Laboratory Phonology Conference, Yale University, June, 2002

Haskins Laboratories, Inc., New Haven CT

Investigators

Abstract

The National Science Foundation supports the Eighth Conference on Laboratory Phonology, which will be hosted jointly by the Yale University Linguistics Department and Haskins Laboratories. This conference will take place on the Yale campus in New Haven, CT, June 27-30, 2002. The study of the human capacity to communicate via speech has traditionally been carried out by separate groups of scientists, experimental and theoretical, with little communication between them. The experimental scientists examine the acoustical and physiological characteristics of the speech process, while the theoretical scientists study the ways that consonants and vowels pattern in the languages of the world. In the last 15 years, increased interaction between these groups has been spurred by a series of conferences on Laboratory Phonology, that seeks to relate language patterns more directly to the physical activities of talking. Research resulting from this cross-pollination has already had important implications for both basic science and applications such as speech disorders, developmental delays, and reading disabilities. The Eighth Conference on Laboratory Phonology will focus on differences among human languages, what those differences have to say about of the universal properties of human speech and language, and the nature of the biological specialization that underlies the universals. Much research has shown some specialization for human speech and language, but there is no agreement on its precise nature. In fact, two threads of recent research suggest conclusions in opposite directions. On the one hand, there is evidence that phonological universals have been shaped by the structure of the human vocal tract and the constraints of communicating through an aural channel, sugesting a vocal-aural specialization. On the other hand, there is evidence that manual (signed) languages share important properties with spoken languages, suggesting a more generic or abstract specialization. The conference will bring together leading scientists working on spoken languages with those working on signed languages. Their interaction should provide new insights into the human specialization for speech and language, spur new techniques for investigating both signed and spoken languages, and lead to new methods for teaching and learning signed and spoken languages that take advantage of their underlying similarities.