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Posted: 6/20/2022
Joint Conference on Language Evolution
This event completed.
Joint Conference on Language Evolution (Kanazawa, Japan & Online, September 5th-8th, 2022) co-organized by Evolang, Protolang, and Evolinguistics invites substantive contributions relating to the evolution of human language. This joint conference will provide an unprecedented opportunity to bring together all the language evolution research communities, enabling a global platform for interdisciplinary discussion. Submissions may be in any relevant discipline, including, but not limited to, anthropology, archeology, artificial life, biology, cognitive science, genetics, linguistics, modeling, neuroscience, paleontology, physiology, primatology, and psychology. Now call for papers and workshop proposals of Joint Conference on Language Evolution is out.Deadline for workshop proposals: January 19th, 2022 Deadline for paper / abstract submission: February 15th, 2022.
Please see below;
This event completed. Date :2021/8/31 (Tue) 17:30-19:00 JST/2021/8/31(Tue)9:30 BST Venue : Zoom （room information will be informed to participant applicant later) Lecturer:Robin Dunbar (Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, UK) Title:Why Only Humans Have Language Language:English
To join the seminar, please access here
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Posted: 8/5/2021
16th Evolinguistics Seminar
This event completed
Date :2021/8/3 (Tue) 17:30-19:00 JST Venue : Zoom （room information will be informed to participant applicant later) Lecturer:Mutsumi Imai (Professor,Faculty of Environmental Information, Keio University） Title:Inference involved in lexical acquisition: from grounding the first words to the construction of mature lexical systems Language:Japanese
If you have any question, please contact Evolinguisitics secretariat.
Posted: 7/7/2021
15th Evolinguistics Seminar
This event completed and now on You tube. Please apply here
Date :2021/6/30(Wed）17:30-19:00 JST （2021/6/30(Wed）10:30-12:00 CEST) Venue : Zoom （room information will be informed to participant applicant later) Lecturer:Thom Scott-Phillips (Senior Research Scientist, the Social Mind Center and the Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University (Budapest) Title:Understanding animal linguistics
If you have any question, please contact Evolinguisitics secretariat.
Posted: 6/4/2021
14th Evolinguistics Seminar
This event completed and now on You tube. Please apply here Date :2021/6/11 (Fri) 18:00-19:30 JST Venue : Zoom （room information will be informed to participant applicant later) Lecturer: Juichi Yamagiwa (Director-General, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature) Title: Consideration on the evolution of co-creative communication Language:Japanese
To join the seminar, please access here
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Posted: 6/4/2021
13th Evoinguistics Seminar
This event completed and now on You tube. Please apply here
Date :2021/5/12 (Wed) 9:30-11:00 JST (5/11 20:30-22:00 EDT summer time) Venue : Zoom （room information will be informed to participant applicant later) Lecturer: Charles Yang (Professor, Department of Linguistics, Computer Science, and Psychology, University of Pennsylvania) https://www.ling.upenn.edu/~ycharles/ Title:Ready to Learn Language:Japanese
To join the seminar, please access here
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Posted: 4/30/2021
12th Evolinguistics Seminar
This event completed and now on You tube. Please apply here.
Date :2021/4/28(Wed）17:30-19:00 JST Venue : Zoom （room information will be informed to participant applicant later) Lecturer:Kazumi Taniguchi （Professor, Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University) Title:Understanding animal linguistics
If you have any question, please contact Evolinguisitics secretariat.
poster
Posted: 4/19/2021
【11th Evolinguistics seminar】
This event completed. Date :2021/4/2 (Fri）17:30-19:00 JST Venue : Zoom （room information will be informed to participant applicant later) Lecturer:Reiko Mazuka, Team Leader, RIKEN Center for Brain Science Title:Intonational Phonology can shed light on the nature of prosody in Japanese children with ASD
:Dissociating linguistic and para-linguistic aspects of intonation Language:Japanese
If you have any question, please contact Evolinguisitics secretariat.
Posted: 3/17/2021
【10th Evolinguistics Seminar 】
This event completed.
