Evolution of Language:
Fifth International Conference, 2004.

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology,

Leipzig, Germany.

Wednesday March 31st --- Saturday April 3rd, 2004.

The Venue

The Leipzig MPI is an ideal location for a conference on the Evolution of Language, bringing together almost all the central disciplines involved, with its separate departments of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Evolutionary Genetics, Human Evolution (new), Linguistics, and Primatology.

Plenary speakers

There will be eight plenary talks.

Susan Blackmore	Author of The Meme Machine, O.U.P. 1999.
Jean-Louis Dessalles	Enseignant-chercheur, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications, Paris.
Wolfgang Enard	Researcher, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig.
Tom Givon	CAS Distinguished Professor of Linguistics and Cognitive Science, University of Oregon.
Louis Goldstein	Senior Scientist, Haskins Laboratories; Professor of Linguistics and Psychology, Yale University.
Jim Hurford	Professor of Linguistics, University of Edinburgh; Co-Director, Language Evolution and Computation Research Group.
James Steele	Lecturer in Archaeology, University of Southampton; Associate Director, AHRB Centre for the Evolutionary Analysis of Cultural Behaviour.
Mike Tomasello	Co-Director, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology; Co-Director, Wolfgang Köhler Primate Research Center.

Programme

DETAILED SCHEDULE

OUTLINE TIMETABLE
Abstracts of PLENARY TALKS, available so far.	(in various formats: .doc, .pdf, .txt, .rtf)
Abstracts of over 80 other TALKS
Abstracts of POSTERS
All abstracts, plus some material from this webpage, have been kindly collated by Paul Hackney into a single searchable PDF file - click here.

A timetable for the talks and posters will be announced shortly -- watch this space.

Registration

Online registration for the conference is available here.
For those arriving by March 30th, collection of conference materials will be possible at the RECEPTION. (See below, under ``Extra attractions''.)

Accomodation

Participants are asked to arrange for their accommodation themselves. The hotels listed here offer a special price reduction for EVOLANG participants. Please note that these reductions can be guaranteed only if the reservation is made before the date indicated.

Further information

Further information, about plenary speakers, accommodation, conference fees, etc. will be forthcoming from time to time by email, and by updating of the web pages. The Local Organizer is Julia Cissewski. If you would like to be included in further emailings, please subscribe to the EvoLang email list. You can do this by sending an email to majordomo@ling.ed.ac.uk with the following single-line message (not in the subject header):

subscribe evolang

Extra attractions

OPENING RECEPTION on March 30th at the Moritzbastei in the city center, starting at 7pm. This is included in the registration fee. There will be a light buffet, the conference participants get their name-badges and conference materials, and participants from outside Europe can pay their registration fee in cash there (all of this is possible at the Max Planck Institute in the morning of March 31st, 8am-9am, too). The Moritzbastei, a student club in an old fortress right next to the former university 'skyscraper', has a (German) website. Under `lage' on this website is a map locating the Moritzbastei in the Leipzig city centre.
As an "extra treat" for participants, Mike Tomasello has promised a guided tour of the Wolfgang Köhler Primate Research Center (aka "Pongoland"), a joint facility of the Max Planck Institute and Leipzig Zoo investigating the behavior and cognition of the great apes. (See here for further information.)
TUTORIAL on MODELLING LANGUAGE EVOLUTION, for modellers and non-modellers. Organisers: Tony Belpaeme (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Bart de Boer (University of Groningen), Paul Vogt (Tilburg University, University of Edinburgh).
Workshop: Gestural communication in nonhuman and human primates (March, 28th - 30th) Organizers: Katja Liebal (MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology), Cornelia M|ller (FU Berlin), Gabriel Waters (MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology), Simone Pika (University of Alberta). For more information, please contact: liebal@eva.mpg.de (Homepage will be available soon)
LEIPZIG
Leipzig (pop. 507,800), a trade-fair and publishing center, also has a longstanding musical heritage. Thomaskirche (St. Thomas Church), where Bach served as cantor for 27 years, is also home to the famous Thomaner Choir—they perform Bach cantatas in the church every Sunday. Near the church is the Bach Museum and Research Center. The Renaissance-style Altes Rathaus (old town hall) has an excellent city historical museum. Fans of Goethe should dine at nearby Auerbachs Keller, a cellar restaurant mentioned in Faust. The Opernhaus and the Neues Gewandhaus (concert hall) face each other on Augustusplatz. The city also has several fine museums, including ones focusing on Egyptology, arts and crafts, natural science, sports, musical instruments (almost 3,000 on display), fine arts (with excellent graphics collections) and ethnology (featuring exhibits from Asia, Africa, the Americas and the South Seas). Leipzig is also a great city just to walk around. It has several old passagen (arcaded shopping malls). Be sure to visit the Hauptbahnhof, the largest terminus train station in Europe.

_______________________________________________________________
Conference Organizing Committee:
Bernard Comrie (Max Planck Institute, Leipzig)
Jean-Louis Dessalles (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications, Paris)
Tecumseh Fitch (Wissenschaftskolleg, Berlin; University of St Andrews)
James R Hurford (University of Edinburgh)
Chris Knight (University of East London)
Michael Studdert-Kennedy (Haskins Laboratories)
Maggie Tallerman (University of Durham)
Alison Wray (Cardiff University)
_______________________________________________________________

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology,
	Leipzig, Germany.

Evolution of Language: Fifth International Conference, 2004.

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.