iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Aislinn Keogh

Centre for Language Evolution @uoe-cle.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

@mandolinguist.bsky.social, Jennifer Culbertson, @simonkirby.bsky.social: Participants in a communication game balance production effort and comprehension accuracy (but not always optimally). See evolangconf.github.io/2026/proceed...

evolangconf.github.io

Evolang XVI Proceedings

Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on the Evolution of Language (EVOLANG XVI)

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Aislinn Keogh @mandolinguist.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

Day 1 of maternity leave: no work means plenty of time to do Advent of Code properly! "properly"...😐 #AdventOfCode

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Aislinn Keogh @mandolinguist.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

Last day of work before going on maternity leave! 😳 And high on my wishlist for when I return in 2027 is that OSF do another upgrade to fix the previous "upgrade" which has resulted in me being completely unable to access a single page on their website 🙃 sure would be nice to read some preprints...

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laserhedvig @laserhedvig.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Today, we published a paper on the strength of language universals (if language has X, it also has Y) given spatial & phylogenetic autocorrelation in @nathumbehav.nature.com ! It is a cool research project, led by the brilliant Annemarie Verkerk at @uni-saarland.de www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.com

Enduring constraints on grammar revealed by Bayesian spatiophylogenetic analyses - Nature Human Behaviour

Despite their great diversity, human languages are shaped by recurring grammatical universals. Verkerk et al. show that about one-third of the proposed universals hold cross-linguistically through ana...

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Richard Blythe @dralgernon.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

Interacting agents can create shared communication systems without ever knowing if signals are successfully received. The conventionalisation process involves a curious interaction between joint attention and individual behavioural differences. doi.org/10.1371/jour.... Work with Casimir Fisch.

doi.org

Exploiting individual differences to bootstrap communication

Author summary A fundamental question in the field of language evolution is how a communication system can emerge in a population that is initially unable to communicate. One theory is that human comm...

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Aislinn Keogh @mandolinguist.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Thoughts and prayers please: I have reached the stage of pregnancy where I'm having to pirate e-books of books I already physically own because my belly is in the way of holding up a hardback 😭

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Reposted by Aislinn Keogh

Charley Wu @thecharleywu.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

Fully-funded 4-year #PhD in Cultural Evolution! Join my @erc.europa.eu project exploring how compression & compositionality drive cultural innovation: hmc-lab.com/ERCPhDCultur... Apply by Nov 12! Maybe of interest to folks from #COSMOS2025 or @eslr.bsky.social? Please feel free to share! 🙏

hmc-lab.com

ERC funded PhD position on Cultural Evolution

ERC funded PhD position on Cultural Evolution posted on October 16, 2025 We are currently seeking a highly motivated individual for a ful...

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Aislinn Keogh @mandolinguist.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

Walking down a narrow pavement at peak times with an umbrella is antisocial behaviour, change my mind

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Reposted by Aislinn Keogh

Cultural Evolution Society @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

The count down starts for #CESRabat! Follow @ces2026.bsky.social and join us May 11-13 next year for an exciting meeting in Rabat, Morocco. Massive thanks to the #CESRabat organising committee: Sarah Alami (co-chair) Mathieu Charbonneau (co-chair) Zachary Garfield Edmond Seabright

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Aislinn Keogh @mandolinguist.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

Durham's Dunagree Lab continues to be the most wonderful workplace. Thank you to @sheinalew.bsky.social, @chimpanzeve.bsky.social, @fhillemann.bsky.social, @amandinevisine.bsky.social and others not on Bluesky for the surprise baby shower today 🥹

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Sheina Lew-Levy @sheinalew.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

@durhampsych.bsky.social current has 5 (FIVE!!) PhD studentships being advertised! 3 to work with me on children as agents of cultural evolution 2 to work with @drboothroyd.bsky.social on examining school-based body image interventions. Please share and apply! www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...

durham.ac.uk

Fees and Funding - Durham University

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Reposted by Aislinn Keogh

Maryellen MacDonald @maryellenmacdonald.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

Aislinn Keogh @mandolinguist.bsky.social gave my new book to her mother to help her understand some of Aislinn's research area. Her mother is in a book-crochet group; she loved the book so much that she made a blanket (aka granny) square inspired by the book cover! This is so fantastic and touching!

Two part photo showing the book cover for More Than Words on the left and a crocheted square on the right that was inspired by the book.

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Aislinn Keogh @mandolinguist.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

Oh good, my preprint from nearly a year ago that had still not been post-moderated has now disappeared 🙃

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Reposted by Aislinn Keogh

Dorsa Amir @dorsaamir.bsky.social · 19/07/2025

This was such a fun conversation about childhood, play, and agency across cultures. Thanks for having @sheinalew.bsky.social & I on the show!