Date :2021/3/16 (Tue）17:30-19:00 JST Venue : Zoom （room information will be informed to participant applicant later) Lecturer:Kei Ito Professer,
University of Cologne, Institute of Zoology Experimental Morphology/Neuroanatomy Title:Whole brain connectome analysis using the fruit fly Drosophila brain Language:Japanese
If you have any question, please contact Evolinguisitics secretariat.
Posted: 3/1/2021
9th Evolinguistics Seminar
This event completed.
Date :2021/2/22 (Mon）15:00-17:00 JST Venue : Zoom （room information will be informed to participant applicant later) Lecturer:Toshiharu Matsumoto Representative, Center for Title:Autistic children rarely talk in Tsugaru dialect Language:Japanese
If you have any question, please contact Evolinguisitics secretariat.
Posted: 1/19/2021
8th Evolinguistics seminar
This event completed. Date :2021/2/10 (Thu）17:30:00-19:00 JST Venue : Zoom （room information will be informed to participant applicant later) Lecturer:Hiroto Yonenoh Postdoctoral Researcher,School of Informatics graduate school of Informatiatics, Nagoya Univ. Title:Constructive approach to the co-evolution of language and language ability Language:Japanese
If you have any question, please contact Evolinguisitics secretariat.
Posted: 1/18/2021
7th Evolinguistic Seminar
This event completed. Date : 2020/12/23 (Wed）17:30-19:00 JST Venue : Zoom （room information will be informed to participant applicant later) Lecturer : Tomoya Nakai (Researcher, Center for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), National Institute of Information and Communications Technology) Title : Quantitative modeling of brain representations of multiple linguistic information Language : Japanese
If you have any question, please contact Evolinguisitics secretariat.
Posted: 12/11/2020
6th Evolinguistics seminar
This event completed. Date : 2020/11/26 (Thu）17:30-18:30 JST Venue : Zoom （room information will be informed to participant applicant later) Lecturer : Takashi Morita (Research Fellow, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University) Title : Unsupervised machine learning for cognitive modeling of language learning and analysis of animal vocalization Language : Japanese
To join the seminar, please access here
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Posted: 11/8/2020
5th Evolinguistics Seminar
This event completed. Date : 2020/11/5 (Thu) 18:00-19:30 JST (10:00-11:30 CET) Venue : Zoom （room information will be informed to participant applicant later) Lecturer : Prof. Cedric Boeckx
(Research Professor, Catalan Institute for Advanced Studies (ICREA), Universitat de Barcelona Institute of Complex Systems (UBICS)) Title : A compositional view of the origins of the modern human language faculty Language : English Overview :
In this talk I want to explore new ways of probing further the mosaic nature of the language faculty through the prism of its evolutionary trajectory. It is now clear that a simplistic evolutionary scenario of the sort still entertained by some linguists (e.g. Berwick and Chomsky’s 2016 “Why Only Us” account) is untenable, detached as it is from robust empirical considerations generated in allied disciplines (archaeology, paleogenetics, etc.). The piecemeal assembly of the language faculty over evolutionary time will be examined here, focusing not only on the subcomponents of language but also on the temporal order of their emergence. A bit like semanticists do when talking about compositionality, we’ll be asking about the component parts of the language faculty and how they were put together.
I’ll take inspiration from Limor Raviv’s recent work, and I’ll explore this question using agent-based modeling, but also through bioinformatic methods allowing us to date the origins of certain genetic variants.
To join the seminar, please access here
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This event completed. Date : 2020/10/13 (Tue）17:30-18:30 JST Venue : Zoom （room information will be informed to participant applicant later) Lecturer : Harumi Kobahashi (Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Denki University) Title : Why do people use language-redundant gestures? Language : Japanese
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Posted: 10/8/2020
3rd Evolinguistics Seminar
This event completed.
