Norwegian Summer Institute in Language and Mind

Description of the summer institute

The primary aim of the institute is to bring graduate students up to date with developments in the intersection of work on language and mind by presenting classes with leading researchers in the relevant fields. These will include linguists open to philosophical issues, and philosophers focused on linguistics and the cognitive sciences. 

Theme for the institute in 2016: representation in language and mind

Representations and their role in computation have been a central assumption – and preoccupation – in modern linguistics and the cognitive sciences since the cognitive revolution of the early 1960s. Many live research problems hinge on representations: both the specifics in each area (syntax, semantics, vision etc.) – what is represented?; are there multiple levels of representation?; what constraints apply at which levels? – and more general questions – what is a representation?; what claim do we make when we say that something is represented in the mind?; what kinds of evidence bear on such claims? This year’s institute will try to bring together the often disparate discussions of the specific and general issues.

The teaching

There are four strands of classes. Every day of the course there will be classes in three strands, each for 2 to 2½ hours. The teaching will be discursive. We expect that each class will comprise a one-hour lecture and discussion for 1–1½ hour. 

Lectures Syntax

Lecturers: Artemis Alexiadou (Berlin), John Collins (East Anglia) and Terje Lohndal (Trondheim)

Topic: Linguistic representations and the architecture of Minimalism. Issues that may be discussed include: FLN vs. FLB; interfaces; phases; the end of endocentricity; Chomsky’s claim that the FLN is simply recursive merge; distortions due to the demands of the interfaces, particularly linearization and displacement for PF.

Representations in mental systems

Lecturers: John Collins (East Anglia), Frances Egan (Rutgers), Carsten Hansen (Oslo), and Georges Rey (Maryland)

Topic: intentional vs. algebraic readings of cognitive systems including linguistics, vision, and navigation.

Semantics and pragmatics

Lecturers: Nicholas Allott (Oslo), Paul Pietroski (Maryland), and Georges Rey (Maryland)

Topics: How does the representation of word meaning in the linguistic system relate to the representation of thoughts? The notion of I-analyticity. What representations are required to understand an utterance?

Acquisition

Lecturers: Jeff Lidz (Maryland), Janet Fodor (New York), and Neil Smith (University College London)

Topics to include: representation and the role of triggering in the acquisition of phonology and syntax

Goal and methods

The goal of this event is to teach graduate students about the research questions, methods and latest thinking in philosophy and linguistics on topics where the two subjects have intersecting concerns, and in this way to bring about increased dialogue and interaction between philosophers and linguists.

By the end of the course, you will be able to fully engage with cutting-edge research papers on the issues covered. You will understand the content, and be able to critique the evidence/argumentation, and to present their critiques and alternatives in written work.

Financial

The classes at the summer institute are free for all participants! There will also be a free sandwich lunch for all participants on each teaching day.
We also have funding for some travel and accommodation bursaries. All summer institute participants who are current PhD students at institutions affiliated with the Norwegian Graduate Researcher School in Linguistics and Philology will be able to receive bursaries. 
In addition, we have some bursaries for other students, which will be assigned competitively. The deadline for applications for these is 15th April 2016.