22.2044, Confs: Cognitive Science, Ling Theories/USA

Thu May 12 17:19:12 UTC 2011

LINGUIST List: Vol-22-2044. Thu May 12 2011. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 22.2044, Confs: Cognitive Science, Ling Theories/USA

Moderators: Anthony Aristar, Eastern Michigan U <aristar at linguistlist.org>
            Helen Aristar-Dry, Eastern Michigan U <hdry at linguistlist.org>

Reviews: Veronika Drake, U of Wisconsin-Madison  
Monica Macaulay, U of Wisconsin-Madison  
Rajiv Rao, U of Wisconsin-Madison  
Joseph Salmons, U of Wisconsin-Madison  
Anja Wanner, U of Wisconsin-Madison  
       <reviews at linguistlist.org> 

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org/

The LINGUIST List is funded by Eastern Michigan University, 
and donations from subscribers and publishers.

Editor for this issue: Amy Brunett <brunett at linguistlist.org>
================================================================  

LINGUIST is pleased to announce the launch of an exciting new feature:  
Easy Abstracts! Easy Abs is a free abstract submission and review facility 
designed to help conference organizers and reviewers accept and process 
abstracts online.  Just go to: http://www.linguistlist.org/confcustom, and 
begin your conference customization process today! With Easy Abstracts, 
submission and review will be as easy as 1-2-3!

===========================Directory==============================  

1)
Date: 11-May-2011
From: Tamas Biro [birot at nytud.hu]
Subject: Optimality Theory as a General Cognitive Architecture

-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Thu, 12 May 2011 13:18:27
From: Tamas Biro [birot at nytud.hu]
Subject: Optimality Theory as a General Cognitive Architecture

E-mail this message to a friend:
http://linguistlist.org/issues/emailmessage/verification.cfm?iss=22-2044.html&submissionid=4518876&topicid=4&msgnumber=1

Optimality Theory as a General Cognitive Architecture 
Short Title: OTGCA 

Date: 20-Jul-2011 - 20-Jul-2011 
Location: Boston, MA, USA 
Contact: Tamas Biro 
Contact Email: t.s.biro at uva.nl 
Meeting URL: http://www.birot.hu/events/OTGCA/ 

Linguistic Field(s): Cognitive Science; Linguistic Theories 

Meeting Description: 

Optimality Theory as a General Cognitive Architecture
Workshop held at the 33rd annual meeting of the Cognitive Science Society
July 20, 2011 in Boston, Massachusetts

Organizers: Tamas Biro (t.s.biro at uva.nl) and Judit Gervain (judit.gervain at parisdescartes.fr)

Optimality Theory has been a very popular approach to linguistic phenomena, but how does it relate to (higher) cognition in general? Twenty-five years after the publication of Harmony Theory (Smolensky, 1986), and five years after The Harmonic Mind (Smolensky and Legendre, 2006), this half-day workshop at the 33rd annual meeting of the Cognitive Science Society offers an opportunity to discuss the place of OT (and HG, and the ICS Architecture) within the cognitive sciences at large, as well as applications of OT to domains beyond linguistics.

Harmony Theory (Smolensky, 1986), introduced exactly 25 years ago, became one of the most popular current approaches to linguistics in the form of Optimality Theory (OT, Prince and Smolensky 1993). While most people in the OT camp focus on particular linguistic problems, the underlying motivations of the theory warrant a constant connection between OT and the (computational) cognitive sciences. The aim of this workshop is to discuss the place of Optimality Theory (and related approaches: Harmony Grammar and the ICS Architecture) within the cognitive sciences at large.

In The Harmonic Mind (2006), Smolensky and Legendre repeatedly allude to the possibility of applying their ICS Architecture to a broad spectrum of domains in (higher) cognition, while maintaining the connection between higher (abstract) level description and lower (neural) level processing. At the same time, some scholars have already adopted Optimality Theory to specific, non-linguistic phenomena, including culture and ethical decision making. Thirdly, experimental and computational OT research often tackle issues that fit nicely into the cognitive psychological tradition, thereby building new bridges between linguistics and other cognitive domains.

Yet, it is sad to see the lack of opportunities for scholars working on OT as a general cognitive architecture to share their ideas. Even less collaboration is going on between the OT-camp and those employing utility function-based models in computational biology, psychology or economics. Therefore, the workshop offers a meeting point to those applying OT to non-linguistic domains, as well as an opportunity to discuss the place of OT, HG and ICS within the cognitive sciences.

The half-day-long workshop consists of a key-note address by Paul Smolensky, as well as by papers delivered by Petra Hendriks, Lotte Hogeweg, Geraldine Legendre and Giorgio Magri. Additionally, the workshop will also feature a poster session. 

July 20, 2011, 9:00-12:30.

Preliminary program:

 9:00 
Introduction (Judit Gervain and Tamas Biro)

9:10 
Keynote address by Paul Smolensky (JHU): 
Parallel Distributed Symbol Processing: Well-formedness Optimization and Discretization in Cognition

 9:55 
Giorgio Magri (Institut Jean Nicod):  A Comparison between OT and HG from a Computational Perspective

10:20 
Poster session followed by coffee break

10:50 
Petra Hendriks (U. of Groningen): Asymmetries between Production and Comprehension and the Development of Theory of Mind

11:15 
Douglas M. Jones (U. of Utah): 
Linguistic Grammar and Moral Grammar: The Case of Kinship

11:40 
Lotte Hogeweg (RU Nijmegen): 
Optimality Theory as a General Linguistic Theory

12:05 
Closing address by Geraldine Legendre (JHU)

-----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-22-2044	
----------------------------------------------------------