From mei.lin at newcastle.ac.uk Tue Apr 10 16:45:03 2007 From: mei.lin at newcastle.ac.uk (Mei Lin) Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2007 17:45:03 +0100 Subject: Non-native parents and child's acqusition of English in Japan Message-ID: To whom it may concern, I have an MA student from Japan who is interested in doing her dissertation on bilingual first language acquisition in non-native parent families. She has found three families in Japan. Both parents are beginners of English, but are willing to teach English to their children of three years old 10-half hour per day for three months using storied, rhymes or songs. I would like to hear from those who have done or know any of studies of this kind so that my student can get some ideas of how to measure the language acquisition. Thanks Mei Dr Mei Lin Programme Leader for Bilingual Education School of Education, Communication & Language Sciences King George VI Building University of Newcastle Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU UK Tel: 00 44 (0)191-222 5070 Fax: 00 44 (0)191 - 222 6546 Email: mei.lin at ncl.ac.uk From bpearson at research.umass.edu Tue Apr 10 17:52:18 2007 From: bpearson at research.umass.edu (Barbara Z. Pearson) Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2007 13:52:18 -0400 Subject: Non-native parents and child's acqusition of English in Japan In-Reply-To: <6F1DBBB4DEE9DD448C49E20652FCED35021BDA29@largo.campus.ncl.ac.uk> Message-ID: Dear Mei Lin, Can you clarify what you mean by "10-half hour per day." Is that a typo, or is it 5 hours a day in 1/2 hour intervals? And what is the 3-month cap? Is it a specific program the families are following? I presume the student knows George Saunders' book about raising bilingual children (and checking their progress) (Multilingual Matters, 1983 (?) and 1988) Of course, Saunders was not a beginner in the non-native language. I met many such families during the research for my book, working title "Step by step guide to raising bilingual children" (to appear in 2008 from Random House, what the CarTalk brothers would call the "Shameless Commerce Division.") Among the many families I spoke with and profiled, there were several families where non-native speaker parents were major sources of language exposure for their children. However, if they didn't have fluency themselves, they typically had access to others with fluency--either through friends, family, hired help, or formal schooling. I would be glad to learn more about your student's project and share some of my materials if they are relevant. Best wishes, Barbara Zurer Pearson Quoting Mei Lin : > To whom it may concern, > > I have an MA student from Japan who is interested in doing her > dissertation on bilingual first language acquisition in non-native > parent families. She has found three families in Japan. Both > parents are beginners of English, but are willing to teach English to > their children of three years old 10-half hour per day for three > months using storied, rhymes or songs. > > I would like to hear from those who have done or know any of studies > of this kind so that my student can get some ideas of how to measure > the language acquisition. > > Thanks > > Mei > > Dr Mei Lin > Programme Leader for Bilingual Education > School of Education, Communication & Language Sciences > King George VI Building > University of Newcastle > Newcastle upon Tyne > NE1 7RU > UK > > > > > > Tel: 00 44 (0)191-222 5070 > Fax: 00 44 (0)191 - 222 6546 > Email: mei.lin at ncl.ac.uk > > > > > ****************************************************** Barbara Zurer Pearson, Ph.D. The Center for the Study of African American Language Research Associate, Coordinator University of Massachusetts Amherst MA 01003 413.545.5023 fax:545.2792 http://www.umass.edu/csaal/ bpearson at research.umass.edu From mblume at utep.edu Wed Apr 11 20:52:52 2007 From: mblume at utep.edu (Blume, Maria) Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2007 14:52:52 -0600 Subject: Sum: Acquisition of numbers Message-ID: Dear Colleagues: A few weeks ago I posted a message on behalf of my colleague Charles Elerick about the acquisition of numbers. Charles is very grateful to all who so kindly (and quickly) responded. Here is a summary of the references. Thanks, María Bibliographic Resources: The Acquisition of Number Concepts and Number Words Bloom, P., & Wynn, K. (1997). Linguistic cues in the acquisition of number words. Journal of Child Language, 24, 511-533. Carey, S. (2001). Cognitive foundations of arithmetic: Evolution and ontogenisis. Mind & Language, 16(1), 37-55. Carey, S. (2001). Bridging the gap between cognitive development and developmental neuroscience: A case study of the representation of number. In C. A. Nelson, & M. Luciana (Eds.), The handbook of developmental cognitive neuroscience (pp. 415-432). Cambridge MA: MIT Press. Carey, S. (2004). Bootstraping & the origin of concepts. Daedalus, Winter, 59-68. Carey, S., & Spelke, E. (in press). Bootstrapping the integer list: Representation of number. In J. Mehler, & L. Bonatti (Eds.), Developmental cognitive science. Cambridge MA: MIT Press. Cordes, S., Gelman, R., & Gallistel, C. R. (2001). Variability signatures distinguish verbal from nonverbal counting for both large and small numbers. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 8(4), 698-707. Fuson, Karen. Children's Counting and Concepts of Number; Erlbaum, 1988. Gelman, R., & Butterworth, B. (2005). Number and language: How are they related? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9(1), 6-10. Le Corre, M., van Walle, G. de, Brannon, E. M., & Carey, S. (2006). Re-visiting the competence/performance debate in the acquisition of the counting principles. Cognitive Psychology, 52, 130-169. Mix, K. S., Huttenlocher, J., & Levine, S. C. (2002). Multiple cues for quantification in infancy: Is number one of them? Psychological Bulletin, 128(2), 278-294. Musolino, J. (2004). The semantics and acquisition of number words: Integrating linguistic and developmental perspectives. Cognition, 93, 1-41. Pollmann, T. (2003). Some principles involved in the acquisition of number words. Language Acquisition, 11, 1-31. Rips, L. J., Asmuth, J., & Bloomfield, A. (2006). Giving the boot to the bootstrap: How not to learn the natural numbers. Cognition, 101(3), B51-B60. Sarnecka, B. W., & Gelman, S. A. (2004). Six does not just mean a lot: Preschoolers see number words as specific. Cognition, 92, 329-352. Sfard, A., & Lavie, I. (2005). Why cannot children see as the same what grown-up cannot see as different? Early numerical thinking revisited. Cognition and Instruction, 23(2), 237-309. Simon, T. J. (1997). Reconceptualizing the origins of number knowledge: A "non-numerical" account. Cognitive Development, 12, 349-372. Skwarchuk, S., & Anglin, J. (2002). Children's acquisition of the English cardinal number words: A special case of vocabulary development. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94, 107-25. Smith, C. L., Solomon, G. E. A., & Carey, S. (2005). Never getting to zero: Elementary school students' unterstanding of the infinite divisibility of number and matter. Cognitive Psychology, 51, 101-140. Wiese, Heike (1996): Der Status von Numeralia. Ein Beitrag zur Klärung des Klassifikationsproblems für Kardinalia, Ordinalia und 'Nummer'-Konstruktionen. (The status of numerals. A proposal concerning the problem of categorising cardinals, ordinals and '#'-constructions). Lund [= Sprache und Pragmatik 39]. pdf-file María Blume Assistant Professor LA 119 Languages and Linguistics Department University of Texas at El Paso 915-747-6320 mblume at utep.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jordan.zlatev at ling.lu.se Thu Apr 12 12:40:51 2007 From: jordan.zlatev at ling.lu.se (Jordan Zlatev) Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2007 14:40:51 +0200 Subject: 2nd CFP: First SALC conference Message-ID: SECOND CALL FOR PAPERS Includes theme sessions and an updated Scientific Committee list! The First Conference of the Swedish Association for Language and Cognition (SALC) Lund, Nov 29 - Dec 1, 2007 http://www.salc-sssk.org/ We invite the submission of abstracts for oral or poster presentations for the The First Conference of the Swedish Association for Language and Cognition (SALC) to be held at the Centre for Languages and Literature, Lund University between Nov 29 and Dec 1, 2007. Presentations should involve research in which language is not treated in isolation (e.g. as a "module"), but both as based on structures and processes of general cognition (e.g. perception, memory and reasoning) and social cognition (e.g. joint attention and imitation), and as affecting such structures and processes. The conference, as SALC in general, is intended to be a forum for the exchange of ideas between disciplines, fields of study and theoretical frameworks. Topics include, but are not limited to: * semantic analysis and cognition * discourse analysis and cognition * grammar and cognition * pragmatics and cognition * semiotics and cognition * linguistic typology and cognition * language and cognitive development * language and cognitive evolution * language change and cogniton * language and gesture * language and consciousness * linguistic relativity.and linguistic mediation Plenary speakers * Susan Goldin-Meadow, Department of Psychology, University of Chicago * Esa Itkonen, Department of Linguistics, University of Turku * Chris Sinha, Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth * Östen Dahl, Department of Linguistics, Stockholm University * Peter Gärdenfors, Department of Cognitive Science, Lund University Theme sessions Space in language and cognition (Conveners: Carita Paradis, Marlene Johansson Falck, Carita Lundmark and Ulf Magnusson) The link between spatial concepts and construals in linguistic expressions and in thought is a rapidly growing field of inquiry which cuts across disciplines such as linguistics, cognitive psychology, anthropology, computer science and philosophy. Oxford University Press will be publishing papers from the session in an edited volume of strictly peer-reviewed papers that capture cutting-edge scholarship in this area. Language and gesture (Conveners: Jordan Zlatev and Cornelia Mueller) While there is a consensus on the close relationship between language and gesture, there is an ongoing debate on the exact relationship between the two: do they constitute a "unified system" (e.g. McNeil) or two closely integrated but distinct semiotic resources (e.g. Donald), supported by distinct cognitive mechanisms (e.g. Kita and Özyürek)? We plan a publication of papers addressing this issue from different perspectives: semiotics, interaction studies, development, evolution and neuroscience. One page abstracts (at most 500 words) should be sent as an attachment (MS Word preferred) to Marlene Johansson Falck, at marlene at magicspelling.com by June 1st 2007. Abstracts will then be reviewed by two members of the Scientific Committee, and notification of acceptance will be sent by August 1st. Please indicate whether an oral or poster presentation is preferred, and if a poster presentation is acceptable if the space of the program does not allow for an oral presentation. If you wish your contribution to be considered for one of the theme sessions, please indicate this. The conference will be held in English. Registration fees, including conference participation, book of abstracts, and coffee/snacks: * Faculty: 50 euro/450 SEK (40 euro/360 SEK for SALC members) * Students: 40 euro/360 SEK (30 euro/270 SEK for SALC members) On-line registration facilities will be announced in the Final Call for Papers. Important Dates * Feb 23: First Call for Papers * June 1: Deadline for abstract submission * August 1: Notification of acceptance * October 1: Programme announced * Nov 29 (afternoon) - Dec 1 (whole day): Conference Scientific Committee * Jóhanna Barddal, Department of Linguistics, University of Bergen * Ingar Brinck, Department of Philosophy, Lund University * Alan Cienki Department of Language and Communication, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam * Östen Dahl, Department of Linguistics, Stockholm University * Caroline David, Département d'études anglophones, Université Paul-Valéry, Montpellier III * Per Durst-Andersen, Centre for Language, Cognition and Mentality, Copenhagen Business School * Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen, Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, University of Copenhagen * Adam Glaz, Department of English UMCS, Lublin * Peter Gärdenfors, Department of Cognitive Science, Lund University * Peter Harder, Department of English, University of Copenhagen * Merle Horne, Department of Linguistics, Lund University * Anders Hougaard, Institute of Language and Communication, University of Southern Denmark * Daniel Hutto, Philosophy, University of Hetyfordshire * Esa Itkonen, Department of Linguistics, University of Turku * Christer Johansson, Department of Linguistics, University of Bergen * Henryk Kardela, Department of English, Universytet Marii Curie-Sklodowskiej * Suzanne Kemmer, Department of Linguistics, Rice University * Maria Koptjevskaja Tamm, Department of Linguistics, Stockholm University * Maarten Leemens, English Linguistics, Universitè de Lille3 * Cornelia Mueller, Department for Cultural Studies, Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) * Chris Sinha, Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth * Victor Smith, Copenhagen Business School * Göran Sonesson, Department of Semiotics, Lund University * Paul Thibault, Linguistics and Media Communication, Agder University Organizing Committe * Mats Andrén, Lund University * Marlene Johansson Falck, Stockholm University * Carita Lundmark, Mid Sweden University * Ulf Magnusson, Luleå University of Technology * Carita Paradis, Växjö University * Jordan Zlatev, Lund University and Umeå University *************************************************** Jordan Zlatev, Associate Professor Department of Linguistics Center for Languages and Literature Lund University Box 201 221 00 Lund, Sweden email: jordan.zlatev at ling.lu.se http://www.ling.lu.se/persons/JordanZlatev.html *************************************************** -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 6459 bytes Desc: not available URL: From pcomp at hunter.cuny.edu Sat Apr 14 23:45:38 2007 From: pcomp at hunter.cuny.edu (pcomp at hunter.cuny.edu) Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2007 19:45:38 -0400 Subject: CFP: PsychoCompLA-2007 Message-ID: ************* Call for Papers ************** Psychocomputational Models of Human Language Acquisition PsychoCompLA-2007 August 1st at CogSci 2007 - Nashville, Tennessee Submission Deadline: May 22, 2007 http://www.colag.cs.hunter.cuny.edu/psychocomp/ Workshop Topic: The workshop is devoted to psychologically-motivated computational models of language acquisition. That is, models that are compatible with research in psycholinguistics, developmental psychology and linguistics. Invited Speakers: * Elissa Newport, University of Rochester * Shimon Edelman, Cornell University * Damir Cavar, University of Zadar, University of Indiana * Robert Frank, Johns Hopkins University * Terry Regier, University of Chicago * Alex Clark, Royal Holloway University of London * Charles Yang, University of Pennsylvania Workshop Description: This workshop will present research and foster discussion centered around psychologically-motivated computational models of language acquisition, with an emphasis on the acquisition of syntax. In recent decades there has been a thriving research agenda that applies computational learning techniques to emerging natural language technologies and many meetings, conferences and workshops in which to present such research. However, there have been only a few (but growing number of) venues in which psychocomputational models of how humans acquire their native language(s) are the primary focus. By psychocomputational models we mean models that are compatible with, or might inform research in psycholinguistics, developmental psychology or linguistics. Psychocomputational models of language acquisition are of particular interest in light of recent results in developmental psychology that suggest that very young infants are adept at detecting statistical patterns in an audible input stream. Though, how children might plausibly apply statistical 'machinery' to the task of grammar acquisition, with or without an innate language component, remains an open and important question. One effective line of investigation is to computationally model the acquisition process and determine interrelationships between a model and linguistic or psycholinguistic theory, and/or correlations between a model's performance and data from linguistic environments that children are exposed to. Although there has been a significant amount of presented research targeted at modeling the acquisition of word categories, morphology and phonology, research aimed at modeling syntax acquisition has just begun to emerge. Workshop History: This is the third meeting of the Psychocomputational Models of Human Language Acquisition workshop following PsychoCompLA-2004, held in Geneva, Switzerland as part of the 20th International Conference on Computational Linguistics (COLING 2004) and PsychoCompLA-2005 as part of the 43rd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL-2005) held in Ann Arbor, Michigan where the workshop shared a joint session with the Ninth Conference on Computational Natural Language Learning (CoNLL-2005). Workshop Organizer: William Gregory Sakas, City University of New York (sakas at hunter.cuny.edu) Workshop Co-organizer: David Guy Brizan, City University of New York (dbrizan at gc.cuny.edu) Submission details: Authors are invited to submit abstracts of 1 page plus 1 page for data and other supplementary materials. Abstracts should be anonymous, clearly titled and no more than 500 words in length. Text of the abstract should fit on one page, with a second page for examples, table, figures, references, etc. The following formats are accepted: PDF, PS, and MS Word. Please include a cover sheet (as a separate attachment) containing the title of your submission, your name, contact details and affiliation. Please send your submission electronically to Psycho.Comp at hunter.cuny.edu. The accepted abstracts will appear in the online workshop proceedings. Full papers will be considered for a submission for a special issue of a Cognitive Science Society Journal in the fall. Submission deadline: May 22, 2007 Topics and Goals: Abstracts that present research on (but not necessarily limited to) the following topics are welcome: * Models that address the acquisition of word-order; * Models that combine parsing and learning; * Formal learning-theoretic and grammar induction models that incorporate psychologically plausible constraints; * Comparative surveys that critique previously reported studies; * Models that have a cross-linguistic or bilingual perspective; * Models that address learning bias in terms of innate linguistic knowledge versus statistical regularity in the input; * Models that employ language modeling techniques from corpus linguistics; * Models that employ techniques from machine learning; * Models of language change and its effect on language acquisition or vice versa; * Models that employ statistical/probabilistic grammars; * Computational models that can be used to evaluate existing linguistic or developmental theories (e.g., principles & parameters, optimality theory, construction grammar, etc.) * Empirical models that make use of child-directed corpora such as CHILDES. This workshop intends to bring together researchers from cognitive psychology, computational linguistics, other computer/mathematical sciences, linguistics and psycholinguistics working on all areas of language acquisition. Diversity and cross-fertilization of ideas is the central goal. Contact: Psycho.Comp at hunter.cuny.edu FYI, Related 2007 Meetings Machine Learning and Cognitive Science of Language Acquisition 21-22 June, 2007 Cognitive Aspects of Computational Language Acquisition 29 June, 2007 Exemplar-Based Models of Language Acquisition and Use 6-17 August, 2007 From ellmcf at nus.edu.sg Sun Apr 15 06:25:38 2007 From: ellmcf at nus.edu.sg (Madalena Cruz-Ferreira) Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2007 14:25:38 +0800 Subject: Call for contributions - Language Learning in New English Contexts: Studies of Acquisition and Development Message-ID: Dear all, = Call for contributions - Language Learning in New English Contexts: Studies of Acquisition and Development = Rita Elaine Silver (National Institute of Education, Singapore) asked me to post this message, below my signature, on her behalf. Please contact her directly with your responses and for the information contained in the attachments mentioned in her message. Her address: rita.silver at nie.edu.sg With best wishes, and apologies for cross-postings Madalena ====================================== Madalena Cruz-Ferreira Dept. English Language and Literature National University of Singapore ellmcf at nus.edu.sg http://profile.nus.edu.sg/fass/ellmcf/ ====================================== ############################################################# Christine Goh, Lubna Alsagoff and I are preparing an edited collection of empirical studies on English language acquistion and development in Singapore. The collection will be published by Continuum and articles are due to us by September 1, 2007. General information on the book as well as the publisher's style guidelines are attached. If you are interested, please do get in touch. Could I also ask that you distribute this information to others who might be interested? Regards Rita ******************************************* Rita Elaine Silver, Ph.D. English Language and Literature National Institute of Education Nanyang Technological University 1 Nanyang Walk, Block 3 Singapore 637616 phone: 65-6790-3472 fax: 65-6896-9149 rita.silver at nie.edu.sg ############################################################# From k.j.alcock at lancaster.ac.uk Tue Apr 17 14:05:08 2007 From: k.j.alcock at lancaster.ac.uk (Katie Alcock) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 15:05:08 +0100 Subject: New MSc course in Language, Speech and Hearing Message-ID: I would be grateful if you could pass this information on to interested students/post on local e-mail lists or fora. MSc in Language, Speech and Hearing in the Psychology Department at Lancaster University, UK The department is delighted to announce that a new MSc in Language, Speech and Hearing will begin in the 2007/2008 academic year. This course: * Provides expertise in a "common core" of psychological research methods, as well as in the areas of the psychology of language and of hearing. * Is ideal preparation for students who wish to develop research skills relevant to the fields such as speech and language therapy, audiology and clinical psychology. * Builds on the department's unique research strengths in the areas of hearing and language development. We welcome applications from students who have, or expect to achieve, a good first degree in Psychology or a related field (including Speech and Language Therapy, Biology, Linguistics or Physics/Acoustics). For further information visit http://www.psych.lancs.ac.uk/pg/mscLSH_info.html or email Katie Alcock, Course Tutor, on k.j.alcock at lancaster.ac.uk From roberta at UDel.Edu Tue Apr 17 21:27:54 2007 From: roberta at UDel.Edu (Roberta Golinkoff) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 