37.3541, Confs: Abstraction in Thought, Language, and Creativity (Italy)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-37-3541. Wed 28 Oct 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.3541, Confs: Abstraction in Thought, Language, and Creativity (Italy)

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Date: 23-Oct-2026
From: Marianna Bolognesi [m.bolognesi at unibo.it]
Subject: Abstraction in Thought, Language, and Creativity


Abstraction in Thought, Language, and Creativity
Short Title: Abstraction2027

Date: 29-Apr-2027 - 30-Apr-2027
Location: Bologna, Italy
Contact: Marianna Bolognesi
Contact Email: m.bolognesi at unibo.it
Meeting URL:
https://site.unibo.it/abstraction/en/dissemination/finalconference

Linguistic Field(s): Cognitive Science; Computational Linguistics;
Pragmatics; Psycholinguistics; Semantics

Submission Deadline: 20-Dec-2026

Abstraction, a hallmark of human cognition, can be broadly defined as
the ability to form general concepts or ideas by identifying
similarities and recurring patterns across direct experiences,
linguistic input, or existing conceptual representations (Reilly et
al., 2025). Although concepts can be represented independently of
words, linguistic labels provide powerful cues that facilitate the
formation, organization, and alignment of knowledge into coherent
categories (Mauri, 2021; Rissman & Lupyan, 2024).
Despite its central role in cognition and communication, abstraction
remains a multifaceted phenomenon, approached from different
theoretical perspectives and investigated across disciplines through
diverse methods and metrics (Montefinese et al., 2023; Ravelli et al.,
2024; Villani & Bolognesi, 2026). Questions about abstraction are
fundamental to understanding how we learn (Rozic & Vigliocco, 2026),
categorize (Masini et al., 2018; Borghi, 2023), reason (Winter, 2023),
communicate (Vossen et al., 2018), and create (Veale et al., 2022;
Rambelli et al., 2024), making it a shared concern across disciplines
such as linguistics, cognitive sciences, and artificial intelligence.
The final conference of the ERC-funded project “ABSTRACTION –
Unlocking Meaning from Experience through Language” will bring
together researchers from different disciplines to explore abstraction
in thought (Lamarra et al., 2026), in language (Occhipinti et al.,
2026), and in creativity (Bolognesi & Vernillo, in press).
Participation is free of charge, as the conference is funded by the
ABSTRACTION project; however, registration is required (details will
follow in due course).
We invite linguists from all subdisciplines and career stages,
including PhD candidates and early-career scholars, to submit
abstracts for posters presenting theoretical, empirical,
methodological, or applied work. Topics of interest are listed on the
conference
webpage.(https://site.unibo.it/abstraction/en/dissemination/finalconference).
Invited Speakers (in alphabetical order):
Anna M. Borghi
Tommaso Caselli
Gary Lupyan
Francesca Masini
Caterina Mauri
Maria Montefinese
Giulia Rambelli
Andrea Amelio Ravelli
Tony Veale
Gabriella Vigliocco
Caterina Villani
Piek Vossen
Bodo Winter
Submission Guidelines:
 - Format: poster
 - Language: English
 - Abstract length: up to 400 words, including references
 - Submission: Abstracts should be submitted as PDF attachments to
abstraction-erc at unibo.it
Key Dates:
Submission deadline: December 20, 2026
Notification of acceptance: January 15, 2027
Registration deadline: March 15, 2027
Conference: April 29–30, 2027
The Organizing Committee: Marianna Bolognesi,  Tommaso Lamarra,  Laura
Occhipinti,  Paola Vernillo


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