Project for Explaining the Origin of Humans


October 31-November 1, 2003

Ajit Varki
"Opening Remarks"

Vilayanur Ramachandran
"Emergence of Language Capacity: Some Key Questions"

Robert Kluender
"Setting the Bar: Determining Minimal Criteria for Language Evolution Accounts"

James R. Hurford
"Origins and Evolution of Meaning in Human Language"

John Batali
"Syntactic Universals in Negotiated Communication Systems"

Michael Corballis
"The Gestural Origins of Language"

Ann Senghas
"The Differentiation of Grammatical Elements in Nicaraguan Sign Language Over Historical and Ontogenetic Developmental Timelines"

Marco Iacoboni
"A Shared Neural Architecture for Action Recognition, Imitation and Language"

Nina Dronkers
"Brain Areas Capable of Language"

Faraneh Vargha-Khadem
"From Gene to Speech: The KE Family and FOXP2"

Terry Deacon
"Erasing the Slate: The Importance of Self-Organizational and Neural-Genetic Degenerative Processes in Language Evolution"