17:27:54 -0400 Subject: Laboratory Coordinator Position for Recent Graduate! Message-ID: The grant gods have smiled upon me and I am looking for a bright, eager, talented, organized, well-spoken individual to serve as my laboratory coordinator starting this June and for the next two or three years. I would like to conduct interviews in early May. A new college graduate looking for additional research experience before going on to graduate school would be perfect. My laboratory coordinators have gone on to graduate school at wonderful places. The focus of my lab is how children learn language. We bring in parents and children anywhere between the ages of 4 months and 5 years and sometimes test adults too. Since we have many projects going on at the same time, I need someone who can function at a high level with many balls in the air. Responsibilities include: data collection and analysis, study design, supervising research assistants, and interacting with participants and their parents. The job offers full benefits and an excellent working environment since I treat my laboratory coordinators more as colleagues than employees. If you are interested or know someone who is, please contact me at Roberta at udel.edu. Thanks! _____________________________________________________ Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Ph. D. H. Rodney Sharp Professor School of Education and Departments of Psychology and Linguistics University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716 Office: 302-831-1634; Fax: 302-831-4110 Web page: http://udel.edu/~roberta/ Please check out our doctoral program at http://www.udel.edu/educ/graduate/ -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 1768 bytes Desc: not available URL: From kirsten.abbot-smith at plymouth.ac.uk Fri Apr 20 15:59:45 2007 From: kirsten.abbot-smith at plymouth.ac.uk (Kirsten Abbot-Smith) Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 16:59:45 +0100 Subject: BPS Developmental Conference deadline extension and invited symposia Message-ID: BPS Developmental Conference (University of Plymouth, 29th-31st August 2007) Due to the large number of requests, the call for abstract submission to the BPS Developmental Section Conference (2007) is still open! ** The deadline for abstract submissions has been extended to the 30th April ** The website of the conference http://www.bpsdevsec07.org is now being updated with the details of the invited symposia, which are the following; 1. Phonological representations of early words Convenor: Nivedita Mani Presenters: Marilyn Vihman Nivedita Mani Thierry Nazzi, Caroline Floccia, & Joseph Butler Emily Mather Discussant: Kim Plunkett 2. Exemplar based approaches to language development Convenor: Danielle Matthews Participants: Danielle Matthews & Colin Bannard Caroline Rowland & Ben Ambridge Andrea Krott, Christina Gagné & Elena Nicoladis Gert Westermann Discussant: Anna Theakston 3. Tracking first words in the infant's brain Convenor: Guillaume Thierry Participants: Valesca Kooijman Guillaume Thierry & Marilyn Vihman Manuela Friedrich Discussant: Marilyn Vihman 4. Joint action and communication in early childhood Convenor: Tanya Behne Presenters: Tanya Behne Claire Hughes, Alex Marks, Rosie Ensor Sue Leekam Danielle Matthews, Elena Lieven & Michael Tomasello Hannes Rakoczy 5. How inductive reasoning develops: From categories and category relations to scientific reasoning in the classroom Convenor: Aidan Feeney & Catherine Wilburn Presenters: Naomi Sweller, & Brett Hayes Catherine Wilburn & Aidan Feeney Aidan Vitkin, Nadya Vasilyeva & John Coley Michelle Ellefson, John Abrasheff, & Christian Schunn 6. Counterfactual Thinking and Reasoning: A developmental perspective Convenor: Sarah Beck Participants: Eva Rafetseder & Josef Perner Kevin Riggs Clare Walsh & Simon Handley Jennie Ferrell Sarah Gorniaki Frederique Arreckx John Clibbens For paper and poster presentations, please submit an abstract of 200 words max (excluding references), selecting whether you wish your submission to be considered as a presentation or a poster. Depending on the number of abstract submissions, some papers might be accepted as a poster presentation. For symposia presentations please submit an overall description of the theme of the symposium, together with a 200 word abstract for each presentation. Further information relating to submission of abstracts and symposia proposals can be found here: http://www.bpsdevsec07.org/default.asp?page=submit Dr Kirsten Abbot-Smith School of Psychology University of Plymouth Room B213 Portland Square Drake Circus Plymouth PL4 8AA Tel: +44 1752 233152 www.plymouth.ac.uk/staff/kabbotsmith -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kirsten.abbot-smith at plymouth.ac.uk Fri Apr 20 16:08:33 2007 From: kirsten.abbot-smith at plymouth.ac.uk (Kirsten Abbot-Smith) Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 17:08:33 +0100 Subject: BPS Developmental Conference deadline extension and invited symposia In-Reply-To: <200703312121.l2VLLTL2029132@pisa.ling.ed.ac.uk> Message-ID: BPS Developmental Conference (University of Plymouth, 29th-31st August 2007) Due to the large number of requests, the call for abstract submission to the BPS Developmental Section Conference (2007) is still open! ** The deadline for abstract submissions has been extended to the 30th April ** The website of the conference http://www.bpsdevsec07.org is now being updated with the details of the invited symposia, which are the following; 1. Phonological representations of early words Convenor: Nivedita Mani Presenters: Marilyn Vihman Nivedita Mani Thierry Nazzi, Caroline Floccia, & Joseph Butler Emily Mather Discussant: Kim Plunkett 2. Exemplar based approaches to language development Convenor: Danielle Matthews Participants: Danielle Matthews & Colin Bannard Caroline Rowland & Ben Ambridge Andrea Krott, Christina Gagné & Elena Nicoladis Gert Westermann Discussant: Anna Theakston 3. Tracking first words in the infant's brain Convenor: Guillaume Thierry Participants: Valesca Kooijman Guillaume Thierry & Marilyn Vihman Manuela Friedrich Discussant: Marilyn Vihman 4. Joint action and communication in early childhood Convenor: Tanya Behne Presenters: Tanya Behne Claire Hughes, Alex Marks, Rosie Ensor Sue Leekam Danielle Matthews, Elena Lieven & Michael Tomasello Hannes Rakoczy 5. How inductive reasoning develops: From categories and category relations to scientific reasoning in the classroom Convenor: Aidan Feeney & Catherine Wilburn Presenters: Naomi Sweller, & Brett Hayes Catherine Wilburn & Aidan Feeney Aidan Vitkin, Nadya Vasilyeva & John Coley Michelle Ellefson, John Abrasheff, & Christian Schunn 6. Counterfactual Thinking and Reasoning: A developmental perspective Convenor: Sarah Beck Participants: Eva Rafetseder & Josef Perner Kevin Riggs Clare Walsh & Simon Handley Jennie Ferrell Sarah Gorniaki Frederique Arreckx John Clibbens For paper and poster presentations, please submit an abstract of 200 words max (excluding references), selecting whether you wish your submission to be considered as a presentation or a poster. Depending on the number of abstract submissions, some papers might be accepted as a poster presentation. For symposia presentations please submit an overall description of the theme of the symposium, together with a 200 word abstract for each presentation. Further information relating to submission of abstracts and symposia proposals can be found here: http://www.bpsdevsec07.org/default.asp?page=submit Dr Kirsten Abbot-Smith School of Psychology University of Plymouth Room B213 Portland Square Drake Circus Plymouth PL4 8AA Tel: +44 1752 233152 www.plymouth.ac.uk/staff/kabbotsmith -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From joumar at langate.gsu.edu Mon Apr 23 15:38:13 2007 From: joumar at langate.gsu.edu (Mary Ann Romski) Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2007 11:38:13 -0400 Subject: POST-DOCTORAL POSITIONS IN LANGUAGE AND LITERACY Message-ID: POST-DOCTORAL POSITIONS IN LANGUAGE AND LITERACY The Departments of Psychology and Educational Psychology & Special Education and the Center for Research on Atypical Development and Learning (CRADL) at Georgia State University, Atlanta Georgia have postdoctoral positions beginning Fall 2007 in their new Institute of Education Sciences (IES) Post-Doctoral Research Training in Language and Literacy with Special Populations Program. The goal of the training program is to offer individualized research experiences within the context of interdisciplinary research teams. Program faculty have projects designed to empirically validate educational interventions that promote language or literacy development in special populations: children, adolescents, and adults at risk for, or with, identified disabilities. Faculty represent the disciplines of psychology, special education, and communication disorders. Fellows will work with interdisciplinary teams of researchers on one or more of following on-going funded field-based research projects: (1) Evaluating the Effectiveness of Reading Interventions for Students with Mild Mental Retardation; (2) Improving Deaf Preschoolers* Literacy Skills; (3) Multiple Component Remediation for Struggling Middle School Readers; (4) Parent-Implemented Augmented Language Interventions for Young Children with Developmental Disabilities; (5) Research on Reading Instruction for Low Literate Adults; and (6) Integrated Functional Literacy for Students with Moderate to Severe Disabilities. The two-year fellowship will provide trainees with intensive training in designing field-based intervention research with special populations (both group and single-subject designs), analysis of existing data bases using advanced statistical techniques (e.g., HLM), and in professional development, including grant writing, and professional presentations and publication. Salary: $50,000 per year with full health care benefits. More information is available at the Center for Research in Atypical Development webpage ( http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwaty/ies.html ) Questions? Contact Program Co-Directors Drs. Rose A. Sevcik or Amy Lederberg at rsevcik at gsu.edu or alederberg at gsu.edu. MaryAnn Romski, Ph.D. Associate Dean for Social & Behavioral Sciences College of Arts & Sciences Professor of Communication Director, Center for Research on Atypical Development and Learning (CRADL Georgia State University P.O. Box 4038 Atlanta, GA 30302-4038 Dean's Office Phone 404-651-2294 Dean's Office Fax 404-651-1542 Office: 741 General Classroom Building Comm Office Phone: 404-651-3469 Comm Office FAX: 404-651-3473 Comm Office: 942A One Park Place South Email: mromski at gsu.edu From michael at georgetown.edu Mon Apr 23 21:27:55 2007 From: michael at georgetown.edu (Michael Ullman) Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2007 17:27:55 -0400 Subject: Research Assistant position with Rhonda Friedman at Georgetown University Message-ID: Research Assistant The Cognitive Neuropsychology Lab at Georgetown University, directed by Rhonda Friedman, Ph.D., is seeking a full-time research assistant. Our research examines language and learning/memory function and dysfunction in patients with stroke, head injury, or dementia. Projects include behavioral, fMRI, eye tracking, and ERP studies of patients and normal controls, and development of cognitive treatments for acquired language disorders. Duties include organizing and managing subject data; creating experimental stimuli; aiding in the design of experimental protocols; recruiting and testing normal control subjects; performing literature searches; aiding in grant preparation; filing appropriate IRB and other forms; managing computer systems, upgrading and installing software; and performing other related tasks as needed. This position requires a bachelor's degree in Psychology, Neuroscience, Linguistics, computer science or related field. Research experience and an interest in brain and language are desirable. Proficiency in both Mac and Windows operating systems and experience with database management preferred. Two-year commitment required. Excellent opportunity for student planning to gain research experience prior to attending graduate school. Please email a cover letter and CV, and arrange for three letters of reference to be sent via email to: AphasiaResearch at georgetown.