KEY FINDINGS:
- Language is far more complex than associations between a given sound and a meaning.
- Culture and history are both present in the ways that language is used, and indeed, may play a more important role than previously believed.
- To understand and study language one must consider a broader range of influences than pure cognitive science.
- It is important to the progress of science that research is conducted and shared in non-English languages.
Language is a medium that transforms abstract, internal processes into concrete and shareable ideas, needs, and feelings. A living history, language is both shaped by our past and anchored in our present. To study it requires a vast scientific approach that considers data from multiple threads of inquiry simultaneously. Dr. Damián Blasi, research professor at Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, has spent his career doing just this. He investigates how culture, cognition, and millennia of evolution are present in the languages we use every day to navigate our world.
FABBS is excited to celebrate Dr. Blasi, who, for his impressive interdisciplinary work, was named a recipient of the Early Career Impact Award. Dr. Blasi was nominated by the Cognitive Science Society, who cited his intellectual generosity alongside his many accomplishments as a scholar. FABBS can readily confirm this attribute; in a month busy with international travel, the awardee made time to share with us more about his path as a researcher, which has been nothing short of unique.
Dr. Blasi has been curious about the bigger picture since childhood. “I am fascinated by obscure facts, by strange corners of human knowledge, and by the feeling that understanding enough seemingly disconnected things might eventually reveal a deeper pattern,” he shared. Though he initially pursued philosophy, shifting economic realities in his native Argentina inspired a pivot to the natural sciences. He attended college at the Instituto Balsiero where he studied physics. The pull of social science, however, was always present. “I knew that what ultimately fascinated me was not graphene or bosons, but language and human societies.”
After graduation, his studies took him to Italy, to India, and eventually, to a PhD program at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences. It was in Leipzig where Dr. Blasi learned “to appreciate the details, the nooks and crannies of language, the particularisms that resist categorization, and the unavoidable historical nature of language.” While studying Creole families of language—in which many culturally distinct languages coalesce and combine to form an entirely new language system—he arrived at a major realization: culture extends beyond the common individual factors explored by cognitive science to reflect centuries of history.
“Broad design principles account for only a modest fraction of the structural variation we observe across the world’s languages,” he explained. “If that is the case, then each language represents a unique historical experiment in how humans have stabilized and transmitted their primary means of communication.” Dr. Blasi has used many methods to explore this and other questions relating to the evolution of language. From large-scale cross-linguistic databases and computational modeling to anthropological field study, his methodological diversity is a reflection of a true interdisciplinary approach.
Dr. Blasi acknowledges the impacts that linguistic legacies have on issues of identity and rights, but he also urges us to consider how language reflects a “repository of human ingenuity: a record of the many different solutions that human societies have developed over myriads of human generations.” The conclusions of his work have important implications for policy. If we know, for instance, that language is tied to both culture and history, how could a legal system that operates entirely using a single language be sensitive to the multilinguistic peoples it governs? Dr. Blasi’s own translational aims, however, have focused more on promoting linguistic diversity within science. When a majority of the world’s science in a given area is conducted and disseminated in English, it can have consequences that run counter to progress. He has championed this viewpoint across numerous talks and publications, and has spearheaded outreach projects that make scientific developments more available to Latin American audiences.
Indeed, the thoughtfulness with which Dr. Blasi conducts and disseminates his research is internationally recognized. In their nomination, the Cognitive Science Society credits him with helping overturn century-old assumptions about arbitrariness (i.e., that language is merely founded on sound-meaning associations), a reflection of the lasting impact his research will have. His work has directly advanced debates within the many interdisciplinary areas he operates and has been featured in The New York Times, National Geographic, and the BBC. He has held academic positions in seven countries and has been invited to speak at major international organizations like the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In sum, his work is very widely appreciated.
This is only the beginning of the road. Unsurprisingly, Dr. Blasi has many directions he intends to pursue in the coming years. He is interested in exploring the limits of language—what functions it can and cannot serve. He questions the current assumption that it is not possible to predict how language will change, and is interested in exploring how language is shaped by human interaction with technology. There also may be more theory in his future. “Underneath the individual studies there is a coherent way of thinking about language diversity that has gradually emerged over the years,” he stated. “One of my goals is simply to articulate it more clearly.”
When he is not weaving the disparate threads of the human experience into a scientifically sound tapestry, Dr. Blasi enjoys life’s simple pleasures. His connections to family and friends sustain him, and he describes himself as a “fairly stereotypical South American” who believes in the power of barbecue. He continues to be deeply inspired by the people he has met on his assorted journeys and credits them with providing “the most interesting stories” he has. Above all, he gives an impression of the kind of deep, original curiosity integral to all meaningful science. FABBS is excited to highlight his contributions and looks forward to seeing how his work continues to shape the world.