Title： The symbol un-grounding process and the semiotic basis of grammar and syntax
Lecturer： Terrence Deacon (Professor, University of California, Berkeley)
Language: English
Date&Time： 2020/10/1（木） 10:30～12:00JST （9/30 (Wed) 18:30-20:00 PDT）
To join the seminar, please access here
Overview：
It is widely assumed by linguists and psychologists that words are abstract sign vehicles arbitrarily mapped to corresponding mental concepts and categories of objects. This assumption leads to two troubling implications: 1) difficulty explaining how symbolic reference is established (the so-called “symbol grounding problem”) and 2) difficulty explaining the source of the systematic regularities of grammar and syntax (i.e. whether nature or nurture – innate mental algorithms or serendipitously widespread social conventions). These explanatory dilemmas derive from a reductive oversimplification of the symbol concept that ignores the fact that symbolic reference is hierarchically dependent on non-symbolic forms of reference (e.g. systematic relationships among iconic and indexical forms of reference).
I suggest instead that we need to invert this logic and consider a bottom-up analysis of the construction of symbolic reference. This can be termed the “symbol un-grounding process.” Iconic and indexical signs are intrinsically grounded in the sense that the sign vehicles themselves embody features (similar form and physical correlational features, respectively) that link them to what they refer. But symbolic forms, like words and morphemes which specifically lack intrinsic features to ground their reference, instead must depend on relations between sign vehicles to provide referential grounding. This means that what we describe as grammar and syntax are the expression of necessary iconic and indexical semiotic constraints that symbolic reference depends on for its referential grounding. In this sense many of the most nearly universal features of grammar and syntax derive neither from nature nor from nurture, but are expressions of semiotic universals. Failure to respect these constraints results in ambiguity of referential grounding.
This also undermines the so-called “poverty of the stimulus” argument, because it means that young children acquiring their first language actually receive extensive feedback about their use of grammar and syntax—in the form of failure to communicate or interpret reference. In addition, infants acquire considerable experience respecting the constraints of iconic and indexical communication prior to and during the early stages of language acquisition via their communicative interactions with caretakers and supported by their innate tendencies to point and track the attention of others.
Posted: 9/17/2020
2nd Evolinguistics seminar
This event completed
Date : 2020/9/4 (Fri）17:00-18:00 JST
Venue : Zoom （room information will be informed to participant applicant later)
Lecturer : Katsuhiro SANO （Center for Northeast Asian Studies, Tohoku University)
Title : Development of the hierarchical structure in human tools and language
Language : Japanese
We start Evolinguistics Seminar Series in August 2020. Through this seminar series, you can understanding deeply from various point of view.
1st Evolinguistics seminar
Date ： 2020/8/19 (水）17:00-18:30 JST (10:00-11:30 CEST)
Venue ：Zoom （room infomration will be informed to participant applicant later)
Lecturer： Luc Steels (Research Professor,Catalan Institute for Advanced Studies (ICREA) (IBE-UPF/CSIC) Barcelona)
Title ： Constructive approaches to language evolution
Summary ：
The problem how human languages have evolved is one of the most fascinating problems of science. We have a lot of data on of actual language evolution collected by historical linguists and sociolinguists but there is still no widely accepted theory. This presentations surveys work that uses a synthetic or constructive approach to study this problem, meaning that we proceed through experiments with artificial agents (possibly even humanoid robots) that are given the minimal infrastructure to create their own language and then we observe what language is emerges.
There is a practical utility to this challenge but in this talk we are interested to learn more about how these experiments can inform us about the origins of human language.
The constructive approach started already in the mid nineteen-nineties and has by now yielded a rich harvest of models and experiments. Recently there has been a renewed interest to apply methods from deep learning. This talk surveys progress so far and then looks ahead to see how we could most profitably advance further.
We are running two research projects entitled “Adolescent Sociality across Cultures: Establishing a Japan-UK Collaboration” and “Evolinguistics: Integrative Studies of Language Evolution for Co-creative Communication”.
Venue: Auditorium, Bldg. No.2, Faculty of Science, Hongo campus, U Tokyo
These two projects share many topics, such as life history evolution, cultural transmission, social network, communication, cognitive development, and (allo)parental investment, including general evolutionary and ecological foundations of humans. This symposium provides an opportunity to explore ideas, to build research networks, and to advance more integrated approaches. We will welcome 7 speakers (including 5 researchers based in the UK) whose talks cover several aspects of the adolescent sociality and language evolution. Organizers hope that you can enjoy this symposium like ALE beer! (or your favorite something!)
