Political and Social Aspects of Language and Mathematics (PSALM)

The goal of the workshop is to bring together linguists, philosophers and historians of mathematics to discuss how linguistic and mathematical practices are influenced by their social, historical and political contexts.

Day 1: Thursday, October 12

9:00: Welcome

9:30-11:30: Language and mathematics in ancient Asia

Karine Chemla: ""Social and linguistic aspects of computing in 7th century China"

Brendan Gillon: "The syntax and semantics of Chinese numerals as described in the Shushujiyi (數書記遺 )"

14:00-16:00: Language and mathematics in the medieval Mediterranean world

Eleonora Sammarchi: "Lexical choices in the algebra of the Mediterranean world"

Margherita Farina: “Grammar and mathematics in the Syriac world”

16:30-17:30: Language and mathematics during the French Revolution

Tabea Rohr: “Social construction in language and mathematics: A case study from the French Revolution”

17h30 - 18h30: General Discussion

Day 2: Friday, October 13

10:00-12:00: Language and mathematics in 17th century France

Wendy Ayres-Bennett: "Linguistic ideologies and linguistic practices in seventeenth-century France"

Sébastien Maronne: "Speaking mathematics as an honnête homme"

14:00-16:00: Language, mathematics and gender

Deborah Cameron: "Language, gender and sex-difference science"

Sarah Pourciau: "Riemann Space: Khora and mathematical concept formation"

16:30-17:30: Speech acts in mathematics

Giorgio Venturi: "Mathematics: a language without authority"

17:30 - 18h30: General discussion

Speakers

Wendy Ayres-Bennett (University of Cambridge, UK)

Deborah Cameron (Oxford University, UK)

Karine Chemla (SPHERE, UMR 7219, CNRS & Université Paris Cité, France)

Margherita Farina (Laboratoire d'Histoire des Théories Linguistiques UMR 7587 CNRS, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Université Paris Cité, France)

Brendan Gillon (McGill University, Canada)

Sébastien Maronne (Université de Toulouse 3 Paul Sabatier, Institut de Mathématiques de Toulouse, France)

Sarah Pourciau (Duke University, Durham, NC, USA)

Tabea Rohr (Laboratoire de Linguistique Formelle, UMR 7110 CNRS & Université Paris Cité, France)

Eleonora Sammarchi (ETH-Zürich, Switzerland and Laboratoire SPHERE, Université Paris Cité, France).

Giorgio Venturi (University of Pisa, Italy)

Organized by Andrew Arana (Université de Lorraine, Archives Poincaré, UMR 7117 CNRS), Heather Burnett (Laboratoire de Linguistique Formelle, UMR 7110 CNRS & Université Paris Cité), and Tabea Rohr (Laboratoire de Linguistique Formelle, UMR 7110 CNRS & Université Paris Cité)

Registration: Registration is free but obligatory. Please send an email [email protected],[email protected], [email protected] 

This workshop has received funding from the ERC under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement N°850539).