Would extraterrestrial intelligence have language? If so, what can we say about the nature of such language prior to making contact, or before knowing even whether extraterrestrial intelligence exists? To explore these questions, chapter proposals are invited for _Xenolinguistics: Toward a Science of Extraterrestrial Language_, which builds upon the forthcoming _Extraterrestrial Intelligence: Cognition and Communication in the Universe_ (Oxford University Press, 2018), also edited by Douglas Vakoch. Proposals informed by the philosophy of language or the phenomenology of language are especially encouraged.
Please send a 400-word abstract, 200-word biography, and sample of a previously published chapter or article to Douglas Vakoch at dvakoch@meti.org by May 15, 2018. Proposers will be notified about whether their submissions are accepted for the book by May 30, 2018. For accepted proposals, first drafts of full chapters (5,000 words) are due by October 1, 2018, and final versions are due December 1, 2018. Only previously unpublished papers from authors who have already earned a doctorate will be considered.
Authors who address possible contact between human and extraterrestrial intelligence should focus on scenarios in which contact is via radio or laser signals transmitted across interstellar space, rather than via face-to-face contact.
The editor of _Xenolinguistics_ has edited fifteen books, including _Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence_ (SUNY Press, 2011), _Ecopsychology, Phenomenology, and the Environment: The Experience of Nature_ (Springer, 2014), _Extraterrestrial Altruism: Evolution and Ethics in the Cosmos_ (Springer, 2014), and _The Drake Equation: Estimating the Prevalence of Extraterrestrial Life Through the Ages_ (Cambridge University Press, 2015).