Call: Workshop “Embodied meaning goes public – gestures, signs, and other visible linguistic effects of simulation processes”

[Fabian Bross]

*Workshop “Embodied meaning goes public – gestures, signs, and other 
visible linguistic effects of simulation processes”*

December 5-6, 2014 in Stuttgart, Germany

*Basic facts/overview*

Invited speakers/discussants:

-Susan Goldin-Meadow (U Chicago)

-Friedemann Pulvermüller (FU Berlin)

-Benjamin Bergen (UC San Diego)

Date: December 5-6, 2014

Venue: University of Stuttgart, Germany

Organizers: Cornelia Ebert, Fabian Bross, Daniel Hole

*Workshop theme*

When processing language, comprehenders’ motor systems arguably (and 
measurably) become engaged in mental simulation processes (Barsalou 
2008), e.g. hearing a sentence about kicking something causes measurable 
engagement of the brain’s motor system that is responsible for 
controlling leg actions (Pulvermüller, Härle & Hummel2001), or reading a 
story about a long travel significantly increases response times in a 
subsequent judgement task as opposed to reading about a short travel 
(Matlock 2004).

Crucially, it has also been argued that whenever a certain threshold of 
activation is exceeded such simulation processes are externalised as 
body actions, i.e. gestures (Hostetter &Alibabi 2008). Margethis & 
Bergen (2014) emphasise this common basis of mental simulation processes 
and gestures and point to the fact that – independently – gesture 
theorists like David McNeill suggested that gestures are the product of 
mental imagistic representations without relating this fact to embodied 
simulation processes.

This workshop aims at investigating further this more or less unexplored 
connection between inner and outer effects of embodied meaning. While 
gestures are one likely candidate for visible simulation processes, one 
may also ask about the relation of signs in sign languages and mental 
simulation. Although sign languages are known to be conventionalised 
linguistic systems, it is also an established fact that they make use of 
far more iconic means than spoken languages (e.g. Liddell 2003). This 
and the fact that sign languages probably exhibit less cross-linguistic 
variation than spoken languages (Meier 2002) establishes a pressing need 
to ask about the connection of these linguistic systems to questions of 
embodiment.

We invite contributions to all three mentioned fields: embodied meaning, 
gestures, and sign languages, but in particular we encourage to submit 
abstracts that address an interaction between these fields.

Barsalou, L. W. (2008). Cognitive and neural contributions to 
understanding the conceptual system. In: /Current Directions in 
Psychological Science/, 17. 91-95.

Hostetter, A. B. & Alibali, M. W. (2008): Visible embodiment: Gestures 
as simulated action. In: /Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, /15(3). 495-514.

Liddell, S. (2003): /Grammar, Gesture and Meaning in American Sign 
Language/. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Matlock, T. (2004): Fictive motion as cognitive simulation. In: /Memory 
& Cognition/, 32(8). 1389-1400.

Margethis, T. & Bergen, B. (2014). Embodied meaning, inside and out: The 
coupling of gesture and mental simulation. In: Müller, C., Cienki, A., 
Fricke, E., Ladewig, S. H., McNeill, D. & Tessendorf, S. (ed.): 
/Body-Language-Communication/. New York: Mouton de Gruyter. 2000-2007.

Meier, R. P. (2002): Why different, why the same? Explaining effects and 
non-effects of modality upon linguistic structure in sign and speech. 
In: Meier, R. P., Cormier, K. & Quinto-Pozos, D. (ed.): /Modality and 
structure in signed and spoken languages/. Cambridge: Cambridge 
University Press. 1-25.

Pulvermüller, F., Härle, M. & Hummel, F. (2001): Walking or Talking?: 
Behavioral and Neurophysiological Correlates of Action Verb Processing. 
In: /Brain and Language/, 78. 143-168.

*Call for papers*

We welcome submissions for talks (45 min. + 10 min. discussion). 
Proposals must be anonymous and should not exceed two standard pages. 
Please include the name(s) and affiliations(s) as well as the mail 
address of the corresponding author (limited to one per submission) in 
the body of your mail. Your PDF or word files should be submitted to 
embodimentstuttgart at gmail.com <mailto:embodimentstuttgart at gmail.com> by 
September 30, 2014.

We intend to have six slots for presentations filled by way of this call 
for papers.

Pending budget approval the department will offer (partial) 
reimbursement for travel and/or accommodation expenses.

*Important dates*
Deadline for abstract submission: September 30, 2014
Notification of acceptance: Oktober 15, 2014
Workshop dates: December 5-6, 2014



Best regards
Fabian Bross

-- 
Fabian Bross
Universität Stuttgart
Institut für Linguistik/Germanistik
Keplerstrasse 17 (KII), Raum 1.031
D-70174 Stuttgart
fabian.bross at ling.uni-stuttgart.de

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fabianbross.de <http://www.fabianbross.de/>
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