ERC Synergy project
The system of shape representations in cognition, development and across languages (SHAPE)
“The system of shape representations in cognition, development and across languages” (SHAPE) is a new research project (ERC Synergy project) together with scientists from the Norwegian University of Science & Technology (NTNU, Trondheim), Indiana University Bloomington (USA), the Structure et Dynamique des Langues Labs (SeDyL, Paris), theUniversity of Missouri (USA) and the University of East Anglia (UK).
In the SHAPE project, we investigate the reciprocal effects of language on thought and thought on language. The aim isto demonstrate the relationship between the visual perception of object shape and its encoding in different languages - signed and spoken - of the world. We also identify factors that lead to difficulties in this area in children with atypical developmental trajectories.
The focus on object shape reflects the fact that shape is a prominent feature of the visual world and determines how we perceive and store information about objects, how we interact with them and what uses they can be put to. The abstract properties of shape are moreover richly and diversely encoded in the languages of the world, spoken and signed – for example, in object and category names; positional verbs (e.g. the difference in German between ‘The book steht [stands] vs. liegt [lies] on the table’); or nominal classifiers (e.g. the classifier ‘tiao’ in Chinese for referring to long, thin objects such as snakes, rivers, scarves; or the classifier handshape with an extended index finger for long, thin objects such as trees, pens, persons in German Sign Language (DGS)).
Project leader
Raum
11
Brieffach
14
Adresse
Klosterstraße 79b
50931 Köln
Sprechstunde
nach Vereinbarung (bitte per E-Mail)
Projekt members
PhD candidate
Raum
3
Brieffach
14
Adresse
Klosters. 79b
50931 Köln
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Nach Absprache (bitte per E-Mail)
Student assistants
Raum
12
Brieffach
14
Adresse
Klosterstr. 79b
50931 Köln
Sprechstunde
Nach Vereinbarung (bitte per Mail)
Raum
12
Brieffach
14
Adresse
Klosterstraße 79b
50931 Köln
Sprechstunde
nach Vereinbarung (bitte per E-Mail)