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Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄 @limorraviv.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

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! :)

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Aislinn Keogh @mandolinguist.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

Introducing Dr Keogh! 🎓 Very emotional to have finally closed the chapter on my time at the @uoe-cle.bsky.social 😭 but glad to have passed this milestone in the company of my wonderful supervisors @simonkirby.bsky.social and Jenny Culbertson, and my PhD twin Elizabeth Pankratz. We made it! #PhDone

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Aislinn Keogh @mandolinguist.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

Me and @maisyhallam.bsky.social had fun at the museum yesterday! 😄🐒

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Reposted by Aislinn Keogh

michael chimento @mchimento.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

been a long time coming, there's now a preprint along with Will Hoppitt describing our new R package for creating, fitting and interpreting bayesian NBDA models (STBayes). www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1.... Documentation is here michaelchimento.github.io/STbayes/inde...

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Aislinn Keogh @mandolinguist.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

The Edinburgh-Durham commute certainly has its advantages 😍

The view from a train window, looking out over a stone wall, grassy hill and small rocky crag to a calm sea. It's sunny and there's a few wispy clouds.

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Cedric Boeckx @cedricboeckx.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

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 🧪

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Aislinn Keogh @mandolinguist.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

Very cool to have been involved with this, such a great opportunity to learn about contributing to open source software! ⌨️

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Limor Raviv 🐘🤗🦒🍄🦄 @limorraviv.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

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...

mpi.nl

Fully funded 4-year PhD position in Language Evolution | Max Planck InstituteMax Planck Institute for psycholinguistics

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Andrew Smith @andrewdmsmith.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

Semantic extension in an artificial language experiment: participants conventionalise novel labels, then extend them to convey new meanings (metonymically and metaphorically) based on salient shared associations. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.com

Semantic extension in a novel communication system is facilitated by salient shared associations

Creative processes of semantic extension play a key role in language change, grammaticalisation, and (by hypothesis) the early origins and evolution o…

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Reposted by Aislinn Keogh

Simon J. Greenhill @simongreenhill.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Two Fully-Funded PhD positions at Auckland Uni! Come help us understand the past and future of global cultural and linguistic diversity. #linguistics #evolution #academia #phd www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

An AI generated colorful image, trying to catch the eye of potential PhD students.

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Aislinn Keogh @mandolinguist.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Probably the best way I could think of to make this announcement: super excited to be joining Durham Uni in June as a postdoc/modeller on @sheinalew.bsky.social's new ERC grant, Children as Agents of Cultural Evolution. Looks like I'm going to fit right in 😍 #DungareeLab @durhamdcerc.bsky.social

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Ellen Garland @ellengarland.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

🐳 UPCOMING BOOK ALERT 🐬 The Evolution of Cetacean Societies Edited by @darrencroft.bsky.social @andrewfoote.bsky.social @stephanielking.bsky.social and myself Preorder available now press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo... #whale #dolphin #animalbehaviour

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Timo B. Roettger @timoroettger.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

🚨🚨🚨 I'm hiring a Postdoc for a 3-year position to come work with me at the University of Oslo using iterative learning experiments to understand the evolution of sound symbolism. Please share widely. 🔴 Deadline is May 31st '25 ⏲️ Desired starting date is Fall '25 shorturl.at/vSTZx

shorturl.at

Postdoctoral Research Fellow connected to "ICONIC" (277523) | University of Oslo

Job title: Postdoctoral Research Fellow connected to "ICONIC" (277523), Employer: University of Oslo, Deadline: Saturday, May 31, 2025

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Reposted by Aislinn Keogh

Eli Stark-Elster @eselster.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

Hello, Bluesky! Pleased to share that my first public-press article, on the shifting debate over what makes human culture unique, was published today in @us.theconversation.com. I review recent literature suggesting that cultural open-endedness, not cumulative culture, is our true defining trait.

theconversation.com

Humans aren’t the only animals with complex culture − but researchers point to one feature that makes ours unique

Animals can learn from each other, maintaining their cultures for long periods of time. What sets people apart may be the uniquely open-ended ways we invent new ideas and share and build on them.

