Postdoctoral Researcher (m­­/­­f­­/­­d) in the area of writing systems and language change

**About «The impact of writing systems on linguistic and numerical evolution»**This research project will investigate the impact of writing systems on the evolution of languages, specifically examining how the transition from purely oral to literate societies affects the rate and trajectory of linguistic change. By stabilizing certain features of language through orthographic representation, writing can potentially slow down phonological erosion and grammatical simplification, while fostering the preservation of archaic forms. In close collaboration with our exciting and interdisciplinary ERC synergy grant project QUANTA (https://www.eva.mpg.de/linguistic-and-cultural-evolution/research/quanta/) , one focus of the project will be on the evolution of numeral systems, investigating how the codification of numerals in writing may lead to the standardization of base systems and positional notation. Writing may also facilitate the development of more complex numerical structures, preserving innovations in number morphology and syntax that might otherwise undergo simplification in purely oral transmission.