IMPORTANT DATES

Deadline for submission:
January 29, 2012

Notification of acceptance:
February 29, 2012

Conference Days:
June 1-2, 2012

The Section for Sign Linguistics of the University of Warsaw is pleased to host "Warsaw FEAST, a SIGNGRAM COST Action conference".

Warsaw FEAST ("Formal and Experimental Advances in Sign language Theory") to be held in Warsaw, Poland, on June 1-2, will be organized within the framework of the SIGNGRAM COST Action ("Unraveling the grammars of European sign languages: pathways to full citizenship of deaf signers and to the protection of their linguistic heritage").

Meeting description:

The grammars of sign languages are as highly complex as the grammars of spoken languages and share with them many universal features, despite the difference in modality between spoken languages (which use the auditory channel) and sign languages (which use the visual channel). Yet, sign languages also differ from spoken languages in radical ways: morphological information in sign languages is often conveyed simultaneously by different articulators rather than linearly; moreover, certain aspects of their phonological, syntactic and semantic structures are not commonly found in spoken languages. These differences raise an interesting challenge both for formal linguistic and experimental research frameworks. Warsaw FEAST is the second meeting for this conference (the first one was Venice FEAST in June, 2011). FEAST is becoming a regular forum to discuss formal approaches to sign language grammar (in particular in the generative tradition), experimental approaches to sign languages, and their interaction.

Keynote speakers:

The following keynote speakers have confirmed their participation in Warsaw FEAST:

• Christian Rathmann (University of Hamburg)
• Ronnie Wilbur (Purdue University)
• Bencie Woll (University College London)

Registration:

Note that although there is no conference fee, all participants (including persons interested in attending the conference without presenting a paper) are required to register via email. Please register your name, affiliation, and e-mail address with us at

Languages:

The official languages of the conference will be English and American Sign Language (ASL). ASL/English interpretation will be provided. Additionally, all presentations will be interpreted into Polish Sign Language (PJM).