INTRANET
Mélissa Barkat-Defradas

Mélissa Barkat-Defradas

Research Scientist
Surprisingly, the study of language activity has long been conducted without any questioning of its biological function. In fact, the Human and Social Sciences (anthropology, linguistics) have long defended the idea that language appeared without any selective pressure. In this paradigm, the human being - defined as a fundamentally cultural being with few instinctive behaviors - would have "invented" articulated language (as well as writing). In this purely culturalist conception, the question of the raison d'être of language behavior has long been evacuated from scientific investigation in favor of the extensive study of the proximal and sensorimotor mechanisms that underlie it. However, asking the question of the ultimate causes of human language makes it possible to raise original questions and to answer questions that are still pending. My research aims to demonstrate that the synergy of approaches developed in linguistics and evolutionary biology can significantly advance our knowledge of this specifically human faculty. Trained as a linguist, my research interests include:(1) The study of the voice as an honest signal allowing the speaker to display - via certain vocal characteristics - his phenotypic quality and increase his reproductive success(2) The study of linguistic and genetic proximity. Following the work initially led by the geneticist L. Cavalli-Sforza, I study the genetic diversity of Arab populations in order to better understand the linguistic variability of the Arabic-speaking domain.(3) The study of the role of the family in the transmission of socially valued linguistic forms, which posits that language skills - different according to the social affiliation of individuals - participate in the social structuring of human populations.






        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
       
       
       
    
125 documents

  • Lorraine Poncet, Mélèa Saïd, Shuai Yang, Falk Müller-Riemenschneider, Claire Berticat, et al.. Associations between screen viewing at 2 and 3.5 years and drawing ability at 3.5 years among children from the French nationwide Elfe birth cohort. Scientific Reports, 2024, 14 (1), pp.348. ⟨10.1038/s41598-023-50767-0⟩. ⟨hal-04426220⟩
  • Astrid Hopfensitz, Arnaud Tognetti, Valérie Durand, Dimitri Dubois, Melissa Barkat-Defradas, et al.. The smell of cooperativeness: Do human body odours advertise cooperative behaviours?. IAREP-SABE 47th International Conference, Jun 2023, Nice, France. ⟨hal-04692414⟩
  • Christelle Dodane, Fabrice Hirsch, Melissa Barkat-Defradas. Comprendre les spécificités du catalan des locuteurs gitans et non gitans, le rôle primordial de la prosodie ?. Nathalie Auger. Enfants gitans à l’école et en famille : D’une analyse des dynamiques langagières en famille aux pratiques de classe, ENS Editions, pp.49-68, 2021, Éducation et savoirs en société, 979-10-362-0318-3. ⟨10.4000/books.enseditions.24695⟩. ⟨halshs-03282229⟩
  • Benjamin Elie, Camille Fauth, Melissa Barkat-Defradas. Histoire des machines parlantes. Christelle Dodane; Claudia Schweitzer. HISTOIRE DE LA DESCRIPTION DE LA PAROLE : DE L'INTROSPECTON À L'INSTRUMENTATION, Honoré Champion, 2021, 9782745355959. ⟨hal-03317598⟩
  • Melissa Barkat-Defradas, Michel Raymond, Alexandre Suire. Vocal Preferences in Humans: A Systematic Review. Voice Attractiveness Studies on Sexy, Likable, and Charismatic Speakers, In press. ⟨hal-02965979⟩
  • Benjamin Weiss, Jürgen Trouvain, Melissa Barkat-Defradas. Voice Attractiveness: Concepts, Methods, and Data. Weiss, Benjamin; Trouvain, Jurgen; Barkat-Defradas, Melissa; Ohala, John. Voice Attractiveness, Springer, pp.3-17, 2020, Voice Attractiveness Studies on Sexy, Likable, and Charismatic 28 Speakers. ⟨hal-02965960⟩
  • Alexandre Suire, Michel Raymond, Melissa Barkat-Defradas. Voice, Sexual Selection, and Reproductive Success .. Voice Attractiveness Studies on Sexy, Likable, and Charismatic Speakers, 2020. ⟨hal-02965989⟩
  • Benjamin Weiss, Jürgen Trouvain, Melissa Barkat-Defradas, John J. Ohala (Dir.). Voice Attractiveness. In press, ⟨10.1007/978-981-15-6627-1⟩. ⟨hal-02965919⟩
  • Arnaud Tognetti, Valérie Durand, Melissa Barkat-Defradas, Astrid Hopfensitz. Does he sound cooperative? Acoustic correlates of cooperativeness. British Journal of Psychology, 2020, 111 (4), pp.823-839. ⟨10.1111/bjop.12437⟩. ⟨hal-03169806⟩
  • Alexandre Suire, Melissa Barkat-Defradas. Evolution of human pitch: Preliminary analyses in the French population using INA audiovisual archives of Vox Pops. 2020 IASA - FIAT/IFTA Joint Conference, Oct 2020, Dublin, France. ⟨hal-03097705⟩

    


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