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Simon Kirby @simonkirby.bsky.social · 17/03/2025

Very proud of this new paper w/ Cliodhna Hughes & Jenny Culbertson. We show people generalise silent gesture orders from the verb phrase to the prepositional phrase harmonically. This was Cliodhna’s undergraduate disseration (!) An extraordinary achievement. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.com

Evidence for word order harmony between abstract categories in silent gesture

Cross-category harmony is the tendency for languages to use consistent orders of heads and dependents across different types of phrases. For example, …

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Aislinn Keogh @mandolinguist.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

Anybody would think I liked dogs and had just passed my viva... And they'd be right, both those things are true 🥳🐕🧑‍🎓 #PhDone

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Reposted by Aislinn Keogh

Maryellen MacDonald @maryellenmacdonald.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

My new book, MORE THAN WORDS (Avery/PenguinRandomHouse) arrives 6/3! It tells the story of how we produce language & how talking shapes our lives in surprising ways. It's psyling for gen'l audiences! Info & preorders www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/724046/more-than-words-by-maryellen-macdonald-phd/

Image of cover of forthcoming More Than Words: How Talking Sharpens the Mind and Shapes Our World, by Maryellen MacDonald

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Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute #DISI @divintelligence.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

📣📣📣 Applications for the 2025 Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI) are now open!! Are you interested in intelligence, mind, and cognition in all its forms? Early-career scholars from any discipline—and storytellers in any medium—are encouraged to apply! More info: disi.org

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Edinburgh Centre for Data, Culture & Society @edcdcs.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

Celebrate innovation in digital research methods! Nominate an outstanding project for Best Novel Use of a Digital Method in the #CDCSPrizes. If it's breaking new ground in your discipline, we want to hear about it. Deadline for nominations: March 3rd edin.ac/3j3e1fr

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Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 21/02/2025

New cultural evolution modelling paper with @bdecourson.bsky.social on @pnas.org! "Weak individual preferences stabilize culture" A quick 🧵 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

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Aislinn Keogh @mandolinguist.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

So much casual sexism every time we go snowboarding. Today's episode... Sam: Two boards and one pair of boots please Staff guy (looking at me): What size boots? Sam: 9 please Staff guy (in his best child-directed speech): And you've got your own have you? No guy, I thought I'd just go barefoot 🙄

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Balthasar Bickel @balthasarbickel.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Ever worried about nonindependence and empty cells in linguistic typological databases? Our solution is out in Sci Data at doi.org/10.1038/s415...

doi.org

Curating global datasets of structural linguistic features for independence - Scientific Data

Scientific Data - Curating global datasets of structural linguistic features for independence

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Shravan Vasishth @shravanvasishth.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Applications for the ninth summer school on statistical methods for linguistics and psychology close on April 1, 2025. Every year people contact me saying they missed the call, so here it is again :) vasishth.github.io/smlp2025/

vasishth.github.io

The Ninth Summer School on Statistical Methods for Linguistics and Psychology

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Aislinn Keogh @mandolinguist.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

Two days on, and it's starting to sink in that I've actually submitted my thesis. One step closer to Dr Keogh! 🎓

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Aislinn Keogh @mandolinguist.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

Extremely cool new work by my extremely cool supervisor!

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Aislinn Keogh @mandolinguist.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

Another music post! It was probably around 2016 when I first heard Sleeper, and it rapidly became one of my favourite albums of all time. Unfortunately, Kan had already disbanded by that time. So it was EXTREMELY FUCKING COOL to see them last night. Celtic Connections making magic happen!

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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences @pnas.org · 27/01/2025

Can culture evolve like biology does? For 50 years, researchers have explored how human behaviors, from music to language, adapt and pass between generations. Learn more in the blog post on the Special Feature, "Half a Century of Cultural Evolution," Here: www.pnas.org/post/update/....

PNAS Special Feature Blog: Half a Century of Cultural Evolution

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Aislinn Keogh @mandolinguist.bsky.social · 27/01/2025

Wow, this is Dope™️ (technical term)

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Michael Pleyer @symbolicstorage.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

JOB ALERT! Come work with me! 34-Month Postdoc Position here at the Center for Language Evolution Studies, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń in my project "Paths to Polysemy" Job offer here: www.umk.pl/en/jobs/?tas... Please repost & share widely!

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Aislinn Keogh @mandolinguist.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

New preprint with my supervisors @simonkirby.bsky.social & Jenny Culbertson. Why are words so similar to each other? We provide computational + experimental evidence that lexicon structure is shaped by a trade-off between competing communicative pressures. Read all about it! 📜 osf.io/preprints/ps...

osf.io

OSF

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Aislinn Keogh @mandolinguist.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

I used to post about music a lot on the other site, am I allowed to do that here? Because I saw the Grit Orchestra last night and I'm here to tell you that if you like really any genre of music you should probably go and see them. Martyn Bennett was truly a genius and it's a stunning tribute to him.

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Dorsa Amir @dorsaamir.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

Excited to share that our BBS target article — "Children as agents of cultural adaptation" — is online & open for commentary! In it, @sheinalew.bsky.social & I argue that children's peer cultures might play an important & understudied role in cultural adaptation. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

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