Connectionists: CFP: Dynamical Models of Speech conference, 26-27 July 2025

[Kirkham, Sam (kirkham)]

DYMOS: Dynamical models of speech

Conference website: https://samkirkham.github.io/dymos/

A conference exploring new frontiers in dynamical models of speech. The event loosely follows on from our 2024 satellite workshop on Variance and invariance at LabPhon 19 in South Korea.

Location and date:

- 26-27 July 2025
- University of Oregon, Eugene, USA
- Hosted at the LSA Linguistics Institute 2025

The event is co-located at the 2025 LSA Linguistics Institute and coincides with the class Dynamics of speech production, taught by Jason A. Shaw and Michael C. Stern.

Description:

A fundamental topic of linguistic inquiry concerns the nature of phonological cognition. Dynamical models of speech – most prominently Articulatory Phonology (Browman & Goldstein 1992) / Task Dynamics (Kelso, Saltzman & Tuller 1986) – have proven great successes in modelling the dynamics of coarticulation (Fowler 1980), prosody (Byrd 2003; Iskarous et al. 2024), long-range processes (Gafos & Benus 2006; Tilsen 2019), and neural dynamics of speech planning (Roon & Gafos 2006; Tilsen 2022; Stern & Shaw 2023). At the same time, there remain a range of unresolved issues and critiques, including the nature of timing control, the relations between symbolics and dynamics, the emergence of phonological structure, and what counts as a necessary condition of a dynamical theory. The conference aims to assess the state-of-the-art and future research directions in dynamical models of speech, with a focus on the following topics:

- Emergence and change in dynamical phonological categories
- Dynamics, variation, and linguistic universals
- The status of spatial and temporal variation in task dynamic models
- Autonomous and non-autonomous gestural models
- Neural dynamical models of speech planning
- Dynamical models of production-perception
- The relationship between task dynamic and biomechanical models
- Feedback control
- Systems-level dynamics
- Philosophical foundations

This two-day conference will bring together researchers in dynamical models of speech, featuring plenary talks from invited speakers, contributed posters, lightning talks from LSA Institute students, and open discussion.

Speakers confirmed so far:

- Adamantios Gafos (Potsdam)
- Khalil Iskarous (USC)
- Melissa Redford (Oregon)
- Jason A. Shaw (Yale)
- Michael C. Stern (Yale)
- Patrycja Strycharczuk (Manchester)
- Sam Kirkham (Lancaster)

Call for papers:

We invite submissions on the topics listed above, or on any issue that broadly concerns dynamical models or theories of phonology (including spoken and signed languages). We envision that submissions will be presented as part of a poster session, but we may have additional slots for contributed talks, which we will confirm when sending notifications of acceptance.

Submission instructions:

- Please submit an abstract (max. 2 pages) to s.kirkham at lancaster.ac.uk by 25 April 2025. -
- Notifications will be sent out shortly after this deadline.
- The abstract format will not be strictly enforced and does not need to be anonymous.
- In addition to comprehensive empirical and theoretical research, we also encourage the submission of preliminary and exploratory work, as well as contributions of an entirely theoretical nature.

Further information about registration, accommodation, etc. will appear soon.

The conference will be hosted using the same facilities as the LSA Institute, so the LSA Institute website contains information that will likely be relevant.

Organisers:

Sam Kirkham
Patrycja Strycharczuk