| 1 | Name: | Dr. Jacques Mehler | |
| Institution: | SISSA-International School for Advanced Studies | ||
| Year Elected: | 2009 | ||
| Class: | 3. Social Sciences | ||
| Subdivision: | 305 | ||
| Residency: | International | ||
| Living? : | Deceased | ||
| Birth Date: | 1936 | ||
| Death Date: | February 11, 2020 | ||
Jacques Mehler investigates language processing and language acquisition in the first year of life. After having explored processing in speakers of various languages he proposed that syllables play a salient role in speech perception. More recently he devoted his investigations to explore properties of speech signals that could act as triggers of mechanisms that allow infants to bootstrap into language. His group has found that the rhythmic-class of the native language is computed by humans even a few days after birth. Human neonates distinguish when a language switch involves a change in rhythmic-class. His group is now adopting non-invasive brain-imaging methods to complement previously obtained behavioral measures with neonates. He has investigated why it is that the human brain/mind system acquires natural languages with greatest facility at a young age. He has also explored the consequences of continuous exposure to two languages during the first year of life. In 1964 he obtained a Ph.D. from Harvard University. He worked at CNRS (Paris, France) from 1967 until 2001. He became Directeur de Recherche at CNRS in 1980 and he was elected Directeur d'Études at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in 1982. In 1972 he founded "Cognition," International Journal of Cognitive Science, acting as Editor-in-Chief until 2007. In 2001 he moved to SISSA (International School for Advanced Studies, Trieste, Italy) where he directs the Language, Cognition and Development laboratory. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (2001) and of the Academia Europaea. He was awarded a Doctor Honoris Causa from Université Libre de Bruxelles (1995) and from University and Politechnic of Torino (2009). He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2009. His publications are available at http://www.sissa.it/cns/lcd/publications.htm. | |||