I am an evolutionary biologist interested in the evolution of language.
Specifically, by adopting a comparative approach and investigating the language-like abilities of non-human animals, I aim to:
- (i) further our understanding of the origins of language and retrace the phylogenetic progression of such capacities (e.g. by studying great apes, other closely related species...)
- and (ii) better understand how language emerged in the first place (e.g. by studying birds or other species sharing key cognitive features with humans)
I built this interest along a diverse curriculum. In 2011, I graduated with a Bachelors degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Rennes 1, France. After a year in South Africa to gain experience in animal behaviour both from a research and conservation perspectives, I returned to France to complete a Masters degree in Animal and Human Behaviour at the University of Rennes, from which I graduated in 2017. Supervised by Prof. Alban Lemasson and Dr. Martine Hausberger, I conducted two Masters theses with the CNRS investigating horse and cheetah communication systems.
Before starting my PhD, I took part in two additional research projects with pigs at the INRA and pale-winged starlings at the CNRS.
Exploring the communication systems of such a variety of species nurtured my interest in animal communication, and a question kept repeating itself: How does all this relate to language?
This question paved the way for my PhD. Between 2018 and 2022, I studied Call Combinations in Chimpanzees and the implications for the evolution of language with Prof. Simon W. Townsend at the Department of Comparative Language Science at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. During my PhD, I conducted fieldwork in Uganda to collect observation and experimental data in wild chimpanzees.
Following this PhD, I conducted a post-doc within the same team (until March 2023), studying bonobos' cognitive and syntactic-like abilities, conducting artificial grammar and theory of mind experiments with captive bonobos in the US, including the famous Kanzi!
Today, I am a post-doctoral research fellow at the Institut Jean Nicod, ENS, PSL University, Paris, France, investigating "animal linguistics". Specifically, I am looking into the evolutionary origins of communication within the primate lineage and the syntactic-like abilities of great tits.
In September 2023, I will start a permanent position as a "Maître de Conférence" (assistant professor/lecturer) at the University of Rennes, France, where I will further investigate the syntactic-like and compositional-like capacities of non-human animals, and especially primates, to shed light into the origins of language.
Specifically, by adopting a comparative approach and investigating the language-like abilities of non-human animals, I aim to:
- (i) further our understanding of the origins of language and retrace the phylogenetic progression of such capacities (e.g. by studying great apes, other closely related species...)
- and (ii) better understand how language emerged in the first place (e.g. by studying birds or other species sharing key cognitive features with humans)
I built this interest along a diverse curriculum. In 2011, I graduated with a Bachelors degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Rennes 1, France. After a year in South Africa to gain experience in animal behaviour both from a research and conservation perspectives, I returned to France to complete a Masters degree in Animal and Human Behaviour at the University of Rennes, from which I graduated in 2017. Supervised by Prof. Alban Lemasson and Dr. Martine Hausberger, I conducted two Masters theses with the CNRS investigating horse and cheetah communication systems.
Before starting my PhD, I took part in two additional research projects with pigs at the INRA and pale-winged starlings at the CNRS.
Exploring the communication systems of such a variety of species nurtured my interest in animal communication, and a question kept repeating itself: How does all this relate to language?
This question paved the way for my PhD. Between 2018 and 2022, I studied Call Combinations in Chimpanzees and the implications for the evolution of language with Prof. Simon W. Townsend at the Department of Comparative Language Science at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. During my PhD, I conducted fieldwork in Uganda to collect observation and experimental data in wild chimpanzees.
Following this PhD, I conducted a post-doc within the same team (until March 2023), studying bonobos' cognitive and syntactic-like abilities, conducting artificial grammar and theory of mind experiments with captive bonobos in the US, including the famous Kanzi!
Today, I am a post-doctoral research fellow at the Institut Jean Nicod, ENS, PSL University, Paris, France, investigating "animal linguistics". Specifically, I am looking into the evolutionary origins of communication within the primate lineage and the syntactic-like abilities of great tits.
In September 2023, I will start a permanent position as a "Maître de Conférence" (assistant professor/lecturer) at the University of Rennes, France, where I will further investigate the syntactic-like and compositional-like capacities of non-human animals, and especially primates, to shed light into the origins of language.