Conference: Workshop on Verbal Elasticity

Workshop on Verbal Elasticity
Framing the Verb/Satellite Distinction from a Biolinguistic Perspective
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona - October 3-5, 2011.

Much recent literature has been devoted to study the parametric factors that determine what information (path, manner, result, etc.) can be encoded in verbs, which lies at the heart of typological distinctions such as Talmy's cut between 'satellite-framed' vs. 'verb-framed' languages (Acedo 2010, Demonte 2010, Folli 2002, Talmy 2000, and references therein). Most proposals on this topic focus on the question whether such a distinction is to be attributed to the differences between the categories V and P (Fábregas 2007, Gehrke 2008), the availability of some additional mechanism available only in certain languages ('manner incorporation', 'lexical subordination', etc.; Harley 2005, Haugen 2009, Mateu & Rigau 2008, McIntyre 2004, Zubizarreta & Oh 2007), and the possibility that the relevant parameter has additional consequences outside the VP domain (Demonte 1991, Folli & Ramchand 2005, Snyder 1995, 2001, Svenonius & Son 2008).

This workshop aims at discussing the nature of the 'satellite-framed' vs. 'verb-framed' distinction, its cross-linguistic complexities (resultatives, the P-V interaction, N-N compounding, P stranding, etc.), and its relevance for the study of variation within the context of the biolinguistic enterprise (Boeckx 2006, 2009, Di Sciullo & Boeckx 2011, Piattelli-Palmarini et al. 2009, and references therein) and minimalism (Biberauer 2008, Biberauer et al. 2010, Chomsky 1993 and sub., Chomsky & Berwick 2011, and others).

The workshop is organized by Centre de Lingüística Teòrica at UAB within the research project FFI2010-20634 (subprograma FILO) ‘A New Biolinguistic Orientation for Linguistic Variation’, whose PI is Cedric Boeckx.

Invited Speakers:

Heidi Harley (University of Arizona)
Jaume Mateu (Centre de Lingüística Teòrica - Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
Gillian Ramchand (University of Tromsø)
Koji Sugisaki (Mie University)
Juan Uriagereka (University of Maryland)
María Luisa Zubizarreta (University of Southern California) & Dong-sik Lim (Centro Superior de Investigaciones Científicas)

Call for Papers:

Abstracts are invited for oral presentations (30 minute presentation, plus 10 minute question period) on any topic that contributes to improving our understanding on the described topics. Abstracts should be at most two pages long (A4 paper), including examples and references, with 1 inch/2.5 cm. margins on all sides and 12 font size. The abstract should have a title but should not identify the author(s). Submissions are limited to 1 individual and 1 joint abstract per author.

Abstracts should be written in English, and must be submitted electronically only in PDF format to the following address: biolinguistics.bcngmail.com

The deadline for submission is May 23rd 2011.

Organizing Committee:

Víctor Acedo-Matellán (CLT-UAB)
Cedric Boeckx (ICREA & CLT-UAB)
Ángel J. Gallego (CLT-UAB)

Call for papers: Biolinguistics Workshop at 2012 LSA Annual Meeting

In conjunction with the LSA Special Interest Group on Biolinguistics, we invite the submission of abstracts for a proposed Workshop on Biolinguistics at the 2012 LSA Annual Meeting (Portland, January 5-8). We invite abstracts on any aspect of the biolinguistic enterprise, keeping in mind that the Special Interest Group on Biolinguistics was founded in part to “contribute to the field by helping to identify what makes biolinguistics ‘bio’ (and ‘linguistic’), initiate discussions on how it differs from previous models of generative grammar (and how it doesn’t), debate whether generative grammar is actually a prerequisite… and so on.”

Abstracts should be between 200-500 words and need not be anonymous. (The LSA reviews Workshop proposals non-anonymously.) Please, no more than one single-authored and one joint-authored abstract per person. All participants are required to be LSA members. However, anyone may submit an abstract, so long as they join the LSA if they ultimately present.

Please send abstracts, preferably in PDF format, by April 10, 2011 to:

Kleanthes Grohmann at kleanthi@ucy.ac.cy

Bridget Samuels at bridget@umd.edu

Biolinguistics videos

Thanks to Joel Zavala Tovar, here are some links to video lectures about the biolinguistic enterprise:

• Noam Chomsky, "The biology of the language faculty: its perfection, past & future"
• Sam Epstein & Dan Seely, "The anatomy of biolinguistic minimalism"

Conference: EVOLANG

Conference: EVOLANG
March 13-16, 2012
Kyoto, Japan
http://kyoto.evolang.org/

The 9th International Conference on the Evolution of Language invites substantive contributions relating to the evolution of human language. Submissions may be in any relevant discipline, including, but not limited to, anthropology, archeology, artificial life, biology, cognitive science, genetics, linguistics, modeling, paleontology, physiology, primatology, and psychology. Normal standards of academic excellence apply. Submitted papers should aim to make clear their own substantive claim, relating this to relevant scientific literature, and briefly setting out the method by which the claim is substantiated, the nature of the relevant data, and/or the core of the theoretical argument concerned. Submissions may be theory-based, but empirical studies should not rest on preliminary results.

