Personal information

number sense, binding, mundurucu syntax, core knowledge, geometry, syntax, number
France

Biography

Pierre Pica (born January 5, 1951), is a research associate (Chargé de Recherche) at the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris. Associated Professor with the Brain Institute of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, he is a specialist in theoretical linguistics and more specifically of comparative syntax.

Dr. Pica has concentrated his research on the notion of parameters in linguistic. He has also shown that the respective properties of reflexive pronouns could be derived from their morphological properties. He is currently studying the distinction between the internal and external aspects of the Faculty of language and is also working on a fine grained distinction between competence and linguistic performance.

Over the last twenty years, Pica has risen to prominence as a result of his work on Binding Theory and evidentiality. More recently he has been working on Mundurucu (an indigenous language spoken in Para (Brazil). He is currently collaborating with Stanislas Dehaene and Elizabeth Spelke in a study of numerical expressions and enumeration in Mundurucu. This research stresses the importance of these data for the study of the interaction of the Language Faculty and restricted set of pre-verbal 'core knowledge'. This research which stresses the importance of the notion of culture gap, as defined by Kenneth Hale (1975)'s seminal work, stands in opposition to the hypothesis related to relativism as derived from Sapir and Whorf in that it tends to demonstrate that knowledge, even culture, can in part be reduced to a small set of universal principles and intuitions. The research has given rise to a series of publications in Science magazine.

Activities

Employment (7)

Instituto Dor: Rio de Janeiro, Rio, BR

2016-01-01 to present | Pesquisador associado (Pesquisa)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Pierre Pica

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte: Natal, RN, BR

2014-01-04 to present | Pesquisador (Instituto do Cérebro)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Pierre Pica

Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique: Paris, Ile de France, FR

1974-01-01 to present | Research felow (UMR 7023)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Pierre Pica

Universiteit Leiden: Leiden, Zuid-Holland, NL

2012-01-01 to 2021-02-01 | Associate Researcher (Linguistics)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Pierre Pica

Universidade de Brasília: Brasilia, DF, BR

1996-01 to 1996-12 | Professor visitante (Lali)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Pierre Pica

Université du Québec à Montréal: QC, QC, CA

1990 to 1994 | Chercheur Associé (Linguistique)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Pierre Pica

Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Cambridge, MA, US

1985 to 1987 | Visiting Scholar (Linguistics & Philosophy)
Employment
Source: Self-asserted source
Pierre Pica

Education and qualifications (2)

Université of Paris 8: Paris, Ile de France, FR

1986-01-01 to 1998-09 | Doctorat de 3 eme Cycle (Linguistique)
Education
Source: Self-asserted source
Pierre Pica

Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Cambridge, MA, US

1988-01 to 1988-12 | Postdoctoral fellow (Linguistics)
Education
Source: Self-asserted source
Pierre Pica

Professional activities (3)

John Benjamins Publishing Co: Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, NL

2012-04-01 to present | Editeur (https://benjamins.com/catalog/lfab)
Service
Source: Self-asserted source
Pierre Pica

Academia Europaea: London, London, GB

2018-09-08 | Researchfeloww (Linguistics)
Distinction
Source: Self-asserted source
Pierre Pica

Prix la Recherche: Paris, Ile de France, FR

2012-01-01 | Lauréat
Distinction
Source: Self-asserted source
Pierre Pica

Funding (11)

De pequenos a grandes numeros : um estudo da acquisição de letramento numerico na populacão mundurucu

2014-08 to 2016-08 | Grant
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (Brasilia, BR)
Source: Self-asserted source
Pierre Pica

Mundurucu number words

2014-01 to 2014-12 | Contract
Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (Trento, IT)
Source: Self-asserted source
Pierre Pica

Computer-based mathematical education

2014-01 to 2014-10 | Grant
David Rockfeller foundation for American Studies (Boston, US)
Source: Self-asserted source
Pierre Pica

Knowledge and Culture

2012-01 to 2018-12 | Grant
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (Leiden, NL)
Source: Self-asserted source
Pierre Pica

Literate and Illiterate Brain

2008-01 to 2012-01 | Grant
Agence Nationale de la Recherche (Paris, FR)
Source: Self-asserted source
Pierre Pica

Indigenous languages and the structure of mundurucu

2004-02 to 2004-02 | Contract
Museo Nacional (Rio de Janeiro, BR)
Source: Self-asserted source
Pierre Pica

Binding Theory and the lexicon

2000-02 to 2001-03 | Award
Aurora program grant (Bergen, NO)
Source: Self-asserted source
Pierre Pica

Propositional Attitudes and Binding and the Lexicon

1998-06 to 1998-07 | Grant
Yokoma University (Yokoma, JP)
Source: Self-asserted source
Pierre Pica

The Syntax of Indigenous Language

1996-07 to 1996-10 | Grant
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (Brasilia, BR)
Source: Self-asserted source
Pierre Pica

Binding theory and the lexicon

1996-01 to 1996-07 | Contract
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (Leiden, NL)
Source: Self-asserted source
Pierre Pica

Computer-based mathematical education

Grant
Fondation Bettencourt Schueller (Paris, FR)
Source: Self-asserted source
Pierre Pica