diversity","description":"Thousands of languages are used around the world today, and this linguistic diversity is a precious part of our human heritage. But it's also more than that. Linguistic diversity provides clues\u2014a vast crazy quilt of clues\u2014about how language works, about how history has unfolded, about the dynamics of culture, and about the nature of the human mind. My guest today is Dr. Dami\u00e1n Blasi. Dami\u00e1n is an ICREA Research Professor based at the Center for Brain & Cognition at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. Over the last decade or so, Dami\u00e1n\u2019s emerged as one of the most innovative researchers in the study of language and linguistic diversity. He\u2019s been widely recognized for this work, and most recently was awarded the 2026 FABSS Early Career Impact Award from the Cognitive Science Society. In this conversation, Dami\u00e1n and I talk about why scientists should care about linguistic diversity. We do a bit of linguistic diversity 101\u2014how many languages there are, how we can enumerate them, how they vary. We discuss a recent paper in which Dami\u00e1n and his colleagues reconstructed the explosive rise and precipitous fall of human linguistic diversity over the last 12,000 years. We talk about the factors that drive language change. And we discuss how cognitive science relies too much on English and English speakers\u2014and how this may be holding the field back. Along the way, Dami\u00e1n and I touch on the Tower of Babel, a golden age of linguistic diversity, the human bite configuration, scientific aesthetics, whether children shape language, polygenetic theories of language evolution, the pace of language change, schooling, linguistic inequality and behemoth languages, and why Dami\u00e1n thinks that the possibility space of human language might be bigger and wilder than we currently imagine. This is a special episode of the Many Minds podcast. As I mentioned, Dami\u00e1n is this year\u2019s winner of an award from the Cognitive Science Society, in recognition of his outstanding early-career contributions to the field. He recently gave a keynote at the society\u2019s annual conference in Rio de Janeiro, and we\u2019ve partnered with the Cognitive Science Society to feature this conversation about his work. I'll also mention that this wasn't my first time chatting with Dami\u00e1n\u2014he's an alumnus of the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI), the sponsor & incubator of this podcast. We met there a couple years ago, and so it was all the more fun to reconnect with him here. Alright friends, without further ado, on to my conversation with Dr. Dami\u00e1n Blasi. Enjoy!   Notes 10:00 \u2013 The UNESCO page on multilingualism and linguistic diversity. 17:00 \u2013 The Ethnologue database. 20:00 \u2013 For examples of Dr. Blasi\u2019s work on \u201cbehemoth languages\u201d and on how languages are not represented equally in terms of technological and development investment, see here and here. 26:00 - For the paper in which Dr. Blasi and colleagues introduced Grambank, see here. For the database itself, see here. 29:00 \u2013 For Dr. Blasi\u2019s earlier work on sound-meaning associations across languages, see here. 33:00 \u2013 For discussion of Darwin\u2019s views on monogenesis vs polygenesis and race, see our recent episode. 36:00 \u2013 For more about pronouns\u2014and how they do and do not vary across the world\u2019s languages\u2014see several chapters in the World Atlas of Language Structures. 39:00 \u2013 The paper\u2014\u2018Babies aren\u2019t persons\u2019\u2014by David Lancy. 41:00 - For Dr. Blasi and colleagues\u2019 recent Science paper on the rise and fall of human linguistic diversity, see here. 59:00 \u2013 For a recent study of linguistic diversification, including discussion of so-called schismogenesis, see here. For an example of Cristina Moya\u2019s work on ethnic identity in the Andes region, see here. 1:00:00 \u2013 For an example of Dr. Blasi\u2019s work on how ecology shapes language\u2014a topic not discussed in this conversation\u2014see here. 1:01:00 \u00ad\u2013 For the study by Dr. Blasi and colleagues about changes in the human bite configuration and how these changes have shaped sound systems, see here. 1:14:00 \u2013 For the recent paper by Dr. Blasi and colleagues about the (non-)role of children in language change, see here. 1:22:00 \u2013 The paper by Dr. Blasi and colleagues about the over-reliance on English in the cognitive sciences (and how it hinders the field). 1:24:00 \u2013 See here for work by Aitor Egurtzegi, in collaboration with Dr. Blasi and others, on ergativity and gaze patterns across languages. 1:27:00 \u2013 For the preprint\u2014'Which humans?\u2019\u2014led by Mohammad Atari (and including Dr. Blasi and others), see here. 1:30:00 \u2013 For a recent argument that psychology needs to overcome its \u201cahistorical\u201d bent, see here.   Recommendations A Myriad of Tongues, Caleb Everett The Secret of Our Success, Joseph Henrich Linguistic Diversity in Space and Time, Johanna Nichols   Tile art credit: Painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (detail)   Many Minds is a project of the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute, which is made possible by a generous grant from the John Templeton Foundation to Indiana University. The show is hosted and produced by Kensy Cooperrider, with help from Assistant Producer Urte Laukaityte and with creative support from DISI Directors Erica Cartmill and Jacob Foster. Our artwork is by Ben Oldroyd. Subscribe to Many Minds on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also now subscribe to the **new** Many Minds newsletter! We welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions. Feel free to email us at: manymindspodcast@gmail.com. For updates about the show, visit our website or follow us on Bluesky (@manymindspod.bsky.social). ","author_name":"Many Minds","author_url":"https:\/\/disi.org\/manyminds\/","html":"