Organizers: Masahito Morita*, Yudai Tokumasu, & Yasuo Ihara
Evolutionary Anthropology Lab, Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Tokyo
*mmorita.human “at” gmail.com
Posted: 5/7/2019
International Symposia “EVOLINGUISTICS 2018”
This event completed
A series of seven symposia/conferences will be held under the name of “EVOLINGUISTICS 2018”, our first large-scale international sympoia.
A workshop titled above will take place at ALIFE 2018 (THE 2018 CONFERENCE ON ARTIFICIAL LIFE), which is in partnership with us Evolinguistics Project.
Many of the C01 members will give a talk at the workshop.
We will have the workshop on evolution of genomes, languages and music. This program is financially aided by URPP Evolution in Action, University of Zurich & “Evolinguistics” MEXT Grand-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas, Japan.
It aims to clarify the evolution of languages/music and similarities/differences from biological evolution through quantitative datasets. We provide three sessions presenting 1. dispersals of language (and music) relating to migration histories from genetics side, 2. linguistic and musicological studies, and 3. theoretical modelings of cultural and linguistic evolution. Then, we will have a discussion about what we can learn about the evolution of languages and music through the different types of the datasets in the final session.
Organizers: Hiromi Matsumae(Tokai University) & Kentaro Shimizu (University of Zurich/Yokohama City University).
Session #1: Co-evolution of genes, language and music from genetics side
13:10-13:40 Hiromi Matsumae (Tokai University)
13:40-14:10 Chiara Barbieri (University of Zurich)
14:10-14:25 break
Session #2: Case studies in Linguistics and Musicology
14:25-14:55 Kouji Kawahara (Nagoya University of Foreign Studies)
14:55-15:25 Patrick E. Savage (Keio University)
15:25-15:40 break
Session #3: Modeling evolution of languages and culture
15:40-16:10 Takashi Hashimoto (JAIST)
16:10-16:40 Yasuo Ihara (University of Tokyo)
16:40-16:55 break
Session #4: Discussion
16:55-17:45 discussion
Posted: 6/1/2018
International Symposium：Cutting Edge Technology for EEG Data Analysis
This event completed
Speakers:
Varghese Peter (Macquarie University)
Keiichi Kitajo (RIKEN Center for Brain Science)
Hiroaki Wagatsuma (Kyusyu Institute of Technology)
Anna Lekova (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Robotics)
Contact: C01 co-project leader, Hiroaki Wagatsuma, Kyushu Institute of Technology waga@brain.kyutech.ac.jp
Posted: 5/15/2018
Neurobiology of Vocal Production in Frogs
This event completed
Date & Time: May 14th Sat, 2018 17:00-18:30
Venue：Komaba 1 campus, University of Tokyo, Room 113, Bldg. #3 （campus map）
Speaker：Dr. Ayako Yamaguchi
(The University of Utah, USA)
Contact：Kazuo Okanoya, U. of Tokyo cokanoya@mail.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp / 03-5454-6301
Understanding the neural mechanisms underlying behavior presents a formidable challenge requiring a well-chosen model system and sophisticated experimental tools. Vocalizations of the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) are an exceptionally well suited model system for this objective. In this species, a simplified mechanism of vocal production allows straightforward interpretations of neuronal activity with respect to behavior, and neural mechanisms of calling can be studied in vitro because fictive vocalizations can be elicited in the isolated brain. Furthermore, the vocalizations of Xenopus are sexually differentiated, and rapid androgen-induced masculinization of female vocalizations provides an invaluable opportunity for determining how new behavior arises from existing neural circuits in response to steroid hormones. In my talk, I will discuss how the vocal central pattern generators (CPG) are constructed, and an unexpected discovery of feedback pathways within the CPG that play a critical role in the rhythm generation. In addition, I will describe our work developing a technique to deliver transgenes into the frog nervous system.
