Evolang Conference
Posted on 5 June 2024
The Evolution of Language (Evolang) conference series is an interdisciplinary forum that focuses on the origins and development of language. It brings together researchers from various fields, including linguistics, anthropology, psychology, neuroscience, computer science, and evolutionary biology, to discuss and present research on how language has emerged and developed.
The scope of the conference includes topics such as the biological foundations of language, the development of language in early human societies, computational models of language evolution, and the cognitive mechanisms underlying language acquisition and use. Evolang aims to foster collaboration and integration of diverse approaches to better understand the complexities of language evolution.
The first Evolution of Language (Evolang) conference was held in 1996. As of now, there have been 15 Evolang conferences, with the most recent one taking place in Madison, Wisconsin in May 2024.
Chairing the next Evolang conference is a great recognition of the contribution the two chairs have made to the field. Dr Kazakov’s interdisciplinary approach combines insights from computer science, linguistics, and cognitive science to advance our understanding of the mechanisms underlying language evolution.
In particular, he has developed computational models that simulate the benefits of language in an evolutionary context, exploring the role of social interaction in language change, and investigating the emergence of linguistic structures. He also collaborates with Professor Longobardi, whose own contributions to historical linguistics are best highlighted by his LanGeLin ERC Advanced Grant project (2012-2018) which looked at the interplay between geography, genetics and language in an effort to reconstruct a global family tree of all human languages.
Organising Evolang will aim to bring together diverse parts of the York research community (Computer Science, Linguistics, Archaeology, Biology and Neuroscience), and build links with the relevant research centres in the South East of Europe, where the conference will be held for the first time in 2026, as well as with the global Evolang academic community.