NASS VIII, Aarhus, Denmark, 2013

NASS VIII – SIGN EVOLUTION ON MULTIPLE TIME SCALES took place at the Center for Semiotics, University of Aarhus, Denmark, May 29th – 31st, 2013.

The theme of the conference was the evolution of signs:

  • What are the basic mechanisms and conditions for the emergence of new signs and sign systems (such as codes, notational systems, verbal and sign languages, gesture, graphical symbols, pictorial expression, etc.)?
  • To which extent should we search for these mechanisms at the level of biology, culture, cognition, phenomenological experience or interaction?
  • And what are the relevant features of signs themselves making them emerge, survive and propagate in contexts of communication?

The conference brought together international scholars from a range of disciplines each addressing these questions in relation to particular time scales ranging from biological andcultural evolution to ontogeny and online social interaction.

Presentations addressed aspects of how signs and sign systems emerge and develop on different time scales. Topics included, but were not limited to:

  • Sign emergence and development on an evolutionary time scale
  • Sign emergence and development on a cultural, historical timescale
  • Sign emergence and development on an ontogenetic time scale
  • Sign emergence and development on an online interactive time scale
  • Cultural perspectives on sign emergence and development
  • Cognitive perspectives on sign emergence and development
  • Dynamical systems perspectives on sign emergence and development
  • Phenomenological perspectives on sign emergence and development
  • Neurological perspectives on sign emergence and development
  • Biological perspectives on sign emergence and development

Plenary Speakers were:
Jordan Zlatev (Lund University)
Fatima Cvrckova – (Charles University, Prague)
Bruno Galantucci (Yeshiva University, NY)
Susan Goldin-Meadow (University of Chicago)
Winfried Nöth (University of Kassel)
Luc Steels (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)