First Call for Papers of the Seventh Conference of the Nordic

Association for Semiotic Studies (NASS).

Towards Cognitive Semiotics. A semiotic perspective on cognition – A cognitive perspective on semiosis

We invite the submission of abstracts for oral or poster presentations for the Seventh Conference of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies, to be held at the Centre for Cognitive Semiotics, part of the Centre for Languages and Literature, Lund University between May 6 and May 8, 2011.
For most of the second half of the 20th century, semiotics and cognitive science have been rival transdiciplinary or interdisciplinary approaches to the human and social sciences, even including some

parts of the natural sciences such as, most notably, biology. Apart from everything else they are, both semiotics and cognitive science may be seen as being involved with the central notions common to all of the social sciences and the humanities. From this point of view, the core interest of semiotics is the structuring of meaning and its carriers, while cognitive semiotics focuses on the modes of access to meaning (though it often gives them some other name). Is has been observed (notably by Dadessio) that these two aspects can hardly be discussed separately. While generalizing the notion of cognition to make it cover most of mental life (as well as, sometimes, many “subpersonal” aspects), cognitive science has hardly left any specific place to phenomena of meaning. Semiotics, on the other hand, at least in some of its manifestations, those, notably, inspired by Peirce, tends to resolve about everything into constellations of signs. The result, in both cases, is one-sidedness and conceptual confusion.
Cognitive semiotics, or semiotic cognitive science, recently proposed in different quarters as a new paradigm for the human and the social sciences, aims to wed cognitive science with semiotics.
Epistemologically, the task of cognitive semiotics consists in relating these two instances of single vision, putting mind where mind should be and signs in their proper place.
Presentations should involve research involving the relation between semiotics and cognitive science, or, more broadly, which attends to cognitive issues while taking a semiotic approach, or puts the quest for meaning into focus within a cognitive science approach.

Topics include, but are not limited to:

• Cognition and meaning
• Cognitive science and semiotics
• Perception and semiotics
• Language within a semiotic framework
• Cognitive linguistics and semiotics
• Semantics and pragmatics within semiotics
• Gesture studies and semiotics
• The psychology of pictures and pictorial semiotics
• Narrativity and the self
• Semiotic artefacts and the mind
• The social and cognitive construction of meaning
• Semiotic resources in child development
• Semiotic resources in evolution
• Semiotics and primatology
• Cultural semiotics and developmental psychology
• Phenomenological analyses
• Husserlean and Peircean phenomenology
• Linguistic and other kinds of semiotic releativity
• Semiotic typology

Plenary lecturers (confirmed so far):
Cornelia Müller (Frankfurt/Oder),
Terrence Deacon (Berkeley)
Jean-Marie Klinkenberg (Liege)
Frederik Stjernfelt (Aarhus)

Important Dates:
• October 26: First Call for Papers
• December 10: Deadline for proposal of theme sessions
• January 10: Deadline for abstract submission
• February 28: Notification of acceptance
• April 1: Programme announced
• May 6 – May 8: Conference

Registration:
For registration, as well as uploading of abstracts, and updated information,
please go to the conference web site: http://conference.sol.lu.se/en/nass2011/
Registration fees, including conference participation, book of abstracts, and
coffee/snacks:
• Membership fee: 300 SEK /35 €
• Faculty: 500 SEK/ 55 €/ (800 SEK/ 90 € with membership fee)
• Students: 400 SEK/ 45 € (700 SEK /80 € with membership fee)
• Conference banquet (including wine) 400 SEK/45 €
More details about the modalities for paying the conference fee will soon be
announced on the conference web pages.

Abstracts:
One page abstracts (at most 500 words) should be uploaded to the congress web site (http://conference.sol.lu.se/en/nass2011/) by January 10, 2011. Abstracts will then be reviewed by two members of the Scientific Committee, and notification of acceptance will be sent by February 28. The scientific committee, when it accepts a submitted abstract, will decide whether it can be an oral or poster presentation. If you wish your contribution to be considered for one of the theme sessions, please indicate this.
The conference will be held in English.
In case of problems, or if you need any further information, please contact the organizing committee at NASS2011@semiotik.lu.se

Scientific committee:
Henrik Jørgensen (Aarhus)
Richard Hirsch (Linköping)
Drude van der Fehr (Oslo)
Frederik Stjernfelt (Aarhus)
Jean-Marie Klinkenberg (Liège)
Cornelia Müller (Frankfurt/Oder)
Chris Sinha (Portsmouth)
Jordan Zlatev (Lund)
Göran Sonesson (Lund)

Organizing committee:
Göran Sonesson
Anna Redei Cabak
Sara Lenninger
Ximena Narea
Michael Ranta
Gunnar Sandin
Ana Tejera-Sonesson

Founded at an impromptu meeting of Nordic semioticians in Imatra, Finland, in 1987, the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (NASS) has organised six important and highly successful congresses, in Odense, Denmark, in 1990, in Lund, Sweden, in 1992, in Trondheim, Norway, in 1994, in Imatra, Finland, in 1996, in Oslo, Norway, in 1998, and in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2000. An Internordic Symposium also took place in Imatra in 1990, and week-long Nordic Research Courses were organized in Lund, in July 1992, in Trondheim, in October 1994, in Imatra in June 1996, and in Oslo in June 1998, all with the support of the Nordic Research Academy. The most recent congress of NASS was held in November 23 to 25, 2000, in Copenhagen, Denmark.