Call deadline: 15 July 2012
Event Dates: 22-27 July 2013
Event Location: Geneva, Switzerland 
Event URL: http://www.cil19.org/ateliers/advances-in-biolinguistics/


This workshop focuses on advances on the understanding of the biological basis of language (Lenneberg 1967, Jenkins 2000, 2004, Chomsky 2002, 2005, 2011, Piattelli-Palmarini et al. 2009, Larson et al 2010, Di Sciullo et al. 2010, Di Sciullo and Boeckx 2011). The workshop invites contributions where specific biolinguistic hypotheses are substantiated by theoretical linguistics evidence, empirical data and biological/natural world evidence. The workshop includes the following thematic sessions: 

1. Language and biology
2. Language typology and language universals
3. The effects of natural laws

Session 1 Language and biology, addresses the question of how studies in language and genetics, language and the brain contribute to our understanding of the nature of syntax, morphology, the lexicon, and their interfaces with the other cognitive systems.

Session 2 Language typology and language universals, considers how biolinguistic studies on language evolution and variation shed new light on language typology, and the study of language universals. The questions raised in this session are the following: how is variation and change in the natural world related to language variation and change, and how the biolinguistic perspective may lead to new approaches to language typology and universals. 

Session 3 The effects of natural laws, discusses recent proposals on the effect of natural laws, such as prominence, symmetry breaking, reaction-diffusion, preservation of the shape etc. on language derivations and representations, on language variation and evolution, and on language acquisition. How do these laws interact with natural language?

Videos of the plenary lectures from the recent Evolang9 conference in Kyoto are now available online at:
http://ocw.kyoto-u.ac.jp/international-conference-en/31 

The videos of the Kyoto Conference on Biolinguistics are also now available at:
http://ocw.kyoto-u.ac.jp/international-conference-en/30

The group of Bart de Boer at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel has three PhD positions on evolution of speech available.

3 PhD positions on evolution of speech

Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
Deadline: July first 2012
Envisaged starting date: September 2012

The AI-lab of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel is looking for three PhD students that will work on Bart de Boer’s European Research Council project “ABACUS”. The ABACUS project investigates (evolution of) cognitive mechanisms for dealing with combinatorial speech. It uses a combination of iterated learning experiments, individual learning experiments and computational modeling. For each of these lines of research, a PhD position is available. The PhDs of the different projects are expected to cooperate closely with each other.

The iterated learning project

The work consists of designing, performing and describing iterated learning experiments based on learning and reproduction of continuous, speech-like signals.

A candidate must have (or be about to obtain) a master’s degree in psycholinguistics, cognitive science or equivalent and have experience in doing experiments with human participants. Experience with speech/language research as well as affinity with computational models are a plus.

The individual learning project

The work consists of designing, performing and describing individual learning experiments based on learning and reproduction of continuous, speech-like signals. A candidate must have (or be about to obtain) a master’s degree in psycholinguistics, cognitive science or equivalent experience in doing experiments with human participants. Experience with speech/language research as well as affinity with computational models are a plus.

The computational project

The work consists of designing, implementing, investigating and describing computer models for learning and reproducing continuous, speech-like signals.

A candidate must have (or be about to obtain) a master’s degree in computer science, artificial intelligence or equivalent and have experience in building learning systems. Experience with speech/language research as well as affinity with experimental work are a plus.

The PhD candidates will be remunerated with a scholarship (ca. 36000 euros per year before taxes), and money for travel and hiring research assistants is available. We are looking for candidates with a serious interest in a scientific career and with good writing skills. For details on the projects, on conditions and on how to apply, see:
https://ai.vub.ac.be/members/bart
under “vacancies”