External Symbol Grounding Workshop 2006 (ESG2006)
3 and 4 July 2006
Plymouth, UK

The workshop aims at bringing scholars together studying language as a dynamic cognitive process. The theme of the workshop this year is “external symbol grounding”, focusing on cognition as a combination of what happens in the head together with causal processes organised by historically rooted customs and artefacts. 

To encourage interaction we welcome speakers from a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds. The workshop will highlight two strands in the discussion: one is the cognitive science strand, where speakers will highlight the psychological and linguistic view on language dynamics and grounding. The second strand will focus on computational modelling; speakers who use computer simulations to gain insights in symbol grounding will present their latest work and contribute from their specific angle to the discussion. By using an interdisciplinary perspective to integrate phenomena across a number of dimensions, we hope that the conference can help breathe new life into the scientific study of language-behaviour.

The first DLG conference on Cognitive Dynamics and the Language Sciences was held at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge in September 2005. Stephen Cowley edits a collection based on future versions of these same papers in a special edition of Language Sciences that will appear towards the end of 2006.

Stephen Cowley's "Distributed language: biomechanics, functions and the origins of talk" (pdf document) can serve as an introduction to the topic of ESG2006 (and of course as a focus of critique if you wish).

Special issue of Interaction studies

A special issue of Interaction Studies (John Benjamins) on External Symbol Grounding will be published in October 2006. Participants to the workshop are encouraged to make a contribution.

Organisers
Tony Belpaeme (University of Plymouth)
Karl MacDorman (Indiana University, IN, USA)