Laboratory Phonology Conference, Yale University, June, 2002

美国国家科学基金会支持第八届实验室语音学会议，该会议将由耶鲁大学语言学系和哈斯金斯实验室联合主办。这次会议将于2002年6月27日至30日在康涅狄格州纽黑文的耶鲁校园举行。传统上，对人类通过语言交流的能力的研究是由不同的科学家小组进行的，无论是实验科学家还是理论科学家，他们之间几乎没有交流。实验科学家研究语音过程的声学和生理学特征，而理论科学家研究辅音和元音在世界语言中的模式。在过去的15年里，实验室语音学的一系列会议促进了这些群体之间更多的互动，这些会议寻求将语言模式与说话的身体活动更直接地联系起来。这种交叉授粉产生的研究已经对基础科学和应用产生了重要的影响，如言语障碍、发育迟缓和阅读障碍。第八届实验室语音学会议将重点讨论人类语言之间的差异，这些差异对人类语言和语言的普遍性有什么影响，以及作为共性基础的生物专门化的性质。许多研究已经显示出人类言语和语言的一些特殊性，但对其确切性质还没有达成一致意见。事实上，最近研究的两条线索得出了相反的结论。一方面，有证据表明，人类声道的结构和通过听觉渠道进行交流的限制塑造了音系共性，建议进行声听特化。另一方面，有证据表明，手工(手写)语言与口语有重要的共同点，这意味着更一般或更抽象的专门化。这次会议将汇集致力于口语研究的顶尖科学家和致力于手语研究的科学家。它们的互动应该为人类对言语和语言的专门化提供新的见解，促进研究手语和口语的新技术，并导致利用它们潜在的相似性的新的手语和口语的教学和学习方法。

The National Science Foundation supports the Eighth Conference on Laboratory Phonology, which will be hosted jointly by the Yale University Linguistics Department and Haskins Laboratories. This conference will take place on the Yale campus in New Haven, CT, June 27-30, 2002. The study of the human capacity to communicate via speech has traditionally been carried out by separate groups of scientists, experimental and theoretical, with little communication between them. The experimental scientists examine the acoustical and physiological characteristics of the speech process, while the theoretical scientists study the ways that consonants and vowels pattern in the languages of the world. In the last 15 years, increased interaction between these groups has been spurred by a series of conferences on Laboratory Phonology, that seeks to relate language patterns more directly to the physical activities of talking. Research resulting from this cross-pollination has already had important implications for both basic science and applications such as speech disorders, developmental delays, and reading disabilities. The Eighth Conference on Laboratory Phonology will focus on differences among human languages, what those differences have to say about of the universal properties of human speech and language, and the nature of the biological specialization that underlies the universals. Much research has shown some specialization for human speech and language, but there is no agreement on its precise nature. In fact, two threads of recent research suggest conclusions in opposite directions. On the one hand, there is evidence that phonological universals have been shaped by the structure of the human vocal tract and the constraints of communicating through an aural channel, sugesting a vocal-aural specialization. On the other hand, there is evidence that manual (signed) languages share important properties with spoken languages, suggesting a more generic or abstract specialization. The conference will bring together leading scientists working on spoken languages with those working on signed languages. Their interaction should provide new insights into the human specialization for speech and language, spur new techniques for investigating both signed and spoken languages, and lead to new methods for teaching and learning signed and spoken languages that take advantage of their underlying similarities.