The Language, Culture and Mind conference series provides an international and interdisciplinary forum for the integration of biological, cognitive, social and cultural perspectives in theoretical and empirical studies of language and communication.

http://languageculturemind.org/

The LCM Mission Statement

Human natural languages are biologically based, cognitively motivated, affectively rich, socially shared, grammatically organized symbolic systems. They provide the principal semiotic means for the complexity and diversity of human cultural life. As has long been recognized, no single discipline or methodology is sufficient to capture all the dimensions of this complex and multifaceted phenomenon, which lies at the heart of what it is to be human. In the recent past, perception and cognition have been the basis of general unifying models of language and language activity. However, a genuine integrative perspective must also incorporate the intersubjective dimension of cultural symbols, cultural norms and cultural practices. LCM conferences articulate and discuss approaches to diverse genres of language activity which aim to understand their cultural, social, cognitive and bodily foundations.

LCM conferences welcome contributions from scholars and scientists in anthropology, biology, linguistics, philosophy, psychology, semiotics, semantics, discourse analysis, cognitive and neuroscience, and from other disciplines, who wish both to impart their insights and findings, and learn from other disciplines.

Topics include but are not limited to:

biological and cultural co-evolution
comparative study of communication systems
cognitive and cultural schematization in language
emergence of language in ontogeny and phylogeny
language in multi-modal communication
language and normativity
language and thought, emotion and consciousness

Each LCM conference is organized around a special theme that is reflected in the contributions of plenary speakers, and focused in two round table discussions. The themes are not intended to limit the topics of conference presentations, but to give each conference a distinctive feel and to provoke focused interdisciplinary debate. The theme for LCM 7 at Hunan University is:

Signs of Life: Cultural contact—change and continuity in language, thought and identity

There will be two round table subthemes:

1. Diversity, endangerment, revitalization of cultures and languages.

2. Intercultural and transcultural dynamics.

Plenary Speakers: to be announced

LCM conferences are accompanied by a one-day Young Researchers’ Workshop, at which PhD students and early career postdoc researchers are able to present their research and receive feedback from their peers and from more experienced researchers.

About Hunan University: Established as a university in 1926, Hunan University, located in the city of Changsha in South China, has a continuous history of more than 1,000 years as an institute of higher learning. The Yuelu Academy, founded during the Song Dynasty in the year 976 CE, was one of the four ancient Confucian Academies. The restored Yuelu Academy is now open for public visits and is an integral part of the Hunan University South campus, situated at the foot of Mount Yuelu, which, together with the Academy, is a major tourist attraction. Hunan Province is rich in historic sites and breathtaking landscapes, such as the Zhangjiajie scenic park (where the movie ‘Avatar’ was filmed). The province is home to several minority culture and language groups with stunning rural scenery and picturesque villages and towns.

The LCM International Organizing Committee

§ Roberto Bottini, Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, Trento, Italy
§ Barbara Fultner, Denison University, Philosophy and Women’s Studies
§ Piotr Konderak, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Logic and Philosophy of Science
§ John Lucy, University of Chicago, Comparative Human Development and Psychology
§ Aliyah Morgenstern, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris 3, Linguistics
§ Esther Pascual, Zhejiang University, School of International Studies
§ Victor Rosenthal, Institute Marcel Mauss – EHESS, Paris
§ Chris Sinha, Hunan University, Cognitive Science, School of Foreign Languages*

*(also Chair of the Local Committee for LCM 7).