About this position
Words in Our Thoughts
(WIOT) investigates the relationship between language and thought, advancing the central hypothesis that words and concepts are not separate entities but are, in fact, the same thing. Rather than viewing concepts as pre-linguistic mental representations to which words are subsequently attached, WIOT argues that language is constitutive of distinctively human thought: concepts take form through the words of spoken or signed languages.
The project combines this theoretical proposal with two main areas of empirical research. First, it examines polysemy in typical language development, asking how children’s acquisition of words with multiple meanings contributes to the development and expansion of their conceptual repertoire. Second, it studies language and concepts in atypical development, particularly autism, investigating whether differences in autistic individuals’ use of words correspond to differences in conceptual organization.
By integrating philosophy, linguistics, developmental psychology, and cognitive neuroscience, WIOT aims both to provide a new account of the role of language in human cognition and to shed light on how linguistic and conceptual abilities develop across typical and atypical populations.
Members only · Free to join
Sign in to see the full opening
Get the entry requirements, funding, the supervisor's contact and a link to the original advert.
- Requirements
- How to apply
- Contact details
Free forever No credit card 30-second sign-up