Call for papers: Conference in Evolutionary Linguistics, 2012, Peking University

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Call deadline: September 1, 2012

Event: Conference in Evolutionary Linguistics 2012
Event Dates: 8-12 November 2012
Event Location: Peking, China
Event URL: http://ccl.pku.edu.cn/event/ciel/LatestEng.html

The Conference in Evolutionary Linguistics, 2012, will be held by the Center for Chinese linguistics, Peking University, on November 8-12, 2012. Nov. 8 is the registration day.

With its foundation in Darwinian theory, evolutionary linguistics references two evolutionary forces, biological and social, to tackle the job of explaining two fundamental questions, the emergence and development of language. With interdisciplinary cooperation, evolutionary linguistics interacts with anthropology, biology, and archeology. Recently evolutionary linguistics has been making important advancements. The 9th International Conference on the Evolution of Language (Evolang IX) was successfully held in Kyoto, Japan. Diversified languages in China with rich orthographic traditions and long histories of various forms of transcription exist in a complex realm of linguistic contact. Thus, further studies highlighting these phenomena will make new contributions to evolutionary linguistics, both in breadth and depth. Therefore, there is much anticipation of enhancing international interaction and interdisciplinary cooperation via this conference. The earlier ones in Guangzhou, Tianjin, and Shanghai have been held in the same spirit.

Conference topics may include the following: 1. Language as a complex adaptive system; 2. Language and population evolution in China; 3. Language evolution in China and archeological evidence; 4. Vertical and horizontal transmission of language; 5. Language and the brain. A special handling of the evolution and development of Miao-Yao languages will also be organized.

We sincerely welcome all interested scholars to attend! Please send abstracts (800-1,000 words) to elpku2012@163.com in doc or pdf format before September 1, 2012. Formal invitations will be sent out no later than September 10, 2012. The conference will be conducted in Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese) or English. Conference papers will be edited for publishing in a special issue of the Journal of Chinese Linguistics or Essays on Linguistics.