29.1704, FYI: Update: Chapter Proposals for Xenolinguistics Book
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LINGUIST List: Vol-29-1704. Fri Apr 20 2018. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.
Subject: 29.1704, FYI: Update: Chapter Proposals for Xenolinguistics Book
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Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2018 13:26:54
From: Douglas Vakoch [dvakoch at meti.org]
Subject: Update: Chapter Proposals for Xenolinguistics Book
Would extraterrestrial intelligence have language? If so, what can we say
about the nature of such language prior to making contact, or before even
knowing whether extraterrestrial intelligence exists? To explore these
questions, chapter proposals are invited for an edited book titled
Xenolinguistics: Toward a Science of Extraterrestrial Language. This book
builds upon the forthcoming Extraterrestrial Intelligence: Cognition and
Communication in the Universe (Oxford University Press, 2018), which is also
edited by Douglas Vakoch. Proposals in all areas of linguistics are
encouraged, as are proposals exploring the distinctive nature of language when
compared with nonhuman communication systems.
Confirmed contributors include:
- “Universal or Terrestrial Grammar?”
Ian Roberts, University of Cambridge, UK; Noam Chomsky, MIT, USA; and Jeffrey
Watumull, Oceanit, USA
- “Where Does Universal Grammar Fit in the Universe?: Human Cognition and the
Strong Minimalist Thesis”
Jeffrey Punske, Southern Illinois University, USA; and Bridget D. Samuels,
University of Southern California, USA
- “Communicative Resources Beyond the Verbal Tier: A View of Xenolinguistics
from Multimodal Interactional Linguistics”
Heike Ortner, University of Innsbruck, Austria
- “Alien Writing Systems”
Daniel Harbour, Queen Mary University of London, UK
- “Could the Walrus Really Talk with the Carpenter?: Impact of Embodiment on
Language Development in Extraterrestrial Intelligence”
Sheri Wells-Jensen, Bowling Green State University, USA
- “Language Design Features: Violated for Extraterrestrial Intelligence?”
Darcy Sperlich, National Central University, Taiwan
- “How Might Humans Linguistically Adapt to Communication with an ET?”
Laura Welcher, The Long Now Foundation, USA
- “Patterns of Communication of Human Complex Societies as a Blueprint for
Alien Communication”
Anamaria Berea, University of Maryland, USA
- “A Linguistic Perspective on the Drake Equation: Knowns and Unknowns for
Human Languages and Extraterrestrial Communication”
Daniel Ross, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
- “Many Ways to Say Things: What the Diversity of Animal Communication on
Earth Can Tell Us About the Likely Nature of Alien Language”
Arik Kershenbaum, University of Cambridge, UK
- “Interspecies Communication: What Decoding Cross-species Communication
Signals on Earth Can Tell Us About Deciphering Alien Languages”
Denise Herzing, Wild Dolphin Project and Florida Atlantic University, USA
- “Why Do We Assume That We Can Decode Alien Languages?”
Con Slobodchikoff, Northern Arizona University, USA
Interested authors should send a 400-word abstract, 200-word biography, and
sample of a previously published chapter or article to Douglas Vakoch at
dvakochmeti.org by May 15, 2018. Proposers will be notified about whether
their submissions are accepted for the book by May 30, 2018. For accepted
proposals, first drafts of full chapters (5,000 words) are due by October 1,
2018, and final versions are due December 1, 2018. Only previously unpublished
papers from authors who have already earned a doctorate will be considered.
Chapters should be fully referenced and written in a scholarly style for an
audience of linguists, animal communication researchers, and scientists
engaged in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI).
Given that we have no examples of extraterrestrial intelligence to study, and
no empirical proof that such intelligence even exists, there are significant
methodological constraints on attempting to anticipate the nature of
extraterrestrial language. Chapters that highlight these constraints are
especially welcome.
Authors who address possible contact between human and extraterrestrial
intelligence should focus on scenarios in which contact is via radio or laser
signals transmitted across interstellar space, rather than via face-to-face
contact. Proposals that discuss of the possibilities and/or limitations of
using natural language to communicate with extraterrestrial intelligence at
interstellar distances are welcome.
The editor of Xenolinguistics: Toward a Science of Extraterrestrial Language,
Douglas Vakoch, is President of METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial
Intelligence), http://meti.org. He has edited fifteen books, including
Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SUNY Press, 2011),
Astrobiology, History, and Society: Life Beyond Earth and the Impact of
Discovery (Springer, 2013), Archaeology, Anthropology, and Interstellar
Communication (NASA, 2014), _Extraterrestrial Altruism: Evolution and Ethics
in the Cosmos_ (Springer, 2014), and (with Matthew Dowd) The Drake Equation:
Estimating the Prevalence of Extraterrestrial Life Through the Ages (Cambridge
University Press, 2015).
Linguistic Field(s): Anthropological Linguistics
Applied Linguistics
Clinical Linguistics
Cognitive Science
Computational Linguistics
Discipline of Linguistics
Discourse Analysis
General Linguistics
Genetic Classification
Historical Linguistics
History of Linguistics
Language Acquisition
Language Documentation
Lexicography
Linguistic Theories
Morphology
Neurolinguistics
Philosophy of Language
Phonetics
Phonology
Pragmatics
Psycholinguistics
Semantics
Sociolinguistics
Syntax
Text/Corpus Linguistics
Translation
Typology
Writing Systems
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