SEMINAR ON BI- AND MULTILINGUALISM AND COGNITION

May 19-21, 2005, Mitteleuropa Foundation, Bolzano, Italy



The aim of this seminar is to discuss the most recent research on cognitive 

aspects of bi- and multilingualism. Since language research is basically 

cognitive research, a cognitive theory of language is the most suitable 

theoretical framework in which to bring together psychology, linguistics, and 

bilingualism. Research has demonstrated that a significant amount of cognitive 

development results from the internalization of interpersonal communicative 

processes. Cognitive approaches to bi- and multilingualism attempt to find out 

what happens if these interpersonal communicative processes involve the use of 

more than one language. Earlier research studies concentrated on the bilingual 

person and the product of thinking, while recent trends have seemed to favor the 

process of thinking, focusing on language recall, reaction time, information 

processing and memorization, on the one hand, and social and conceptual 

development on the other. Issues reflecting these developments will be addressed 

and discussed in the seminar. Ample time will be allocated to discussion. The 

first two days will be devoted to presentation/discussion of the invited 

speakers' contributions, while the third one will be taken up by panel/short 

presentations. Power point presentations are encouraged. 



Invited keynote speakers (confirmed):



Ellen Bialystok (Department of Psychology, York University, Canada) "Cognitive 

effects of bilingualism across the lifespan."



Ton Dijkstra (Nijmegen Institute for Cognition and Information, The

Netherlands) "Task and context effects in bilingual processing."



Istvan Kecskes (State University of New York, Albany, USA) "Synergic concepts in the bilingual mind."



Michel Paradis (McGill University, Cognitive Neuroscience Center,

Canada) "The components of the bilingual cognitive system."



The conference will be organized by the Mitteleuropa Foundation, Bolzano, 

Portici Street, 30, Italy (www.mitteleuropafoundation.it)



If you are interested in attending the workshop and/or contributing your own 

ideas, please send an email (with a two-page abstract in attachment if you 

intend to give a presentation/panel) to the secretary of Mitteleuropa 

Foundation, Dr. Paola Benevento (p.benevento@mitteleuropafoundation.it) before 

April 15. 



Important Dates:

Deadline for abstract submissions: April 15, 2005

Conference: May 19-21, 2005

Information about how to reach Bolzano are available from the Foundation's webpage (www.mitteleuropafoundation.it)

****************************************************

Dr Roberto Poli, PhD

Editor-in-chief of Axiomathes, Kluwer: http://www.kluweronline.com/issn/1122-1151

Editor of Categories: http://www.polimetrica.com/categories/index.html

Papers and other information: http://www.mitteleuropafoundation.it

preferred e-mail: roberto.poli@soc.unitn.it