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dolores888 at hotmail.com Mon Apr 23 21:54:18 2007 From: dolores888 at hotmail.com (dolores ma) Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2007 23:54:18 +0200 Subject: salt/childes In-Reply-To: <659935.59730.qm@web72002.mail.tp2.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Hi, I would like to know which program has more advantages (apart from the price) for research: salt or childes. Particularly, I am interested in knowing which program offers more options (and which ones), and on the other hand is more friendly to be used. Thank you, Dolores _________________________________________________________________ Dale rienda suelta a tu tiempo libre. Mil ideas para exprimir tu ocio con MSN Entretenimiento. http://entretenimiento.msn.es/ From pcomp at hunter.cuny.edu Wed Apr 25 03:56:37 2007 From: pcomp at hunter.cuny.edu (pcomp at hunter.cuny.edu) Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2007 23:56:37 -0400 Subject: Second CFP: PsychoCompLA-2007 Message-ID: ************* Second Call for Papers ************** Psychocomputational Models of Human Language Acquisition PsychoCompLA-2007 August 1st at CogSci 2007 - Nashville, Tennessee Submission Deadline: May 22, 2007 http://www.colag.cs.hunter.cuny.edu/psychocomp/ Workshop Topic: The workshop is devoted to psychologically- motivated computational models of language acquisition. That is, models that are compatible with research in psycholinguistics, developmental psychology and linguistics. Invited Speakers: * Elissa Newport, University of Rochester * Shimon Edelman, Cornell University * Damir Cavar, University of Zadar, University of Indiana * Robert Frank, Johns Hopkins University * Terry Regier, University of Chicago * Alex Clark, Royal Holloway University of London * Charles Yang, University of Pennsylvania Workshop Description: This workshop will present research and foster discussion centered around psychologically-motivated computational models of language acquisition, with an emphasis on the acquisition of syntax. In recent decades there has been a thriving research agenda that applies computational learning techniques to emerging natural language technologies and many meetings, conferences and workshops in which to present such research. However, there have been only a few (but growing number of) venues in which psychocomputational models of how humans acquire their native language(s) are the primary focus. By psychocomputational models we mean models that are compatible with, or might inform research in psycholinguistics, developmental psychology or linguistics. Psychocomputational models of language acquisition are of particular interest in light of recent results in developmental psychology that suggest that very young infants are adept at detecting statistical patterns in an audible input stream. Though, how children might plausibly apply statistical 'machinery' to the task of grammar acquisition, with or without an innate language component, remains an open and important question. One effective line of investigation is to computationally model the acquisition process and determine interrelationships between a model and linguistic or psycholinguistic theory, and/or correlations between a model's performance and data from linguistic environments that children are exposed to. Although there has been a significant amount of presented research targeted at modeling the acquisition of word categories, morphology and phonology, research aimed at modeling syntax acquisition has just begun to emerge. Workshop History: This is the third meeting of the Psychocomputational Models of Human Language Acquisition workshop following PsychoCompLA-2004, held in Geneva, Switzerland as part of the 20th International Conference on Computational Linguistics (COLING 2004) and PsychoCompLA-2005 as part of the 43rd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL-2005) held in Ann Arbor, Michigan where the workshop shared a joint session with the Ninth Conference on Computational Natural Language Learning (CoNLL-2005). Workshop Organizer: William Gregory Sakas, City University of New York (sakas at hunter.cuny.edu) Workshop Co-organizer: David Guy Brizan, City University of New York (dbrizan at gc.cuny.edu) Submission details: Authors are invited to submit abstracts of 1 page plus 1 page for data and other supplementary materials. Abstracts should be anonymous, clearly titled and no more than 500 words in length. Text of the abstract should fit on one page, with a second page for examples, table, figures, references, etc. The following formats are accepted: PDF, PS, and MS Word. Please include a cover sheet (as a separate attachment) containing the title of your submission, your name, contact details and affiliation. Please send your submission electronically to Psycho.Comp at hunter.cuny.edu. The accepted abstracts will appear in the online workshop proceedings. Full papers will be considered for a submission for a special issue of a Cognitive Science Society Journal in the fall. Submission deadline: May 22, 2007 Topics and Goals: Abstracts that present research on (but not necessarily limited to) the following topics are welcome: * Models that address the acquisition of word-order; * Models that combine parsing and learning; * Formal learning-theoretic and grammar induction models that incorporate psychologically plausible constraints; * Comparative surveys that critique previously reported studies; * Models that have a cross-linguistic or bilingual perspective; * Models that address learning bias in terms of innate linguistic knowledge versus statistical regularity in the input; * Models that employ language modeling techniques from corpus linguistics; * Models that employ techniques from machine learning; * Models of language change and its effect on language acquisition or vice versa; * Models that employ statistical/probabilistic grammars; * Computational models that can be used to evaluate existing linguistic or developmental theories (e.g., principles & parameters, optimality theory, construction grammar, etc.) * Empirical models that make use of child-directed corpora such as CHILDES. This workshop intends to bring together researchers from cognitive psychology, computational linguistics, other computer/mathematical sciences, linguistics and psycholinguistics working on all areas of language acquisition. Diversity and cross-fertilization of ideas is the central goal. Contact: Psycho.Comp at hunter.cuny.edu FYI, Related 2007 Meetings Machine Learning and Cognitive Science of Language Acquisition 21-22 June, 2007 Cognitive Aspects of Computational Language Acquisition 29 June, 2007 Exemplar-Based Models of Language Acquisition and Use 6-17 August, 2007 From cdd24 at georgetown.edu Fri Apr 27 17:23:05 2007 From: cdd24 at georgetown.edu (Cristina D. Dye) Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2007 13:23:05 -0400 Subject: imageability Message-ID: -- Dear Info-Childes, I am looking for any work related to imageability effects in children, specifically what is the role of imageability in memorization during development and whether it is different from adulthood. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. best regards, -- Cristina D. Dye, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Fellow Language and Brain Lab Department of Neuroscience Georgetown University Washington, DC 20057 tel.(202)-687-5661 fax (202)-687-6914 http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/cdd6/ From kirsten.abbot-smith at plymouth.ac.uk Sat Apr 28 07:40:24 2007 From: kirsten.abbot-smith at plymouth.ac.uk (Kirsten Abbot-Smith) Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2007 08:40:24 +0100 Subject: MONDAY: Deadline for BPS Developmental Conference Message-ID: Just a reminder that the deadline for all submissions is this coming Monday (at midnight GMT ;-). Kirsten P.S. For those who enquired, there is information about how to get to the University of Plymouth on the website below. In addition, information on direct flights to Plymouth can be found at http://www.airsouthwest.com/. Information on direct flights to Exeter (45 minutes by car or 1 hour by train) can be found at http://www.exeter-airport.co.uk/site/1/All_Destinations.html. Information on direct flights to Bristol (2 hours by car, train or coach) can be found at http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/flight_information/destinations.aspx. -----Original Message----- From: Kirsten Abbot-Smith Sent: Fri 20/04/2007 16:59 To: info-childes at mail.talkbank.org Subject: BPS Developmental Conference deadline extension and invited symposia BPS Developmental Conference (University of Plymouth, 29th-31st August 2007) Due to the large number of requests, the call for abstract submission to the BPS Developmental Section Conference (2007) is still open! ** The deadline for abstract submissions has been extended to the 30th April ** The website of the conference http://www.bpsdevsec07.org is now being updated with the details of the invited symposia, which are the following; 1. Phonological representations of early words Convenor: Nivedita Mani Presenters: Marilyn Vihman Nivedita Mani Thierry Nazzi, Caroline Floccia, & Joseph Butler Emily Mather Discussant: Kim Plunkett 2. Exemplar based approaches to language development Convenor: Danielle Matthews Participants: Danielle Matthews & Colin Bannard Caroline Rowland & Ben Ambridge Andrea Krott, Christina Gagné & Elena Nicoladis Gert Westermann Discussant: Anna Theakston 3. Tracking first words in the infant's brain Convenor: Guillaume Thierry Participants: Valesca Kooijman Guillaume Thierry & Marilyn Vihman Manuela Friedrich Discussant: Marilyn Vihman 4. Joint action and communication in early childhood Convenor: Tanya Behne Presenters: Tanya Behne Claire Hughes, Alex Marks, Rosie Ensor Sue Leekam Danielle Matthews, Elena Lieven & Michael Tomasello Hannes Rakoczy 5. How inductive reasoning develops: From categories and category relations to scientific reasoning in the classroom Convenor: Aidan Feeney & Catherine Wilburn Presenters: Naomi Sweller, & Brett Hayes Catherine Wilburn & Aidan Feeney Aidan Vitkin, Nadya Vasilyeva & John Coley Michelle Ellefson, John Abrasheff, & Christian Schunn 6. Counterfactual Thinking and Reasoning: A developmental perspective Convenor: Sarah Beck Participants: Eva Rafetseder & Josef Perner Kevin Riggs Clare Walsh & Simon Handley Jennie Ferrell Sarah Gorniaki Frederique Arreckx John Clibbens For paper and poster presentations, please submit an abstract of 200 words max (excluding references), selecting whether you wish your submission to be considered as a presentation or a poster. Depending on the number of abstract submissions, some papers might be accepted as a poster presentation. For symposia presentations please submit an overall description of the theme of the symposium, together with a 200 word abstract for each presentation. Further information relating to submission of abstracts and symposia proposals can be found here: http://www.bpsdevsec07.org/default.asp?page=submit Dr Kirsten Abbot-Smith School of Psychology University of Plymouth Room B213 Portland Square Drake Circus Plymouth PL4 8AA Tel: +44 1752 233152 www.plymouth.ac.uk/staff/kabbotsmith From