International Conference on the Evolution of Language (Evolang XV)

Conference Details

EVOLANG is the largest international meeting for researchers working on the origin and evolution of language. The conference is highly interdisciplinary, with contributions from disciplines including, but not limited to: anthropology, archeology, biology, cognitive science, genetics, linguistics, computational modeling (including mathematical, agent-based, and neural-network models), paleontology, physiology, primatology, philosophy, semiotics, and psychology. Typically, about 300 delegates attend, with representatives from all these disciplines.

The conference language will be English. We will have ASL interpreters on hand for providing interpreting to/from ASL (other sign languages may be a possibility) To gauge demand for interpreting services, please complete this survey if you think you could benefit from sign language interpreting.

Registration is now open!

If you are an undergraduate student, or a graduate student in the Midwest (e.g., WI, MN, MI, IN, IL, IA), we are able to offer a limited number of discounted registrations. Please complete this form and we will send you instructions for a discounted registration.

EVOLANG XV starts in

Workshops (May 18th)

Large-scale computational approaches to evolution and change: prospects and pitfalls

Andres Karjus (akarjus@tlu.ee), Nina Tahmasebi (nina.tahmasebi@gu.se), Haim Dubossarsky (h.dubossarsky@qmul.ac.uk), Stefano De Pascale (stefano.depascale@kuleuven.be)

Info and schedule

What allows human language? a multidisciplinary perspective

Nicolas Claidière (nicolas.claidiere@cnrs.fr). Speakers include Inbal Arnon, Tecumseh Fitch, Simon Kirby, Susan Goldin Meadow, Simon Fisher, Limor Raviv, Kazuo Okanoya, Lucie Wolters, and Liran Carmel

Info and schedule

Comparative turn-taking: A new approach to tackle language origins

Fanny Tibesar (ftibesar@uos.de), Simone Pika (spika@uos.de)

What is children’s role in shaping language evolution?

Shira Tal (stal@ed.ac.uk), Jennifer Culbertson (jennifer.culbertson@ed.ac.uk )

Info and schedule

Causal approaches to investigating language evolution: New studies of the association between phonology and climate

Seán Roberts (RobertsS55@cardiff.ac.uk) and Frederik Hartmann (frederik.hartmann@unt.edu)

Info and schedule

EMOLANG: What can communicative signals of positive emotions tell us about the evolution of language?

Heidi Lyn (hlyn@southalabama.edu), Erica Cartmill (cartmill@ucla.edu)

Interactive alignment in the evolution of vocal communication

Julia Hyland Bruno (julia.hylandbruno@njit.edu) and Olga Fehér (o.feher@warwick.ac.uk)

Info and schedule

Presenter Information

Podium Presentations:
Talks will be organized into 4 parallel sessions in adjacent rooms. To facilitate a smooth transition between presentations and allow attendees to switch sessions easily, please adhere strictly to the allocated time for your talk.
Presentation Time: Each speaker is allotted 15 minutes for their presentation, followed by 7 minutes for questions and answers.
Please plan on using your own laptop for presenting. We will have laser pointers and remotes available for use, or you are free to use your own. We will have HDMI and USB-C connections available. If you require a different connection, please bring a dongle.

Poster Dimensions & Formats:
Overall Poster Board Size: Our poster boards are wide, measuring 91 inches (231 cm) in width and 44.75 inches (113.6 cm) in height. Please design your poster to fit within these dimensions. A poster spanning this entire area would be quite large, and you may want to print it at a somewhat smaller size.
Wide (Landscape) Format:
Maximum Size: A0 size (46.8 × 33.1 inches or 118.8 x 84.1 cm). This is the preferred format for its visibility and space efficiency.
Long (Portrait) Format:
Maximum Height: Do not exceed the height of the poster boards, which is 44 inches (111.7 cm). Note: The portrait format offers slightly less display area compared to the landscape (A0) format often used at conferences.

Poster Content & Design Tips:
Ensure your poster is readable from a distance. Use large fonts and clear, concise language.
Include your poster title, author(s), affiliation(s), and a brief abstract at the top.
Use visuals (charts, graphs, images) to complement your text and highlight key findings.
Consider the flow of information; organize your content logically from left to right and top to bottom.
You may want to add a QR code to a digital version, print handout versions and/or make a signup sheet for people wanting more details.

The poster session is scheduled for 5:30pm-7:15pm on Sunday May 19th. You will be able to put up your poster after noon on that day. Please take it down after the poster session concludes. Be present at your poster during the assigned poster session times to discuss your work with attendees.

Flash Talks: If you have an accepted poster and would like to give a 90 seconds flash talk prior to the poster session, please submit this form. We recommend giving a flash talk as an opportunity to promote your poster and increase its visibility. The deadline to register your flash talk is May 1st.
The flash talk session will take place right before the poster session/reception in the afternoon of May 19th. Each speaker will have 90 seconds and one static slide. We will get in touch a week or so before the conference to ask for your slide so that we can host it on a single computer since there won’t be time to switch computers in between presentations.

Venue

Welcome to Madison!

Madison (pop. ~272k) is the capital of Wisconsin and the home of University of Wisconsin's flagship campus. The conference will be held at the Monona Terrace--a beautiful conference venue designed by Frank Lloyd Wright on the shores of Lake Monona. We invite you to take advantage of this time away from your daily lives to catch up on the latest developments in the field and to deepen your appreciation of the amazing research being done in the language evolution community. We also invite you to consider how our work may be a force for positive change back in the real world. We hope you will take us up on these invitations--in the conference hall, at the lively Union Terrace, at the Saturday farmer’s market on the Capitol Square, and at the many fine eating and drinking establishments nearby. We will also be planning several excursions after the main conference.

Fly to Madison

We recommend flying into Dane County Regional Airport (MSN) which has nonstop flights to many major cities around the country and has the benefit of being just 10 minutes from downtown Madison. From MSN, you can get to downtown using a taxi, Uber, or Lyft.

MSN →

Fly to Milwaukee

Another option is to fly to Milwaukee (MKE), a slightly larger airport, about 80 miles East of Madison. Milwaukee has more flights and depending on your origin may be cheaper. There's a direct bus from MKE to Madison, but make sure to check the bus schedule first.

Bus Info → 🚌

Fly to Chicago

Another option, which may make sense if you're traveling internationally, is to fly to Chicago's O'Hare airport (ORD, about 130 miles Southeast of Madison) and take a bus to Madison (~3hrs, but is sometimes faster than connecting to a flight to Madison).

Bus Info → 🚌

Accommodations

(Update on 4/24 - the Hilton hotel block is no longer available. We are trying to get it extended. We were able to extent the Park Hotel Room room block, and recommend using that one for now). We have pre-booked room blocks at several hotels within short walking distance to the conference venue. You can reserve a room at Hilton Monona Terrace or call Hilton Reservations at 800-445-8667 or the hotel directly at 608-255-5100 and reference the group code EVO24. An alternative is Park Hotel Madison. Both hotels offer single and double rooms. The registration page has a option to indicate that you are interested in sharing a double room with a fellow attendee. Registered attendees will get a link to a spreadsheet for facilitating room-sharing.