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
- Harold Guerrero,, Michel Mondain,, Benoît Amy de La Bretèque, Patrick Serrafero, Catherine Trottier, et al.. Identification et caractérisation acoustique et physiologique des troubles vocaux manifestés chez l'enfant implanté cochléaire. 3° Journées de Phonétique Clinique, Dec 2009, Aix en Provence, France. ⟨halshs-00801862⟩
- Hyeran Lee, Melissa Barkat-Defradas. La densité des idées : un modèle d'analyse du discours pertinent pour le diagnostic précoce de la maladie d'Alzheimer ?. Rencontres Jeunes Chercheurs en Parole, Nov 2009, Avignon, France. http://rjcp2009.univ-avignon.fr/actes.php. ⟨hal-00801973⟩
- Hyeran Lee, Melissa Barkat-Defradas. Le vieillissement normal et pathologique du langage : étude comparative de l'analyse du discours oral. 6e Journées de Linguistique de Corpus, Sep 2009, Lorient, France. http://web.univ-ubs.fr/corpus/jlc6.html#publi2009. ⟨hal-00801965⟩
- Fanny Rinck, Melissa Barkat-Defradas, F. Bourgeat, M. Thévenet,, Catherine Rouby,, et al.. Ontogeny of odor pleasantness during childhood and its relation to language development. Annual meeting of the Association for Chemoreception Sciences, Apr 2009, Sarasota, Floride, United States. ⟨halshs-00801956⟩
- Françoise Dufour, Melissa Barkat-Defradas. Usages et fonctions des formes transémiotiques dans les discours sur la création artistique. Journée d'Etude D'un système sémiotique à l'autre : comment parler de l'art ?, Apr 2009, Dijon, France. pp.113-134. ⟨halshs-00778688⟩
- Laurent Ferrier,, Streff Anouk, Sophie Martin, Denis Brouillet, Melissa Barkat-Defradas, et al.. Influence de stimuli olfactifs dans une tâche d'évaluation hédonique de couleurs. L'Année psychologique, 2009, 109 (3), pp.361-381. ⟨halshs-00801877⟩
- Melissa Barkat-Defradas. Vowel backing & vowel lowering in Arabic vernaculars. Brill. Encyclopaedia of Arabic Language & Linguistics, Brill, pp.669-674, 2009. ⟨halshs-00801864⟩
- Melissa Barkat-Defradas, R. Hamdi. Measuring linguistic distance between Standard and Colloquial Arabic using lexicostatistics. "Lexicographie et Niveaux de Langue", VIe Rencontre Internationale de Lexicographie (RIL), Université de Tunis, 18-21 novembre 2009, 2009, Tunis, Tunisie. ⟨hal-03071942⟩
- Melissa Barkat-Defradas, H. Guerrero, Michel Mondain, Benoît Amy de La Bretêque, Patrick Serrafero, et al.. Étude descriptive préliminaire de la voix de l'enfant implanté cochléaire à partir des mesures aérodynamiques. 8e Rencontres Jeunes Chercheurs en Parole, Avignon, 16-18 novembre 2009, 2009, Avignon, France. ⟨hal-03074173⟩
- Melissa Barkat-Defradas, Fanny Rinck, Catherine Rouby, Moustafa Bensafi. Longitudinal study of olfactory preferences during chilhood. AChemS (Association for Chemoreception Sciences), 31st Annual Meeting, Hyatt Sarasota, Sarasota, 22-26 avril 2009, 2009, Hyatt Sarasota, United States. ⟨hal-03071947⟩
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