mei.lin at newcastle.ac.uk Tue Apr 10 16:45:03 2007 From: mei.lin at newcastle.ac.uk (Mei Lin) Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2007 17:45:03 +0100 Subject: Non-native parents and child's acqusition of English in Japan Message-ID: To whom it may concern, I have an MA student from Japan who is interested in doing her dissertation on bilingual first language acquisition in non-native parent families. She has found three families in Japan. Both parents are beginners of English, but are willing to teach English to their children of three years old 10-half hour per day for three months using storied, rhymes or songs. I would like to hear from those who have done or know any of studies of this kind so that my student can get some ideas of how to measure the language acquisition. Thanks Mei Dr Mei Lin Programme Leader for Bilingual Education School of Education, Communication & Language Sciences King George VI Building University of Newcastle Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU UK Tel: 00 44 (0)191-222 5070 Fax: 00 44 (0)191 - 222 6546 Email: mei.lin at ncl.ac.uk From bpearson at research.umass.edu Tue Apr 10 17:52:18 2007 From: bpearson at research.umass.edu (Barbara Z. Pearson) Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2007 13:52:18 -0400 Subject: Non-native parents and child's acqusition of English in Japan In-Reply-To: <6F1DBBB4DEE9DD448C49E20652FCED35021BDA29@largo.campus.ncl.ac.uk> Message-ID: Dear Mei Lin, Can you clarify what you mean by "10-half hour per day." Is that a typo, or is it 5 hours a day in 1/2 hour intervals? And what is the 3-month cap? Is it a specific program the families are following? I presume the student knows George Saunders' book about raising bilingual children (and checking their progress) (Multilingual Matters, 1983 (?) and 1988) Of course, Saunders was not a beginner in the non-native language. I met many such families during the research for my book, working title "Step by step guide to raising bilingual children" (to appear in 2008 from Random House, what the CarTalk brothers would call the "Shameless Commerce Division.") Among the many families I spoke with and profiled, there were several families where non-native speaker parents were major sources of language exposure for their children. However, if they didn't have fluency themselves, they typically had access to others with fluency--either through friends, family, hired help, or formal schooling. I would be glad to learn more about your student's project and share some of my materials if they are relevant. Best wishes, Barbara Zurer Pearson Quoting Mei Lin : > To whom it may concern, > > I have an MA student from Japan who is interested in doing her > dissertation on bilingual first language acquisition in non-native > parent families. She has found three families in Japan. Both > parents are beginners of English, but are willing to teach English to > their children of three years old 10-half hour per day for three > months using storied, rhymes or songs. > > I would like to hear from those who have done or know any of studies > of this kind so that my student can get some ideas of how to measure > the language acquisition. > > Thanks > > Mei > > Dr Mei Lin > Programme Leader for Bilingual Education > School of Education, Communication & Language Sciences > King George VI Building > University of Newcastle > Newcastle upon Tyne > NE1 7RU > UK > > > > > > Tel: 00 44 (0)191-222 5070 > Fax: 00 44 (0)191 - 222 6546 > Email: mei.lin at ncl.ac.uk > > > > > ****************************************************** Barbara Zurer Pearson, Ph.D. The Center for the Study of African American Language Research Associate, Coordinator University of Massachusetts Amherst MA 01003 413.545.5023 fax:545.2792 http://www.umass.edu/csaal/ bpearson at research.umass.edu From mblume at utep.edu Wed Apr 11 20:52:52 2007 From: mblume at utep.edu (Blume, Maria) Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2007 14:52:52 -0600 Subject: Sum: Acquisition of numbers Message-ID: Dear Colleagues: A few weeks ago I posted a message on behalf of my colleague Charles Elerick about the acquisition of numbers. Charles is very grateful to all who so kindly (and quickly) responded. Here is a summary of the references. Thanks, Mar?a Bibliographic Resources: The Acquisition of Number Concepts and Number Words Bloom, P., & Wynn, K. (1997). Linguistic cues in the acquisition of number words. Journal of Child Language, 24, 511-533. Carey, S. (2001). Cognitive foundations of arithmetic: Evolution and ontogenisis. Mind & Language, 16(1), 37-55. Carey, S. (2001). Bridging the gap between cognitive development and developmental neuroscience: A case study of the representation of number. In C. A. Nelson, & M. Luciana (Eds.), The handbook of developmental cognitive neuroscience (pp. 415-432). Cambridge MA: MIT Press. Carey, S. (2004). Bootstraping & the origin of concepts. Daedalus, Winter, 59-68. Carey, S., & Spelke, E. (in press). Bootstrapping the integer list: Representation of number. In J. Mehler, & L. Bonatti (Eds.), Developmental cognitive science. Cambridge MA: MIT Press. Cordes, S., Gelman, R., & Gallistel, C. R. (2001). Variability signatures distinguish verbal from nonverbal counting for both large and small numbers. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 8(4), 698-707. Fuson, Karen. Children's Counting and Concepts of Number; Erlbaum, 1988. Gelman, R., & Butterworth, B. (2005). Number and language: How are they related? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9(1), 6-10. Le Corre, M., van Walle, G. de, Brannon, E. M., & Carey, S. (2006). Re-visiting the competence/performance debate in the acquisition of the counting principles. Cognitive Psychology, 52, 130-169. Mix, K. S., Huttenlocher, J., & Levine, S. C. (2002). Multiple cues for quantification in infancy: Is number one of them? Psychological Bulletin, 128(2), 278-294. Musolino, J. (2004). The semantics and acquisition of number words: Integrating linguistic and developmental perspectives. Cognition, 93, 1-41. Pollmann, T. (2003). Some principles involved in the acquisition of number words. Language Acquisition, 11, 1-31. Rips, L. J., Asmuth, J., & Bloomfield, A. (2006). Giving the boot to the bootstrap: How not to learn the natural numbers. Cognition, 101(3), B51-B60. Sarnecka, B. W., & Gelman, S. A. (2004). Six does not just mean a lot: Preschoolers see number words as specific. Cognition, 92, 329-352. Sfard, A., & Lavie, I. (2005). Why cannot children see as the same what grown-up cannot see as different? Early numerical thinking revisited. Cognition and Instruction, 23(2), 237-309. Simon, T. J. (1997). Reconceptualizing the origins of number knowledge: A "non-numerical" account. Cognitive Development, 12, 349-372. Skwarchuk, S., & Anglin, J. (2002). Children's acquisition of the English cardinal number words: A special case of vocabulary development. Journal of Educational Psychology, 94, 107-25. Smith, C. L., Solomon, G. E. A., & Carey, S. (2005). Never getting to zero: Elementary school students' unterstanding of the infinite divisibility of number and matter. Cognitive Psychology, 51, 101-140. Wiese, Heike (1996): Der Status von Numeralia. Ein Beitrag zur Kl?rung des Klassifikationsproblems f?r Kardinalia, Ordinalia und 'Nummer'-Konstruktionen. (The status of numerals. A proposal concerning the problem of categorising cardinals, ordinals and '#'-constructions). Lund [= Sprache und Pragmatik 39]. pdf-file Mar?a Blume Assistant Professor LA 119 Languages and Linguistics Department University of Texas at El Paso 915-747-6320 mblume at utep.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jordan.zlatev at ling.lu.se Thu Apr 12 12:40:51 2007 From: jordan.zlatev at ling.lu.se (Jordan Zlatev) Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2007 14:40:51 +0200 Subject: 2nd CFP: First SALC conference Message-ID: SECOND CALL FOR PAPERS Includes theme sessions and an updated Scientific Committee list! The First Conference of the Swedish Association for Language and Cognition (SALC) Lund, Nov 29 - Dec 1, 2007 http://www.salc-sssk.org/ We invite the submission of abstracts for oral or poster presentations for the The First Conference of the Swedish Association for Language and Cognition (SALC) to be held at the Centre for Languages and Literature, Lund University between Nov 29 and Dec 1, 2007. Presentations should involve research in which language is not treated in isolation (e.g. as a "module"), but both as based on structures and processes of general cognition (e.g. perception, memory and reasoning) and social cognition (e.g. joint attention and imitation), and as affecting such structures and processes. The conference, as SALC in general, is intended to be a forum for the exchange of ideas between disciplines, fields of study and theoretical frameworks. Topics include, but are not limited to: * semantic analysis and cognition * discourse analysis and cognition * grammar and cognition * pragmatics and cognition * semiotics and cognition * linguistic typology and cognition * language and cognitive development * language and cognitive evolution * language change and cogniton * language and gesture * language and consciousness * linguistic relativity.and linguistic mediation Plenary speakers * Susan Goldin-Meadow, Department of Psychology, University of Chicago * Esa Itkonen, Department of Linguistics, University of Turku * Chris Sinha, Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth * ?sten Dahl, Department of Linguistics, Stockholm University * Peter G?rdenfors, Department of Cognitive Science, Lund University Theme sessions Space in language and cognition (Conveners: Carita Paradis, Marlene Johansson Falck, Carita Lundmark and Ulf Magnusson) The link between spatial concepts and construals in linguistic expressions and in thought is a rapidly growing field of inquiry which cuts across disciplines such as linguistics, cognitive psychology, anthropology, computer science and philosophy. Oxford University Press will be publishing papers from the session in an edited volume of strictly peer-reviewed papers that capture cutting-edge scholarship in this area. Language and gesture (Conveners: Jordan Zlatev and Cornelia Mueller) While there is a consensus on the close relationship between language and gesture, there is an ongoing debate on the exact relationship between the two: do they constitute a "unified system" (e.g. McNeil) or two closely integrated but distinct semiotic resources (e.g. Donald), supported by distinct cognitive mechanisms (e.g. Kita and ?zy?rek)? We plan a publication of papers addressing this issue from different perspectives: semiotics, interaction studies, development, evolution and neuroscience. One page abstracts (at most 500 words) should be sent as an attachment (MS Word preferred) to Marlene Johansson Falck, at marlene at magicspelling.com by June 1st 2007. Abstracts will then be reviewed by two members of the Scientific Committee, and notification of acceptance will be sent by August 1st. Please indicate whether an oral or poster presentation is preferred, and if a poster presentation is acceptable if the space of the program does not allow for an oral presentation. If you wish your contribution to be considered for one of the theme sessions, please indicate this. The conference will be held in English. Registration fees, including conference participation, book of abstracts, and coffee/snacks: * Faculty: 50 euro/450 SEK (40 euro/360 SEK for SALC members) * Students: 40 euro/360 SEK (30 euro/270 SEK for SALC members) On-line registration facilities will be announced in the Final Call for Papers. Important Dates * Feb 23: First Call for Papers * June 1: Deadline for abstract submission * August 1: Notification of acceptance * October 1: Programme announced * Nov 29 (afternoon) - Dec 1 (whole day): Conference Scientific Committee * J?hanna Barddal, Department of Linguistics, University of Bergen * Ingar Brinck, Department of Philosophy, Lund University * Alan Cienki Department of Language and Communication, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam * ?sten Dahl, Department of Linguistics, Stockholm University * Caroline David, D?partement d'?tudes anglophones, Universit? Paul-Val?ry, Montpellier III * Per Durst-Andersen, Centre for Language, Cognition and Mentality, Copenhagen Business School * Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen, Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, University of Copenhagen * Adam Glaz, Department of English UMCS, Lublin * Peter G?rdenfors, Department of Cognitive Science, Lund University * Peter Harder, Department of English, University of Copenhagen * Merle Horne, Department of Linguistics, Lund University * Anders Hougaard, Institute of Language and Communication, University of Southern Denmark * Daniel Hutto, Philosophy, University of Hetyfordshire * Esa Itkonen, Department of Linguistics, University of Turku * Christer Johansson, Department of Linguistics, University of Bergen * Henryk Kardela, Department of English, Universytet Marii Curie-Sklodowskiej * Suzanne Kemmer, Department of Linguistics, Rice University * Maria Koptjevskaja Tamm, Department of Linguistics, Stockholm University * Maarten Leemens, English Linguistics, Universit? de Lille3 * Cornelia Mueller, Department for Cultural Studies, Europa-Universit?t Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) * Chris Sinha, Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth * Victor Smith, Copenhagen Business School * G?ran Sonesson, Department of Semiotics, Lund University * Paul Thibault, Linguistics and Media Communication, Agder University Organizing Committe * Mats Andr?n, Lund University * Marlene Johansson Falck, Stockholm University * Carita Lundmark, Mid Sweden University * Ulf Magnusson, Lule? University of Technology * Carita Paradis, V?xj? University * Jordan Zlatev, Lund University and Ume? University *************************************************** Jordan Zlatev, Associate Professor Department of Linguistics Center for Languages and Literature Lund University Box 201 221 00 Lund, Sweden email: jordan.zlatev at ling.lu.se http://www.ling.lu.se/persons/JordanZlatev.html *************************************************** -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 6459 bytes Desc: not available URL: From pcomp at hunter.cuny.edu Sat Apr 14 23:45:38 2007 From: pcomp at hunter.cuny.edu (pcomp at hunter.cuny.edu) Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2007 19:45:38 -0400 Subject: CFP: PsychoCompLA-2007 Message-ID: ************* Call for Papers ************** Psychocomputational Models of Human Language Acquisition PsychoCompLA-2007 August 1st at CogSci 2007 - Nashville, Tennessee Submission Deadline: May 22, 2007 http://www.colag.cs.hunter.cuny.edu/psychocomp/ Workshop Topic: The workshop is devoted to psychologically-motivated computational models of language acquisition. That is, models that are compatible with research in psycholinguistics, developmental psychology and linguistics. Invited Speakers: * Elissa Newport, University of Rochester * Shimon Edelman, Cornell University * Damir Cavar, University of Zadar, University of Indiana * Robert Frank, Johns Hopkins University * Terry Regier, University of Chicago * Alex Clark, Royal Holloway University of London * Charles Yang, University of Pennsylvania Workshop Description: This workshop will present research and foster discussion centered around psychologically-motivated computational models of language acquisition, with an emphasis on the acquisition of syntax. In recent decades there has been a thriving research agenda that applies computational learning techniques to emerging natural language technologies and many meetings, conferences and workshops in which to present such research. However, there have been only a few (but growing number of) venues in which psychocomputational models of how humans acquire their native language(s) are the primary focus. By psychocomputational models we mean models that are compatible with, or might inform research in psycholinguistics, developmental psychology or linguistics. Psychocomputational models of language acquisition are of particular interest in light of recent results in developmental psychology that suggest that very young infants are adept at detecting statistical patterns in an audible input stream. Though, how children might plausibly apply statistical 'machinery' to the task of grammar acquisition, with or without an innate language component, remains an open and important question. One effective line of investigation is to computationally model the acquisition process and determine interrelationships between a model and linguistic or psycholinguistic theory, and/or correlations between a model's performance and data from linguistic environments that children are exposed to. Although there has been a significant amount of presented research targeted at modeling the acquisition of word categories, morphology and phonology, research aimed at modeling syntax acquisition has just begun to emerge. Workshop History: This is the third meeting of the Psychocomputational Models of Human Language Acquisition workshop following PsychoCompLA-2004, held in Geneva, Switzerland as part of the 20th International Conference on Computational Linguistics (COLING 2004) and PsychoCompLA-2005 as part of the 43rd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL-2005) held in Ann Arbor, Michigan where the workshop shared a joint session with the Ninth Conference on Computational Natural Language Learning (CoNLL-2005). Workshop Organizer: William Gregory Sakas, City University of New York (sakas at hunter.cuny.edu) Workshop Co-organizer: David Guy Brizan, City University of New York (dbrizan at gc.cuny.edu) Submission details: Authors are invited to submit abstracts of 1 page plus 1 page for data and other supplementary materials. Abstracts should be anonymous, clearly titled and no more than 500 words in length. Text of the abstract should fit on one page, with a second page for examples, table, figures, references, etc. The following formats are accepted: PDF, PS, and MS Word. Please include a cover sheet (as a separate attachment) containing the title of your submission, your name, contact details and affiliation. Please send your submission electronically to Psycho.Comp at hunter.cuny.edu. The accepted abstracts will appear in the online workshop proceedings. Full papers will be considered for a submission for a special issue of a Cognitive Science Society Journal in the fall. Submission deadline: May 22, 2007 Topics and Goals: Abstracts that present research on (but not necessarily limited to) the following topics are welcome: * Models that address the acquisition of word-order; * Models that combine parsing and learning; * Formal learning-theoretic and grammar induction models that incorporate psychologically plausible constraints; * Comparative surveys that critique previously reported studies; * Models that have a cross-linguistic or bilingual perspective; * Models that address learning bias in terms of innate linguistic knowledge versus statistical regularity in the input; * Models that employ language modeling techniques from corpus linguistics; * Models that employ techniques from machine learning; * Models of language change and its effect on language acquisition or vice versa; * Models that employ statistical/probabilistic grammars; * Computational models that can be used to evaluate existing linguistic or developmental theories (e.g., principles & parameters, optimality theory, construction grammar, etc.) * Empirical models that make use of child-directed corpora such as CHILDES. This workshop intends to bring together researchers from cognitive psychology, computational linguistics, other computer/mathematical sciences, linguistics and psycholinguistics working on all areas of language acquisition. Diversity and cross-fertilization of ideas is the central goal. Contact: Psycho.Comp at hunter.cuny.edu FYI, Related 2007 Meetings Machine Learning and Cognitive Science of Language Acquisition 21-22 June, 2007 Cognitive Aspects of Computational Language Acquisition 29 June, 2007 Exemplar-Based Models of Language Acquisition and Use 6-17 August, 2007 From ellmcf at nus.edu.sg Sun Apr 15 06:25:38 2007 From: ellmcf at nus.edu.sg (Madalena Cruz-Ferreira) Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2007 14:25:38 +0800 Subject: Call for contributions - Language Learning in New English Contexts: Studies of Acquisition and Development Message-ID: Dear all, = Call for contributions - Language Learning in New English Contexts: Studies of Acquisition and Development = Rita Elaine Silver (National Institute of Education, Singapore) asked me to post this message, below my signature, on her behalf. Please contact her directly with your responses and for the information contained in the attachments mentioned in her message. Her address: rita.silver at nie.edu.sg With best wishes, and apologies for cross-postings Madalena ====================================== Madalena Cruz-Ferreira Dept. English Language and Literature National University of Singapore ellmcf at nus.edu.sg http://profile.nus.edu.sg/fass/ellmcf/ ====================================== ############################################################# Christine Goh, Lubna Alsagoff and I are preparing an edited collection of empirical studies on English language acquistion and development in Singapore. The collection will be published by Continuum and articles are due to us by September 1, 2007. General information on the book as well as the publisher's style guidelines are attached. If you are interested, please do get in touch. Could I also ask that you distribute this information to others who might be interested? Regards Rita ******************************************* Rita Elaine Silver, Ph.D. English Language and Literature National Institute of Education Nanyang Technological University 1 Nanyang Walk, Block 3 Singapore 637616 phone: 65-6790-3472 fax: 65-6896-9149 rita.silver at nie.edu.sg ############################################################# From k.j.alcock at lancaster.ac.uk Tue Apr 17 14:05:08 2007 From: k.j.alcock at lancaster.ac.uk (Katie Alcock) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 15:05:08 +0100 Subject: New MSc course in Language, Speech and Hearing Message-ID: I would be grateful if you could pass this information on to interested students/post on local e-mail lists or fora. MSc in Language, Speech and Hearing in the Psychology Department at Lancaster University, UK The department is delighted to announce that a new MSc in Language, Speech and Hearing will begin in the 2007/2008 academic year. This course: * Provides expertise in a "common core" of psychological research methods, as well as in the areas of the psychology of language and of hearing. * Is ideal preparation for students who wish to develop research skills relevant to the fields such as speech and language therapy, audiology and clinical psychology. * Builds on the department's unique research strengths in the areas of hearing and language development. We welcome applications from students who have, or expect to achieve, a good first degree in Psychology or a related field (including Speech and Language Therapy, Biology, Linguistics or Physics/Acoustics). For further information visit http://www.psych.lancs.ac.uk/pg/mscLSH_info.html or email Katie Alcock, Course Tutor, on k.j.alcock at lancaster.ac.uk From roberta at UDel.Edu Tue Apr 17 21:27:54 2007 From: roberta at UDel.Edu (Roberta Golinkoff) Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 