The Signing Mind Seminar Series started in early 2025 and features researchers who present work on the overall topic of how sign language lexicons are organized in form and meaning, with a special focus on the methodology of free/word associations. The series invites presentations on both signed language research and spoken language research that uses methodologies or analyses that can inform work on sign language. The series was formed through a collaboration between the SemaSign project (led by Hope Morgan at the IDGS, University of Hamburg) and the SIGNifica project (led by Brendan Costello and Marcel Giezen at the BCBL in Spain). Both of these projects involve collecting free association data to map lexical semantic networks of various sign languages and to examine the structure of the sign language lexicon, including how the interaction between semantic and phonological networks may give rise to systematicity and iconicity. Underlying this research is a broader interest in what sign languages reveal about language cognition and how the construction of meaning reflects both embodied and socio-cultural experience.
The languages of the seminar are English and International Sign. We aim to host around 6 online talks throughout the year, typically on Monday afternoons CET (Central European Time), though this schedule depends on the speaker's availability and time zone.
Details about scheduled talks can be found here. To attend a talk, please join our mailing list below to receive the Zoom meeting link.