Language is possibly the oldest human technology, and the most important medium for our interactions with other people and with machines. A critical and scientific understanding of the role of language in our dealings with technology is now more important than ever. How much room is there for linguistic diversity in a world where a handful of major languages commandeer most attention? Should language technology adapt to our patterns of interaction or the other way around? How does language technology augment or narrow human agency? These are questions we ask in my Vici-project Futures of language (2025-2030).
Most language technology bears the mark of a view that puts text over talk, information over interaction, and algorithms over agency. One of the most important questions is what happens if we invert these priorities and approach technology from the perspective of how people use language.
About Mark Dingemanse
Prof. Dr. Mark Dingemanse (1983, Middelburg) began his academic career at Leiden University, where he completed his Master's degree in African Languages and Cultures in 2006. He continued his studies with a PhD programme at Radboud University and the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics. In 2011, he completed his thesis “The Meaning and Use of Ideophones in Siwu” with distinction. This thesis consisted of fieldwork in Ghana to research sound symbolism and the poetry of everyday language. His thesis won the AVT/Anéla Dissertation Prize (2012) and an Otto Hahn Medal (2013).
After obtaining his doctorate, Dingemanse led large-scale comparative investigations of language and social interaction around the world. For the serendipitous discovery of a universal word his team received an Ig Nobel prize in 2015. He served as a substitute professor at Ghent University for a year and set up international collaborations with Aarhus, Birmingham, Hong Kong and Sydney. With a Vidi grant his team charted the small words that streamline our conversations, and examined how and why language technology stumbles over them.
In his academic career, Mark Dingemanse has received even more prizes and grants, including the KNAW Heineken Young Scientists Award in Humanities (2020), the Radboud Science Award with Tessa van Leeuwen (2020) and various NWO grants. Dingemanse has been ambassador of the MuseumJeugdUniversiteit (an initiative that brings more kids in touch with science). He is also co-founder with Andreas Liesenfeld of the European Open Source AI Index, nominated for the Huijbregtsenprijs 2025.