Posted: 5/8/2018
The 3rd Whole Group Meeting
This event completed
Date & Time：May 12 Sat, 13:00-20:00
Venue：Komaba 1 campus, University of Tokyo
21 KOMCEE West, Lecure Hall・MM Hall (campus map)
※This is a closed meeting for project members only.
Program:
13:00-18:00 Research presentation (oral) by H30-31 open recruitment researchers [Lecture Hall]
18:00-20:00 Research presentation (poster) by H30-31 open recruitment researchers / Banquet [MM Hall]
※This is a closed meeting for project members only.
Program
Day-1 March 12 Mon, 2018
13:00～17:55 Report on progress status and future plan, Research presentation by each of five research teams
18:30～20:30 Poster session-1 / Reception
20:30～21:30 Poster session-2
Day-2 March 13 Tue, 2018
09:00～12:00 Joint research presentions
13:00～16:30 Young researchers presentions
Fish as model systems for vocal communication and hearing research
This event completed
Date and time：December 8th Fri, 15:00-16:00
Venue：Komaba 1 campus, University of Tokyo, Room 126, Bldg. #16 （campus map）
Speaker：Dr. Raquel O. VASCONCELOS
(Institute of Science and Environment, University of Saint Joseph. Macau S.A.R., China)
Contact：Kazuo Okanoya, U. of Tokyo cokanoya@mail.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp / 03-5454-6301
Fish as model systems for vocal communication and hearing research
Teleost fish comprise the largest group of extant vertebrates displaying the greatest diversity in sound producing apparatus and sensory hearing structures for social communication and orientation. Neural circuitry controlling vocal behaviour in vertebrates seems to have evolved from conserved brain areas found in ancestral fish before they diverged into the major clades. Thus, studies that investigate acoustic communication systems in this taxon are important to gain a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental mechanisms underlying social acoustic communication.
Moreover, studying organisms from an early diverging vertebrate lineage such as fish is essential to comprehend the evolution and function of the vertebrate inner ear, since many early developmental events are evolutionary conserved.
In this talk I will focus on the social role and physiological mechanisms controlling acoustic communication in toadfishes (Batrachoididae). I will further discuss current research on auditory plasticity and development of auditory function using both models – toadfish and zebrafish (Danio rerio, Cyprinidae).
Posted: 12/7/2017
Two Talks on Bird song
This event completed
Date and time: October 25th Wed 10:00-, 11:30-
Venue: Komaba 1 campus, University of Tokyo, Room 116, Bldg. #3 (campus map)
Program:
10:00- 11:00 Dr. Jon Sakata (McGill University) “Brain mechanisms shaping vocal learning”
11:30-12:30 Dr. Sarah Wooley (McGill University) “Neural mechanisms for preference and pereption in a female songbird”
Posted: 10/20/2017
Linguistics and Biology
This event completed
Date and time: November 10th Fri 16:30-17:30
Venue: Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University
Kyo-hoku Room No.28, Yoshida Minami Sogo-kan (campus map)
※Language: English
※No entrance fee / No registration required
Title: Linguistics and Biology
Speaker: Prof. Cedric Boeckx (ICREA/Universitat de Barcelona)
Kazumi Taniguchi (Kyoto U., theoretical linguistics) “A cognitive linguistics view of language acquisition and its implications for language evolution”
Harumi Kobayashi (Tokyo Denki U., developmental psychology) “Ostensive-inferential communication and language development”
Reiji Suzuki (Nagoya U., artificial life) “Constructive approaches to evolution of social learning and niche construction”
Takashi Hashimoto (JAIST, science of complexity) “Adaptability of recursive combination: Evolutionary simulation and some speculations”
Cedric Boeckx (ICREA/UB, biolinguistics) “Self-domestication and its contribution to modern human cognition”
Kazuo Okanoya (U. of Tokyo, biological psychology) “Behavioral and neural mechanisms for stimulus chunking in birds and humans”
Mini-session 2: “Language acquisition and language evolution”
Mini-session 3: “Niche construction and language evolution”
