First CFP: Language, Culture, Mind - Paris 2006

[Jordan Zlatev]

LANGUAGE CULTURE AND MIND CONFERENCE (LCM 2)
PARIS 17-20 JULY 2006

INTEGRATING PERSPECTIVES AND METHODOLOGIES IN THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE

The second 'Language Culture and Mind' Conference (LCM 2) will be held
in Paris
in July 2006, following the successful first LCM conference in
Portsmouth in 2004.
The goals of LCM conferences are to contribute to situating the study of
language
in a contemporary interdisciplinary dialogue, and to promote a better
integration
of cognitive and cultural perspectives in empirical and theoretical
studies of language.

Human natural languages are biologically based, cognitively motivated,
affectively rich, socially shared, grammatically organized symbolic systems.
They provide the principal semiotic means for the complexity and diversity
of human cultural life. As has long been recognized, no single discipline or
methodology is sufficient to capture all the dimensions of this complex and
multifaceted phenomenon, which lies at the heart of what it is to be human.

In the recent past, perception and cognition have been the basis of general
unifying models of language and language activity. However, a genuine
integrative perspective should also involve such essential modalities of
human action as: empathy, mimesis, intersubjectivity, normativity,
agentivity and narrativity. Significant theoretical, methodological and
empirical advancements in the relevant disciplines now provide a realistic
basis for such a broadened perspective.

This conference will articulate and discuss approaches to human natural
language and to diverse genres of language activity which aim to integrate
its cultural, social, cognitive and bodily foundations. We call for
contributions from scholars and scientists in anthropology, biology,
linguistics, philosophy, psychology, semiotics, semantics, discourse
analysis, cognitive and neuroscience, who wish both to impart their insights
and findings, and learn from other disciplines. Preference will be given to
submissions which emphasize interdisciplinarity, the interaction between
culture, mind and language, and/or multi-methodological approaches in
language sciences.

*Topics *include but are not limited to the relation between language and:
- biological and cultural co-evolution
- comparative study of communication systems, whether animal or artificial
- cognitive and cultural schematization
- emergence in ontogeny and phylogeny
- multi-modal communication
- normativity
- thought, emotion and consciousness
- perception and categorization
- empathy and intersubjectivity
- imitation and mimesis
- symbolic activity
- discourse genres in language evolution and ontogeny
- sign, text and literacy

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Caroline David (Université de Montpellier)
Jean-Louis Dessalles (École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications,
Paris)
Jean Lassègue (CNRS, Paris)
Victor Rosenthal (Inserm-EHESS, Paris)
Chris Sinha (University of Portsmouth)
Yves-Marie Visetti (CNRS, Paris)
Joerg Zinken (University of Portsmouth)
Jordan Zlatev (Lund University)

Further information about LCM 2 will be presented at http://www.lcm2006.net

SUBMISSIONS

Submissions are solicited for oral presentations and poster sessions. Oral
presentations should last 20 minutes (plus 10 minutes discussion). All
submissions should follow the abstract guidelines below.

Submissions should be in English. Abstracts should not exceed 1200 words
(about two A4 pages), single-spaced, font size 12 pt or larger, with 2.5 cm
margins on all sides. Any diagrams and references must fit on this two page
submission.

Head material (at the top of the first page):
- Title of the paper,
- Author name(s),
- Author affiliation(s) in brief (1 line),
- Email address of principal author
- Type of submission (oral presentation, poster)

Abstracts should be emailed to submission at lcm2006.net as an ATTACHMENT (i.e.
not included in the message) preferably as a MS Word document, but in PDF or
postscript format if it is necessary to include a diagram or figure.

Please do not send abstracts before December 1st 2005. Abstracts should be
submitted by January 8, 2006. Notification of acceptance by March 30, 2006.
All abstracts will be reviewed by members of the International Scientific
Committee.