28.4384, Calls: Cog Sci, Comp Ling, Gen Ling, Historical Ling/Estonia

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-28-4384. Mon Oct 23 2017. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 28.4384, Calls: Cog Sci, Comp Ling, Gen Ling, Historical Ling/Estonia

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Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2017 15:09:10
From: Stefan Hartmann [stefan1.hartmann at uni-bamberg.de]
Subject: New Directions in Language Evolution Research

 
Full Title: New Directions in Language Evolution Research 
Short Title: NewDirLangev 

Date: 29-Aug-2018 - 01-Sep-2018
Location: Tallinn, Estonia 
Contact Person: Stefan Hartmann
Meeting Email: newdir.langev at gmail.com

Linguistic Field(s): Cognitive Science; Computational Linguistics; General Linguistics; Historical Linguistics 

Call Deadline: 10-Nov-2017 

Meeting Description:

Research on language evolution is undoubtedly among the fastest-growing topics
in linguistics. This is not a coincidence: While scholars have always been
interested in the origins and evolution of language, it is only now that many
questions can be addressed empirically drawing on a wealth of data and a
multitude of methodological approaches developed in the different disciplines
that try to find answers to what has been called ''the hardest problem in
science'' (Christiansen & Kirby 2003). Importantly, any theory of how language
may have emerged requires a solid understanding of how language and other
communication systems work. As such, the questions in language evolution
research are manifold and interface in multiple ways with key open questions
in historical and theoretical linguistics: What exactly makes human language
unique compared to animal communication systems?  How do cognition,
communication and transmission shape grammar? Which factors can explain
linguistic diversity? How and why do languages change? To what extent is the
structure of language(s) shaped by extra-linguistic, environmental factors? 

Over the last 20 years or so, evolutionary linguistics has set out to find
answers to these and many more questions. As, e.g., Dediu & De Boer (2016)
have noted, the field of language evolution research is currently coming of
age, and it has developed a rich toolkit of widely-adopted methods both for
comparative research, which investigates the commonalities and differences
between human language and animal communication systems, and for studying the
cumulative cultural evolution of sign systems in experimental settings,
including both computational and behavioral approaches. In addition,
large-scale typological studies have gained importance in recent research on
language evolution.
The goal of this workshop is to discuss innovative theoretical and
methodological approaches that go beyond the current state of the art by
proposing and empirically testing new hypotheses, by developing new or
refining existing methods for the study of language evolution, and/or by
reinterpreting the available evidence in the light of innovative theoretical
frameworks. In this vein, we aim at bringing together researchers from
multiple disciplines and theoretical backgrounds to discuss the latest
developments in language evolution research. Topics include, but are not
limited to, 

- Experimental approaches investigating the emergence and/or development of
sign systems in frameworks such as experimental semiotics (e.g. Galantucci &
Garrod 2010) or artificial language learning (e.g. Kirby et al. 2014)
- Empirical research on non-human communication systems as well as comparative
research on animal cognition with respect to its relevance for the evolution
of cognitive prerequisites for fully-fledged human language (Kirby 2017)
- Approaches using computational modeling and robotics (Steels 2011) in order
to investigate problems like the grounding of symbol systems in non-symbolic
representations (Harnad 1990), the emergence of the particular features that
make human language unique (Kirby 2017, Smith 2014), or the question to what
extent these features are domain-specific, i.e. evolved by natural selection
for a specifically linguistic function (Culbertson & Kirby 2016)
- Research that explicitly combines expertise from multiple different
disciplines, e.g. typology and neurolinguistics (Bickel et al. 2015);
genomics, archaeology, and linguistics (Pakendorf 2014, Theofanopoulou et al.
2017); comparative biology and philosophy of language (Moore 2016); and many
more.

Convenors:

Stefan Hartmann (University of Bamberg), Jonas Nölle (University of
Edinburgh), Peeter Tinits (University of Tallinn)


Call for Papers:

If you are interested in participating in the proposed workshop, please send
an abstract (c. 300 words) to the organizers (newdir.langev at gmail.com) by
November 10. We will let you know by November 15 if your paper is eligible for
the proposed workshop. If our workshop proposal is accepted, you will be
required to submit an anonymous abstract of ca. 500 words via the SLE
submission system by January 15. If our proposal is not accepted or if we
cannot accommodate your paper in the workshop, you can still submit your
abstract as a general session paper.




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