Program

SUNDAY, MAY 26

9:30-10:00 REGISTRATION AND COFFEE

10:00-10:30 Opening remarks: Wendy Sandler University of Haifa

Session 1. EVOLUTION OF COMPOSITIONALITY IN HUMAN LANGUAGE
Chair: Svetlana Dachkovsky

10:30-11:30 Invited Speaker: Tecumseh Fitch University of Vienna
From Sequence to Hierarchy: Why Achieving Combinatoriality is Harder than We Think

11:30-12:30 Linda Oñaⁱ and Katja Liebalⁱⁱ
ⁱMax Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany, ⁱⁱFree University of Berlin
Compositionality in Chimpanzee Communication?

12:30-14:00 LUNCH

Session 2. LANGUAGE FROM GESTURE
Chair: Rose Stamp

14:00-15:00 Invited Speaker: Simon Kirby University of Edinburgh
Improvisation, Interaction, and Iteration in the Evolution of Linguistic Structure: Evidence from Artificial Sign Language Experiments

15:00-15:30 Kate Mesh University of Haifa
Decoupling of Pointing and Gaze in Israeli Sign Language and Gesture: Emergence of an Abstract/Concrete Reference Distinction

Session 3. BODY COMPONENTS OF EMOTION AND THEATRE
Chair: Simone Shamay-Tsoury

15:30-16:00 Federica Cavicchio University of Padua
Compositionality in the Expression of Emotions

16:00-16:30 Livnat Leemor University of Haifa
The Grammar of Empathy: Emotional Body Displays that Trigger Vicarious Victory

16:30-16:45 COFFEE

16:45-17:15 Gal Belsitzman and Atay Citron University of Haifa
Ebisu Sign Language Theatre Laboratory: Performance as Research, from Phase 1 to Phase 2

17:15-18:00 EBISU SIGN LANGUAGE THEATRE: LIVE PARTICIPATORY EVENT

MONDAY, MAY 27

Session 1. THE GRAMMAR OF THE BODY AND ITS EMERGENCE

Chair: Kate Mesh

10:00–11:00 Wendy Sandler University of Haifa
Mind, Body and Linguistic Form

11:00-11:45 Svetlana Dachkovksy University of Haifa and Gordon Academic College of Education
Constructing Discourse Complexity with the Body

11:45-12:30 Rose Stamp University of Haifa and Bar Ilan University
Recruiting Body in Reference Tracking in Sign Language

12:30-14:00 LUNCH

Session 2. THE WORD, SPOKEN AND SIGNED
Chair: Rama Novogrodsky

14:00-15:00 Invited Speaker: John McWhorter Columbia University
The Clinality of Noncompositionality in Language Genesis

15:00-15:30 Hope Morgan University of Haifa
Effects of Language Modality, Age, and Usage on Phonological Complexity in Three Sign Langauges

15:30-16:30 Invited Speaker: Mark Aronoff Stony Brook University
Morphological Evolution in Real Time: Mindless or Mindfree?

16:30-17:00 COFFEE, MINGLING AND FAREWELL