Finding Common Ground: Ecological and Cognitive Perspectives on Language Use

When: June 13-15, 2013

Where: University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT

Deadline for submission:  February 1^, 2013

Conference sponsored by the Department of Psychology of the University of Connecticut, and the Distributed Language Group. We have applied for but not yet received funding from the National Science Foundation

Invited Speakers

Mark Bickhard, Department of Philosophy, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA

Rick Dale, Cognitive and Information Sciences, University of California, Merced, CA

Hanne De Jaegher, Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science, University of the Basque Country, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain   

Simon Garrod, Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland

Bryan Gick, Department of Linguistics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Susan Goldin-Meadow, Department of Psychology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

Alexander Kravchenko, Department of Foreign Languages, Baikal National University of Economics and Law, Irkutsk, Russia

Per Linell, Department of Culture and Communication, Linkoping University, Linkoping, Sweden

Kerry Marsh, Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT

Ruth Millikan, Department of Philosophy, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT

Joanna Raçzaszek-Leonardi, Department of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw,Poland

Gün Semin, Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands

The conference will bring together two research communities with the expectation that their interaction will lead to a richer view of language in its most common and compelling form, ordinary conversations that take place in the context of social activity. One group includes researchers who are committed to or influenced by ecological psychology, and its forceful portrayal of perception and action. The other includes cognitive scientists doing research on language in the context of social interactions that may include other communicative activities such as gestures, eye gaze, and postures. These two important research communities have emerged largely independently of each other, but we believe contributors to them would benefit from direct interaction. Ecological theory lacks a full-bodied and contextually embedded account of public language and needs one, while other experimental and theoretical approaches to public language would be strengthened by a stronger appreciation of an ecological framework.

We invite researchers with an interest in public language from any theoretical perspective to submit abstracts for papers or posters (please specify which one is preferred, or indicate that either is OK). We are particularly interested in explorations of language in its social, embodied (e.g., gestural), pragmatic, and normative dimensions. In short, we are interested in conversing as embodied, ecological engagement.

Talks will be 25 minutes including 5 minutes for discussion.  Deadline for abstracts for papers or posters (300 word limit) is February 1, 2013. Please send them to Carol Fowler or Bert Hodges at the email addresses below.

Organizers: Carol Fowler (carol.fowler@uconn.edu) & Bert Hodges(bert.hodges@uconn.edu) 

We are hoping to publish an edited volume based on papers presented at the conference, and/or a special issue of a journal addressed to language researchers and cognitive scientists. MIT Press has indicated some preliminary interest. For further information visit: http://groundinglanguage.net/