As part of the project "Multilevel-grounded Semantics:
Language, Music, Visual Cognition", jointly implemented by
the Center for Cognitive Sciences and Branch in Niš of the
Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (No. O36-24, project
coordinator: academician Aleksandar Kostić, project head: Prof.
Dr. Mihailo Antović), Olivera Marković, Ph.D., research
assistant in the Department of Serbian Language and Literature
at the University of Niš, and member of the Center for Cognitive
Sciences, gave a talk entitled "How We Understand Parodies:
Toward the Parodic Mechanisms of (De)Stabilization". She
focused on semantic tension as central to parody, where the
audience should simultaneously recognize both the prototype
(which is being imitated) and the prototype's negation
(conceptual reversal). Through a series of examples, she
suggested that a good way to approach the problem is to use the
conceptual blending theory and its extended,
multilevel-grounding model. A fruitful question-and-answer
session ensued.
17-20 Mar 2025
Prof. Antović's talks in Bulgaria
In March, Prof. Mihailo Antović, head of the Center for
Cognitive Sciences, was a keynote speaker at the workshop "Understanding
vs. Knowledge in Science, Fiction and Art", organized by
the Department of Philosophy at Sofia University in cooperation
with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The event gathered
around 30 presenters from Europe and the USA. Two keynotes were
Prof. Mitch Greene (University of Connecticut), who talked about
language understanding by AI models, and Prof. Antović, who
provided an overview of his work on cross-modal correspondences
in music and language, in an effort to introduce his new
"meta-schema" concept in cognitive linguistics. In addition,
Prof. Antović gave a talk on his multilevel grounding model and
the way it operates across cognitive domains (language, music,
vision) in the Department of Cognitive Science and Psychology at
the New Bulgarian University. The visit was supported by Sofia
University and the CEEPUS programme. The talk at NBU was also an
activity within the project "Multilevel-grounded Semantics:
Language, Music, Vision", jointly conducted by the Center
for Cognitive Sciences and the Branch in Niš of the Serbian
Academy of Sciences and Arts (O36-24, coordinator: academician
Aleksandar Kostić).
06-07 Dec 2024
Conference: "Schemas in Language, Music, and Visual
Cognition"
With the kind support of the Serbian Science Fund (Program
"Ideas", Grant No. 7715934, Structuring Concept Generation with
the Help of Metaphor, Analogy and Schematicity – SCHEMAS), the
Faculty of Philosophy and the Center for Cognitive Sciences
organized an international conference titled "Schemas in
Language, Music, and Visual Cognition", on Friday and
Saturday, 6 and 7 December 2024. The event gathered around 30
presenters from all over the world (Albania, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Bulgaria, China, the Czech Republic, Germany,
Greece, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, the UK,
the USA, Ukraine). Distinguished keynote speakers were Prof.
Beate Hampe, University of Erfurt (in person), Prof. Ray
Jackendoff, MIT and Tufts University, and Prof. Todd Oakley,
Case Western Reserve University (online). The event allowed us
to hold an invaluable discussion on the underlying, schematic
foundations of meaning in music, language, vision, and beyond
(e.g. museum practices, dance, oral traditions). We established
numerous new contacts with reputable international researchers
and hope for even more collaboration in the near future.