CFP: Investigating Semantics: Empirical and Philosophical Approaches

Call for Papers: Extended deadline

Bochum, October 10-12, 2013
Venue: Ruhr-University-Bochum
http://www.rub.de/phil-lang/investigating/

ORGANIZATION
Erica Cosentino, Dirk Kindermann, Max Kölbel, Maria Spychalska, Markus Werning.

Natural language semantics is today a wide-ranging and methodologically diverse discipline. One can distinguish broadly between those who use experimental methods from those who don't. Mostly, semanticists in psychology or neuro-science work experimentally, while philosophers, logicians and linguists work non-experimentally. However, the variety of approaches and methods among both groups is huge. Even within the camp of theoretical semantics there are numerous communities: formal semantics, possible world semantics, discourse representation theory, etc. The same heterogeneity is present in the camp of empirical researchers: psycho- and neuro-linguistics, corpus linguistics, etc. The aim of the workshop is to bring together these different branches which are often working on very related topics. The workshop will not only present the variety of empirical and theoretical approaches to semantics, but also invites explicit discussions of the neurobiological and psychological basis of semantics as well as its methods, and epistemology.


INVITED SPEAKERS
Giosue Baggio (SISSA, Triest)
Derek Ball (U St. Andrews)
Emma Borg (U Reading)
Anna Borghi (U Bologna)
Manfred Krifka (ZAS, Berlin)
Gina Kuperberg (MGH, Tufts U)
Ira Noveck (CNRS, Lyon)
Paul Pietroski (U Maryland)
Michiel van Lambalgen (U Amsterdam)

We invite abstract submissions for papers (25+5 min) and posters related to the topics of the conference.

Exemplary topics:
- Compositionality
- Computational complexity in language
- Discourse semantics
- Generalized quantifiers
- Implicatures and presuppositions
- Interfaces between syntax, semantics and pragmatics
- Lexical semantics
- Possible worlds semantics
- The nature of meaning: abstract-symbolic or embodied-stimulative
- etc.

Methods:
- Formal semantics
- General philosophical issues regarding semantics
- Philosophy of linguistics
- Semantics in experimental philosophy – experimental pragmatics
- Semantics with corpus-linguistic methods
- Semantics with neuro-linguistic methods
- Semantics with psycho-linguistic methods
- etc.

Abstract Submission Deadline (Extended): June 30, 2013

CONTACT: [email protected].