The Evolution of Arbitrariness
Workshop at the Joint Conference on Language Evolution
Kanazawa, Japan, and online, September 5-8, 2022.
13:30 to 15:30 Japan Standard Time (06:30 - 08:30 CEST)
Workshop at the Joint Conference on Language Evolution
Kanazawa, Japan, and online, September 5-8, 2022.
13:30 to 15:30 Japan Standard Time (06:30 - 08:30 CEST)
Image: Pixabay.
A critical feature of language is that the form of words need not bear any perceptual similarity to their meaning or function - these relationships can be 'arbitrary'. The capacity to process arbitrary form-meaning associations is key to the diversity and the enormous expressive power of human languages.
Yet, despite the significance of this topic and its long-standing importance to the language sciences, the evolutionary roots of our capacity for arbitrariness have gone largely unexamined. Filling this gap requires a novel interdisciplinary research effort, drawing together methods and insights from: theoretical and empirical linguistics, evolutionary linguistics, conceptual analysis, and comparative research on animal communication.
Our workshop The Evolution of Arbitrariness will provide an interdisciplinary platform for discussing the nature and evolutionary origins of arbitrariness. In particular, it will focus on the conceptual issues surrounding the definition of the notion of arbitrariness, on the extent to which arbitrariness is unique to language, and on what evolutionary pressures may have shaped its origin. By doing so, we aim to strengthen the synergies between arbitrariness research in human and animal communication, and identify promising directions for future cross-disciplinary research on the evolution of this crucial capacity.
Dr. Zanna Clay - University of Durham
Dr. Ronald Planer - University of Melbourne
Dr. Bodo Winter - University of Birmingham
Dr. Marcus Perlman - University of Birmingham
Schedule
13:30 - 15:30 Japanese standard time (06:30 - 08:30 CEST)
❖ 13:30- 13:55 Session #1: The Evolution of Arbitrariness - An introductory overview (20’ + 5’).
➢ Speaker: Piera Filippi
❖ 13:55 - 14:20 Session #2: Strong Arbitrariness(20’ + 5’).
➢ Speaker: Ronald Planer
❖ 14:20 - 14:45 Session #3: Arbitrariness and language (20’ + 5’).
➢ Speaker: Bodo Winter & Marcus Perlman
❖ 14:45-15:10 Session #4: What primates have to say about the evolution of arbitrariness (20’ + 5’).
➢ Speaker: Zanna Clay
❖ 15:10-15:30 Open-floor discussion (20’)
➢ Chair: Hans-Johann Glock
Piera Filippi - University of Zürich
A postdoc at the University of Zurich exploring the biological roots of human language in animal vocal communication, with a special focus on emotional voice intonation. To do so, she combines work in philosophy of language, biology and psycholinguistics.
Personal page • Twitter • Publications • Email: pie.filippi@gmail.com
Luca Gasparri - CNRS & STL, University of Lille
A researcher at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) specializing in philosophy of language and natural language semantics.
Personal page • Email: luca.gasparri@cnrs.fr
Stuart K Watson - University of Zürich
A postdoc at the University of Zürich whose work explores how animals learn from and communicative with one another, and what this can tell us about our own evolutionary origins.
Personal page • Twitter • Publications • Email: stuart.watson@uzh.ch