Mélissa Berthet, PhD

Presentation

I study animal communication to explore other species' linguistic-like capacities, understand what makes human language unique and how it evolved. I combine ethological observations and experiments on the field to theoretical linguistic work.

You can find my CV here (updated in April 2024).

Background

2024-present: Post-doc at the University of Zürich (Switzerland)

"Structure in infant marmoset vocal communication and human babies cries"

2021-2024: Post-doc at the University of Zürich (Switzerland)

"Semantics and compositionality in wild bonobos" (supervision: Townsend S.)

2021: Scientific collaborator at the INRAe Nouvelle-Aquitaine Poitiers (France)

"Dairy cattle browsing of temperate fodder trees and lianas" (supervision: Mesbahi G.)

2018-2021: Post-doc at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (France)

"Animal linguistics" (supervision: Schlenker P., Chemla E.)

2018: PhD in Biology at the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland)

PhD thesis: "Semantics content in titi monkey alarm call sequences" (supervision: Zuberbühler K., Cäsar C.)

2014: Master degree in Animal and Human Behaviour (Master CAH) at the University of Rennes I (France)

Master thesis: "Flexibility and organization of the howling sequence of the Black Howler monkey" (supervision: Lemasson A., Estrada A., Briseño-Jaramillo M.)