Rinus Verdonschot

Rinus Verdonschot is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Neurobiology of Language at the Max Planck Institute, working under Peter Hagoort's research group.

His primary research investigates phonological encoding during language production through cross-linguistic comparisons across Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Tongan languages, examining whether initial phonological unit selection shows cross-linguistic similarities. Additionally, he collaborates with Dr. Jenneke v/d Wal (Leiden University) on information structure in the Makhuwa language of Mozambique, which employs a unique focus-marking system.

Dr. Verdonschot leads the department's work with the Furhat social robot platform, implementing sentiment analysis algorithms to enable context-appropriate gestural responses to user input. His interdisciplinary research bridges theoretical linguistics, cognitive science, and human-robot interaction technologies.