17:27:54 -0400 Subject: Laboratory Coordinator Position for Recent Graduate! Message-ID: The grant gods have smiled upon me and I am looking for a bright, eager, talented, organized, well-spoken individual to serve as my laboratory coordinator starting this June and for the next two or three years. I would like to conduct interviews in early May. A new college graduate looking for additional research experience before going on to graduate school would be perfect. My laboratory coordinators have gone on to graduate school at wonderful places. The focus of my lab is how children learn language. We bring in parents and children anywhere between the ages of 4 months and 5 years and sometimes test adults too. Since we have many projects going on at the same time, I need someone who can function at a high level with many balls in the air. Responsibilities include: data collection and analysis, study design, supervising research assistants, and interacting with participants and their parents. The job offers full benefits and an excellent working environment since I treat my laboratory coordinators more as colleagues than employees. If you are interested or know someone who is, please contact me at Roberta at udel.edu. Thanks! _____________________________________________________ Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Ph. D. H. Rodney Sharp Professor School of Education and Departments of Psychology and Linguistics University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716 Office: 302-831-1634; Fax: 302-831-4110 Web page: http://udel.edu/~roberta/ Please check out our doctoral program at http://www.udel.edu/educ/graduate/ -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 1768 bytes Desc: not available URL: From kirsten.abbot-smith at plymouth.ac.uk Fri Apr 20 15:59:45 2007 From: kirsten.abbot-smith at plymouth.ac.uk (Kirsten Abbot-Smith) Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 16:59:45 +0100 Subject: BPS Developmental Conference deadline extension and invited symposia Message-ID: BPS Developmental Conference (University of Plymouth, 29th-31st August 2007) Due to the large number of requests, the call for abstract submission to the BPS Developmental Section Conference (2007) is still open! ** The deadline for abstract submissions has been extended to the 30th April ** The website of the conference http://www.bpsdevsec07.org is now being updated with the details of the invited symposia, which are the following; 1. Phonological representations of early words Convenor: Nivedita Mani Presenters: Marilyn Vihman Nivedita Mani Thierry Nazzi, Caroline Floccia, & Joseph Butler Emily Mather Discussant: Kim Plunkett 2. Exemplar based approaches to language development Convenor: Danielle Matthews Participants: Danielle Matthews & Colin Bannard Caroline Rowland & Ben Ambridge Andrea Krott, Christina Gagn? & Elena Nicoladis Gert Westermann Discussant: Anna Theakston 3. Tracking first words in the infant's brain Convenor: Guillaume Thierry Participants: Valesca Kooijman Guillaume Thierry & Marilyn Vihman Manuela Friedrich Discussant: Marilyn Vihman 4. Joint action and communication in early childhood Convenor: Tanya Behne Presenters: Tanya Behne Claire Hughes, Alex Marks, Rosie Ensor Sue Leekam Danielle Matthews, Elena Lieven & Michael Tomasello Hannes Rakoczy 5. How inductive reasoning develops: From categories and category relations to scientific reasoning in the classroom Convenor: Aidan Feeney & Catherine Wilburn Presenters: Naomi Sweller, & Brett Hayes Catherine Wilburn & Aidan Feeney Aidan Vitkin, Nadya Vasilyeva & John Coley Michelle Ellefson, John Abrasheff, & Christian Schunn 6. Counterfactual Thinking and Reasoning: A developmental perspective Convenor: Sarah Beck Participants: Eva Rafetseder & Josef Perner Kevin Riggs Clare Walsh & Simon Handley Jennie Ferrell Sarah Gorniaki Frederique Arreckx John Clibbens For paper and poster presentations, please submit an abstract of 200 words max (excluding references), selecting whether you wish your submission to be considered as a presentation or a poster. Depending on the number of abstract submissions, some papers might be accepted as a poster presentation. For symposia presentations please submit an overall description of the theme of the symposium, together with a 200 word abstract for each presentation. Further information relating to submission of abstracts and symposia proposals can be found here: http://www.bpsdevsec07.org/default.asp?page=submit Dr Kirsten Abbot-Smith School of Psychology University of Plymouth Room B213 Portland Square Drake Circus Plymouth PL4 8AA Tel: +44 1752 233152 www.plymouth.ac.uk/staff/kabbotsmith -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kirsten.abbot-smith at plymouth.ac.uk Fri Apr 20 16:08:33 2007 From: kirsten.abbot-smith at plymouth.ac.uk (Kirsten Abbot-Smith) Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 17:08:33 +0100 Subject: BPS Developmental Conference deadline extension and invited symposia In-Reply-To: <200703312121.l2VLLTL2029132@pisa.ling.ed.ac.uk> Message-ID: BPS Developmental Conference (University of Plymouth, 29th-31st August 2007) Due to the large number of requests, the call for abstract submission to the BPS Developmental Section Conference (2007) is still open! ** The deadline for abstract submissions has been extended to the 30th April ** The website of the conference http://www.bpsdevsec07.org is now being updated with the details of the invited symposia, which are the following; 1. Phonological representations of early words Convenor: Nivedita Mani Presenters: Marilyn Vihman Nivedita Mani Thierry Nazzi, Caroline Floccia, & Joseph Butler Emily Mather Discussant: Kim Plunkett 2. Exemplar based approaches to language development Convenor: Danielle Matthews Participants: Danielle Matthews & Colin Bannard Caroline Rowland & Ben Ambridge Andrea Krott, Christina Gagn? & Elena Nicoladis Gert Westermann Discussant: Anna Theakston 3. Tracking first words in the infant's brain Convenor: Guillaume Thierry Participants: Valesca Kooijman Guillaume Thierry & Marilyn Vihman Manuela Friedrich Discussant: Marilyn Vihman 4. Joint action and communication in early childhood Convenor: Tanya Behne Presenters: Tanya Behne Claire Hughes, Alex Marks, Rosie Ensor Sue Leekam Danielle Matthews, Elena Lieven & Michael Tomasello Hannes Rakoczy 5. How inductive reasoning develops: From categories and category relations to scientific reasoning in the classroom Convenor: Aidan Feeney & Catherine Wilburn Presenters: Naomi Sweller, & Brett Hayes Catherine Wilburn & Aidan Feeney Aidan Vitkin, Nadya Vasilyeva & John Coley Michelle Ellefson, John Abrasheff, & Christian Schunn 6. Counterfactual Thinking and Reasoning: A developmental perspective Convenor: Sarah Beck Participants: Eva Rafetseder & Josef Perner Kevin Riggs Clare Walsh & Simon Handley Jennie Ferrell Sarah Gorniaki Frederique Arreckx John Clibbens For paper and poster presentations, please submit an abstract of 200 words max (excluding references), selecting whether you wish your submission to be considered as a presentation or a poster. Depending on the number of abstract submissions, some papers might be accepted as a poster presentation. For symposia presentations please submit an overall description of the theme of the symposium, together with a 200 word abstract for each presentation. Further information relating to submission of abstracts and symposia proposals can be found here: http://www.bpsdevsec07.org/default.asp?page=submit Dr Kirsten Abbot-Smith School of Psychology University of Plymouth Room B213 Portland Square Drake Circus Plymouth PL4 8AA Tel: +44 1752 233152 www.plymouth.ac.uk/staff/kabbotsmith -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From joumar at langate.gsu.edu Mon Apr 23 15:38:13 2007 From: joumar at langate.gsu.edu (Mary Ann Romski) Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2007 11:38:13 -0400 Subject: POST-DOCTORAL POSITIONS IN LANGUAGE AND LITERACY Message-ID: POST-DOCTORAL POSITIONS IN LANGUAGE AND LITERACY The Departments of Psychology and Educational Psychology & Special Education and the Center for Research on Atypical Development and Learning (CRADL) at Georgia State University, Atlanta Georgia have postdoctoral positions beginning Fall 2007 in their new Institute of Education Sciences (IES) Post-Doctoral Research Training in Language and Literacy with Special Populations Program. The goal of the training program is to offer individualized research experiences within the context of interdisciplinary research teams. Program faculty have projects designed to empirically validate educational interventions that promote language or literacy development in special populations: children, adolescents, and adults at risk for, or with, identified disabilities. Faculty represent the disciplines of psychology, special education, and communication disorders. Fellows will work with interdisciplinary teams of researchers on one or more of following on-going funded field-based research projects: (1) Evaluating the Effectiveness of Reading Interventions for Students with Mild Mental Retardation; (2) Improving Deaf Preschoolers* Literacy Skills; (3) Multiple Component Remediation for Struggling Middle School Readers; (4) Parent-Implemented Augmented Language Interventions for Young Children with Developmental Disabilities; (5) Research on Reading Instruction for Low Literate Adults; and (6) Integrated Functional Literacy for Students with Moderate to Severe Disabilities. The two-year fellowship will provide trainees with intensive training in designing field-based intervention research with special populations (both group and single-subject designs), analysis of existing data bases using advanced statistical techniques (e.g., HLM), and in professional development, including grant writing, and professional presentations and publication. Salary: $50,000 per year with full health care benefits. More information is available at the Center for Research in Atypical Development webpage ( http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwaty/ies.html ) Questions? Contact Program Co-Directors Drs. Rose A. Sevcik or Amy Lederberg at rsevcik at gsu.edu or alederberg at gsu.edu. MaryAnn Romski, Ph.D. Associate Dean for Social & Behavioral Sciences College of Arts & Sciences Professor of Communication Director, Center for Research on Atypical Development and Learning (CRADL Georgia State University P.O. Box 4038 Atlanta, GA 30302-4038 Dean's Office Phone 404-651-2294 Dean's Office Fax 404-651-1542 Office: 741 General Classroom Building Comm Office Phone: 404-651-3469 Comm Office FAX: 404-651-3473 Comm Office: 942A One Park Place South Email: mromski at gsu.edu From michael at georgetown.edu Mon Apr 23 21:27:55 2007 From: michael at georgetown.edu (Michael Ullman) Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2007 17:27:55 -0400 Subject: Research Assistant position with Rhonda Friedman at Georgetown University Message-ID: Research Assistant The Cognitive Neuropsychology Lab at Georgetown University, directed by Rhonda Friedman, Ph.D., is seeking a full-time research assistant. Our research examines language and learning/memory function and dysfunction in patients with stroke, head injury, or dementia. Projects include behavioral, fMRI, eye tracking, and ERP studies of patients and normal controls, and development of cognitive treatments for acquired language disorders. Duties include organizing and managing subject data; creating experimental stimuli; aiding in the design of experimental protocols; recruiting and testing normal control subjects; performing literature searches; aiding in grant preparation; filing appropriate IRB and other forms; managing computer systems, upgrading and installing software; and performing other related tasks as needed. This position requires a bachelor's degree in Psychology, Neuroscience, Linguistics, computer science or related field. Research experience and an interest in brain and language are desirable. Proficiency in both Mac and Windows operating systems and experience with database management preferred. Two-year commitment required. Excellent opportunity for student planning to gain research experience prior to attending graduate school. Please email a cover letter and CV, and arrange for three letters of reference to be sent via email to: AphasiaResearch at georgetown.