Episode two: Linguistic Diversity, AI, and the Human Mind

In this episode Maisy Hallam returns to speak to Professor Jenny Culbertson from the Centre for Language Evolution about how language will shape—and be shaped over the next 50 years. From the accelerating loss of minority languages to the rise of AI and shifting patterns of migration, they explore the challenges and opportunities facing global linguistic diversity.

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A lot more languages are going to become endangered and potentially die out. We know that that's happening. We also know that people are going to continue to use AI more and more over the 50 years, and we also know that patterns of migration are going to change. So that's three really big changes that are that are going to happen over the next 50 years. And I think language is entwined in all of them. 

Prof Jennifer Culbertson Personal Chair of Experimental Linguistics

This episode's guests

Prof Jennifer Culbertson

Jennifer's research focuses on understanding how languages are shaped by learning and use. She is interested in how typological universals (differences in the frequency of linguistic patterns across the world's languages) arise from properties of our cognitive system. To get at this, Jennifer teaches people (children and adults) miniature artificial languages, and create computational models of their behaviour.

Maisy Hallam

Maisy is a PhD student working in the Centre for Language Evolution. Her research looks at typological regularities in kinship terminology with a view to understanding how linguistic and cultural pressures encourage particular relatives to be categorised together.

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