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International meeting of the minds

September 06, 2004

At a conference this month convened by the University of New England, about
60 experts from 15 countries will present the latest research findings on how the human mind determines the structure and function of language. Themes will include the evolution of thought and language, language development in children, and universal properties of languages. Individual papers will support theories such as the evolution of language from planned behaviour, and the shaping of language by the function of the nervous system as a whole.

UNE’s Language and Cognition Cluster, which is organising the conference,
includes several international authorities in their fields. Among these, Professor Brian Byrne will present his latest findings on the interaction of genes and environment in reading ability, and Professor Cliff Goddard will talk about basic meanings, common to all languages, when people talk about their feelings.
A major focus of the conference will be the way we make sense of the world
by grouping things (including speech sounds themselves) into categories.
Presenters from UNE who will approach “categorisation” from different angles
will include Dr Brett Baker (speaking on two Northern Australian languages),
Dr Arcady Blinov (on aspects of categorisation and logic), Dr Dorothea
Cogill-Koez (categorisation in sign languages), and Dr Helen Fraser
(categories of speech sounds).
UNE’s Associate Professor Mike Morwood will present ground-breaking new
archaeological findings that have implications for the antiquity of language, while other UNE presenters will include Dr Drew Khlentzos from the School of Social Science and, from the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, Dr Nick Reid and Dennis Alexander.
The International Language & Cognition Conference 2004 will be at the
Pacific Bay Resort, Coffs Harbour, on September 10, 11 and 12. Those taking
part will include linguists, philosophers, psychologists, palaeoanthropologists, neuroscientists, computer scientists, and others.
UNE’s Language and Cognition Cluster was established several years ago to
promote the exchange of ideas and research results between these disciplines, and to take full advantage of the internationally-recognised expertise available at the Armidale campus.
Influential overseas speakers at the conference will include Mark Steedman,
Professor of Cognitive Science at the University of Edinburgh in the UK, and
Stephen Crain, Professor of Linguistics at the University of Maryland in the
United States. There will be other speakers from the UK and the United
States, as well as from Germany, Italy, Spain, Estonia, Belgium, Taiwan,
South Korea, Japan, France, Israel, Russia and Denmark, and from around
Australia.
Dr Andrea Schalley, Chair of the UNE organising committee, said: “Through
this international, interdisciplinary meeting we aim to foster the
development of new ideas and collaborative research projects in Language and
Cognition, one of the most exciting fields of 21st century science.”
For more information on the conference, see the Web site at:
www.ilcc.une.edu.au .

Posted by Lydia Roberts at September 6, 2004 10:25 AM