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From dolores888 at hotmail.com Mon Apr 23 21:54:18 2007 From: dolores888 at hotmail.com (dolores ma) Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2007 23:54:18 +0200 Subject: salt/childes In-Reply-To: <659935.59730.qm@web72002.mail.tp2.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Hi, I would like to know which program has more advantages (apart from the price) for research: salt or childes. Particularly, I am interested in knowing which program offers more options (and which ones), and on the other hand is more friendly to be used. Thank you, Dolores _________________________________________________________________ Dale rienda suelta a tu tiempo libre. Mil ideas para exprimir tu ocio con MSN Entretenimiento. http://entretenimiento.msn.es/ From pcomp at hunter.cuny.edu Wed Apr 25 03:56:37 2007 From: pcomp at hunter.cuny.edu (pcomp at hunter.cuny.edu) Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2007 23:56:37 -0400 Subject: Second CFP: PsychoCompLA-2007 Message-ID: ************* Second Call for Papers ************** Psychocomputational Models of Human Language Acquisition PsychoCompLA-2007 August 1st at CogSci 2007 - Nashville, Tennessee Submission Deadline: May 22, 2007 http://www.colag.cs.hunter.cuny.edu/psychocomp/ Workshop Topic: The workshop is devoted to psychologically- motivated computational models of language acquisition. That is, models that are compatible with research in psycholinguistics, developmental psychology and linguistics. Invited Speakers: * Elissa Newport, University of Rochester * Shimon Edelman, Cornell University * Damir Cavar, University of Zadar, University of Indiana * Robert Frank, Johns Hopkins University * Terry Regier, University of Chicago * Alex Clark, Royal Holloway University of London * Charles Yang, University of Pennsylvania Workshop Description: This workshop will present research and foster discussion centered around psychologically-motivated computational models of language acquisition, with an emphasis on the acquisition of syntax. In recent decades there has been a thriving research agenda that applies computational learning techniques to emerging natural language technologies and many meetings, conferences and workshops in which to present such research. However, there have been only a few (but growing number of) venues in which psychocomputational models of how humans acquire their native language(s) are the primary focus. By psychocomputational models we mean models that are compatible with, or might inform research in psycholinguistics, developmental psychology or linguistics. Psychocomputational models of language acquisition are of particular interest in light of recent results in developmental psychology that suggest that very young infants are adept at detecting statistical patterns in an audible input stream. Though, how children might plausibly apply statistical 'machinery' to the task of grammar acquisition, with or without an innate language component, remains an open and important question. One effective line of investigation is to computationally model the acquisition process and determine interrelationships between a model and linguistic or psycholinguistic theory, and/or correlations between a model's performance and data from linguistic environments that children are exposed to. Although there has been a significant amount of presented research targeted at modeling the acquisition of word categories, morphology and phonology, research aimed at modeling syntax acquisition has just begun to emerge. Workshop History: This is the third meeting of the Psychocomputational Models of Human Language Acquisition workshop following PsychoCompLA-2004, held in Geneva, Switzerland as part of the 20th International Conference on Computational Linguistics (COLING 2004) and PsychoCompLA-2005 as part of the 43rd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL-2005) held in Ann Arbor, Michigan where the workshop shared a joint session with the Ninth Conference on Computational Natural Language Learning (CoNLL-2005). Workshop Organizer: William Gregory Sakas, City University of New York (sakas at hunter.cuny.edu) Workshop Co-organizer: David Guy Brizan, City University of New York (dbrizan at gc.cuny.edu) Submission details: Authors are invited to submit abstracts of 1 page plus 1 page for data and other supplementary materials. Abstracts should be anonymous, clearly titled and no more than 500 words in length. Text of the abstract should fit on one page, with a second page for examples, table, figures, references, etc. The following formats are accepted: PDF, PS, and MS Word. Please include a cover sheet (as a separate attachment) containing the title of your submission, your name, contact details and affiliation. Please send your submission electronically to Psycho.Comp at hunter.cuny.edu. The accepted abstracts will appear in the online workshop proceedings. Full papers will be considered for a submission for a special issue of a Cognitive Science Society Journal in the fall. Submission deadline: May 22, 2007 Topics and Goals: Abstracts that present research on (but not necessarily limited to) the following topics are welcome: * Models that address the acquisition of word-order; * Models that combine parsing and learning; * Formal learning-theoretic and grammar induction models that incorporate psychologically plausible constraints; * Comparative surveys that critique previously reported studies; * Models that have a cross-linguistic or bilingual perspective; * Models that address learning bias in terms of innate linguistic knowledge versus statistical regularity in the input; * Models that employ language modeling techniques from corpus linguistics; * Models that employ techniques from machine learning; * Models of language change and its effect on language acquisition or vice versa; * Models that employ statistical/probabilistic grammars; * Computational models that can be used to evaluate existing linguistic or developmental theories (e.g., principles & parameters, optimality theory, construction grammar, etc.) * Empirical models that make use of child-directed corpora such as CHILDES. This workshop intends to bring together researchers from cognitive psychology, computational linguistics, other computer/mathematical sciences, linguistics and psycholinguistics working on all areas of language acquisition. Diversity and cross-fertilization of ideas is the central goal. Contact: Psycho.Comp at hunter.cuny.edu FYI, Related 2007 Meetings Machine Learning and Cognitive Science of Language Acquisition 21-22 June, 2007 Cognitive Aspects of Computational Language Acquisition 29 June, 2007 Exemplar-Based Models of Language Acquisition and Use 6-17 August, 2007 From cdd24 at georgetown.edu Fri Apr 27 17:23:05 2007 From: cdd24 at georgetown.edu (Cristina D. Dye) Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2007 13:23:05 -0400 Subject: imageability Message-ID: -- Dear Info-Childes, I am looking for any work related to imageability effects in children, specifically what is the role of imageability in memorization during development and whether it is different from adulthood. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. best regards, -- Cristina D. Dye, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Fellow Language and Brain Lab Department of Neuroscience Georgetown University Washington, DC 20057 tel.(202)-687-5661 fax (202)-687-6914 http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/cdd6/ From kirsten.abbot-smith at plymouth.ac.uk Sat Apr 28 07:40:24 2007 From: kirsten.abbot-smith at plymouth.ac.uk (Kirsten Abbot-Smith) Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2007 08:40:24 +0100 Subject: MONDAY: Deadline for BPS Developmental Conference Message-ID: Just a reminder that the deadline for all submissions is this coming Monday (at midnight GMT ;-). Kirsten P.S. For those who enquired, there is information about how to get to the University of Plymouth on the website below. In addition, information on direct flights to Plymouth can be found at http://www.airsouthwest.com/. Information on direct flights to Exeter (45 minutes by car or 1 hour by train) can be found at http://www.exeter-airport.co.uk/site/1/All_Destinations.html. Information on direct flights to Bristol (2 hours by car, train or coach) can be found at http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/flight_information/destinations.aspx. -----Original Message----- From: Kirsten Abbot-Smith Sent: Fri 20/04/2007 16:59 To: info-childes at mail.talkbank.org Subject: BPS Developmental Conference deadline extension and invited symposia BPS Developmental Conference (University of Plymouth, 29th-31st August 2007) Due to the large number of requests, the call for abstract submission to the BPS Developmental Section Conference (2007) is still open! ** The deadline for abstract submissions has been extended to the 30th April ** The website of the conference http://www.bpsdevsec07.org is now being updated with the details of the invited symposia, which are the following; 1. Phonological representations of early words Convenor: Nivedita Mani Presenters: Marilyn Vihman Nivedita Mani Thierry Nazzi, Caroline Floccia, & Joseph Butler Emily Mather Discussant: Kim Plunkett 2. Exemplar based approaches to language development Convenor: Danielle Matthews Participants: Danielle Matthews & Colin Bannard Caroline Rowland & Ben Ambridge Andrea Krott, Christina Gagn? & Elena Nicoladis Gert Westermann Discussant: Anna Theakston 3. Tracking first words in the infant's brain Convenor: Guillaume Thierry Participants: Valesca Kooijman Guillaume Thierry & Marilyn Vihman Manuela Friedrich Discussant: Marilyn Vihman 4. Joint action and communication in early childhood Convenor: Tanya Behne Presenters: Tanya Behne Claire Hughes, Alex Marks, Rosie Ensor Sue Leekam Danielle Matthews, Elena Lieven & Michael Tomasello Hannes Rakoczy 5. How inductive reasoning develops: From categories and category relations to scientific reasoning in the classroom Convenor: Aidan Feeney & Catherine Wilburn Presenters: Naomi Sweller, & Brett Hayes Catherine Wilburn & Aidan Feeney Aidan Vitkin, Nadya Vasilyeva & John Coley Michelle Ellefson, John Abrasheff, & Christian Schunn 6. Counterfactual Thinking and Reasoning: A developmental perspective Convenor: Sarah Beck Participants: Eva Rafetseder & Josef Perner Kevin Riggs Clare Walsh & Simon Handley Jennie Ferrell Sarah Gorniaki Frederique Arreckx John Clibbens For paper and poster presentations, please submit an abstract of 200 words max (excluding references), selecting whether you wish your submission to be considered as a presentation or a poster. Depending on the number of abstract submissions, some papers might be accepted as a poster presentation. For symposia presentations please submit an overall description of the theme of the symposium, together with a 200 word abstract for each presentation. Further information relating to submission of abstracts and symposia proposals can be found here: http://www.bpsdevsec07.org/default.asp?page=submit Dr Kirsten Abbot-Smith School of Psychology University of Plymouth Room B213 Portland Square Drake Circus Plymouth PL4 8AA Tel: +44 1752 233152 www.plymouth.ac.uk/staff/kabbotsmith