TYPES OF SUBMISSION
Attendees are limited to one first-authored podium presentation and one first-authored poster per person. There is no limit on second-authored presentations or posters. There are two possible types of submission: Full Papers, which can have a length of between 6 and 8 pages, and Abstracts, which can be up to 2 pages long. All accepted submissions will be published in the proceedings of the conference in a bound volume. All papers or abstracts accepted will be allotted the same presentation length (probably 25 minutes plus 10 minutes discussion). In addition to podium presentations, a dedicated poster session will be held. There will be prizes for the best student presentation and the best poster (from any author); please see below. Please indicate whether your submission is to be considered for inclusion as a talk only, a poster only, or both. Submissions should be made via the conference website http://kyoto.evolang.org/.

PRIZES
The Hurford Prize, which is sponsored by Oxford University Press, is awarded at each Evolang conference to the best student presentation, as judged by the Evolang organising committee. The prize is 200GBP of OUP books.

The Interaction Studies Best Poster Prize is sponsored by John Benjamins. It is open to all, and includes a 200 euro cash award, and a year’s free subscription to Interaction Studies.


Submissions due: 15 August 2011 http://kyoto.evolang.org/
Acceptance notifications: 15 October 2011
Final versions due: 1 November 2011

Group leaders sought at SISSA

The Cognitive Neuroscience Sector at SISSA, in Trieste, Italy, seeks to recruit 2 independent group leaders, one to carry out research in Brain and Language and the other in Cognitive Neuroscience of Social Behaviour. The positions are for 3 years, renewable for 3 more.

The call for applications, in Italian for bureaucratic reasons, is available athttp://www.sissa.it/main/?p=A3_B4&id=933, with deadline February 28. Candidates are sought worldwide, and all academic activities at SISSA are conducted in English.

SISSA is one of the three purely postgraduate and postdoctoral institutions within the Italian university system, consistently ranked at the top by measures ranging from publications to external funding to visibility outside of Italy. It is keen to enhance its international character and its intellectual diversity. The Sector currently has 25 PhD students supported on SISSA fellowships, over half of whom are not Italians. Postdocs, however, are normally supported by individual research funding. Faculty members are required to teach limited PhD mini-courses, and to individually supervise the research of students in their groups. Further information about the Sector can be found on the http://www.sissa.it/cns/ and informal inquiries are welcome, e.g. by e-mail to alessandrotreves@gmail.com, with a CV attached, or by phone +39-040-3787623

--

SISSA - Cognitive Neuroscience - via Bonomea 265, 34136 Trieste, Italy
rm:241 tel:39040-3787623 fax:39040-3787528
http://people.sissa.it/~ale

Recently in the headlines

• BBC: Sundance festival documentary tells story of chimp raised as baby (video re: Nim Chimpsky)
• SD: Evolution by mistake: major driving force comes from how organisms cope with errors at cellular level
• NG: Fish as good as college students in numbers test
• SD: Border collie comprehends over 1,000 object names as verbal referents; NS: Border collie takes record for biggest vocabulary
• Physorg: Japan bio-scientists produce 'singing mouse' + Video
• SD: Mom's voice plays special role in activating newborn's brain
• Berkeley: Our brains are wired so we can better hear ourselves speak, new study shows
• NS: Sleepy bees slur their waggle dance moves (includes video)

Conference: Protolang

Conference: Protolang
Torun, Poland
September 19-21, 2011

Protolang is a biennial conference organised by the Department of English, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun. One of the primary goals of this conference is bringing together researchers representing a variety of areas in order to gain a multidisciplinary perspective on the range of currently available evidence relevant to early language evolution. The focus of the conference is on the early stages of the emergence of symbolic, language-like communication in hominids. The conference will reflect the inherently interdisciplinary nature of research into the evolution of language. We invite papers from a wide range of subjects related to language evolution.

Keynote Speakers:

John Gowlett (University of Liverpool; Lucy to Language British Academy Project) - "Language Beginnings – a view from the early archaeological record"

Juliane Kaminski (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology) - "Do dogs get the point"

Adam Kendon (Institute for Research in Cognitive Science, University of Pennsylvania)- "An evolutionary approach to explaining why patterned visible bodily action commonly occurs when people speak"

Katie Slocombe (Department of Psychology, University of York)
"Vocal communication in chimpanzees"

Call for papers (due May 30) here: http://protolang.umk.pl