From ksinnema at ling.helsinki.fi Wed Feb 9 16:12:15 2005 From: ksinnema at ling.helsinki.fi (=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Kaius_Sinnem=E4ki?=) Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2005 18:12:15 +0200 Subject: Call for abstracts: Approaches to complexity in language Message-ID: CALL FOR ABSTRACTS The Linguistic Association of Finland and the Department of General Linguistics, University of Helsinki, jointly organize the symposium Approaches to Complexity in Language in Helsinki, Finland, on August 24-26, 2005. Language complexity has recently attracted the attention of linguists of various persuasions. Obviously, the concept has different definitions in different approaches to language. Some look at the issue from a more autonomous theoretical point of view, drawing from e.g. information theory, while others see complexity as difficulty of processing, language learning, and language acquisition. These approaches need of course not be contradictory. Complexity has always been an important issue for creolists and contact linguists, as well as for formal theorists and psycholinguists. Of late, typologists have become increasingly interested in the question. Confirmed plenary speakers: - Wouter Kusters (University of Leiden) - Ritva Laury (California State University, Fresno; University of Helsinki) - John McWhorter (Manhattan Institute; University of California Berkeley) Activities: - plenary lectures - presentations by other participants (20 min + 10 min for discussion) - posters - workshops We encourage contributions approaching language complexity from different points of view, e.g. - What is complexity in language and how should it be defined? - Complexity in different linguistic domains (e.g. phonology, morphology, syntax, lexicon). - Complexity in spoken vs. written language. - Does complexity in one domain correlate with (lack of) complexity in another? - How do social changes and language contacts influence complexity? - How can complexity be compared across languages? The main topics of the symposium will center around these issues, but papers approaching complexity from other points of view are equally welcome. Submission of abstracts and workshop proposals: The deadline for submission of abstracts (in English; max 500 words) is April 30, 2005. Please submit your abstract by e-mail to the address of the organizing committee . The abstract should be included in the body of the message. Please indicate clearly whether your abstract is intended as a poster or a section paper. Participants will be notified about acceptance by May 31, 2005. The abstracts will be published on the web pages of the symposium at . Proposals for workshops should be submitted no later than March 31, 2005, and notification of acceptance will be given by April 15. These one-day workshops will run in parallel sessions with the main conference programme. Alternatively, the first day of the symposium may be dedicated to workshops. The symposium organizers will provide the lecture rooms and other facilities, but the workshop organizers will be responsible for the organization of their workshops (choice of speakers etc). Registration: The deadline for registration is August 1, 2005. Please register by e-mail to the address of the organizing committee (see below). Registration fees: - general: EUR 50 - members of the association: EUR 25 - undergraduate students free Participants from abroad are requested to pay in cash upon arrival. Participants from Finland may send the registration fee by giro account no 800013-1424850 to The Linguistic Association of Finland (SKY) / Symposium, or pay in cash upon arrival. In case you have further questions please contact the organizing committee (see below). Check for information updates at the symposium website: Organizing committee: Marja Etelämäki Pentti Haddington Soili Hakulinen Arja Hamari Fred Karlsson Seppo Kittilä Matti Miestamo Urpo Nikanne Heli Pitkänen Kaius Sinnemäki E-mail: From remlingk at gvsu.edu Wed Feb 9 18:48:48 2005 From: remlingk at gvsu.edu (Kathryn Remlinger) Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2005 13:48:48 -0500 Subject: Call for Papers Message-ID: Call for Papers: Language Variation and Change in the United States The American Dialect Society, Midwest Region With the Midwest Modern Language Association 10-13 November 2005 The Pfister Milwaukee, Wisconsin Papers dealing with varieties of English and other languages spoken in the United States will be considered. Presentations may be based in traditional dialectology or in other areas of language variation and change, including sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, anthropological linguistics, folk linguistics, language and gender/sexuality, language attitudes, linguistics in the schools, critical discourse analysis, or narratology. April 15, 2005 is the deadline for 300-word abstracts. Email submissions only. Send abstracts to: Kathryn Remlinger remlingk at gvsu.edu American Dialect Society, Midwest Secretary Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan Membership to ADS is recommended. Membership is $50 and includes a year's subscription to the society's journal, American Speech, and a copy of the Publication of the American Dialect Society (PADS, an annual hardbound supplement). Membership information is available at www.americandialect.org. Membership to MMLA is required. Membership is $35 for full and associate professors, $30 for assistant professors and schoolteachers, $20 for adjunct and part-time faculty, and $15 for students, retired, and unemployed. Information on membership is available at the website below or by writing to MMLA, 302 English-Philosophy Bldg, U of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242-1408, tel: 1-319-335-0331. For more information about ADS at MMLA, see the MMLA website, www.uiowa.edu/~mmla, go to "Call for Papers," scroll down to "Associated Organizations," then to "American Dialect Society." -- Kathryn Remlinger, Ph.D. Associate Professor of English: Linguistics Grand Valley State University Allendale, MI 49401 USA remlingk at gvsu.edu tel: 616-331-3122 fax: 616-331-3430 From vyv.evans at sussex.ac.uk Mon Feb 14 11:24:29 2005 From: vyv.evans at sussex.ac.uk (Vyv Evans) Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2005 11:24:29 +0000 Subject: Second Call: New Directions in Cognitive Linguistics Message-ID: SECOND Call for Papers (please circulate): NEW DIRECTIONS IN COGNITIVE LINGUISTICS First UK Cognitive Linguistics Conference 23-25 October 2005 University of Sussex, Brighton, UK www.cogling.org.uk Within the last 25 years or so, Cognitive Linguistics has emerged as a radical and exciting new approach to the study of language and the mind within the interdisciplinary project known as Cognitive Science. In that time, a rich and relatively mature set of theories has developed which have by now been applied to a wide range of linguistic and cognitive phenomena. As Cognitive Linguistics has grown and matured, debates have emerged regarding foundational theoretical positions and data collection practices and methodologies. Moreover, in recent years, both the empirical basis and the interdisciplinary character of Cognitive Linguistics have been significantly strengthened. The purpose of this international conference is to take stock of the major achievements associated with Cognitive Linguistics since its emergence, and to provide a forum for examining new directions. Papers are invited for submission which relate to any aspect of cognitive Linguistics, from theory to description. However, priority will be given to papers which relate to the theme 'new directions'. Papers which relate to some aspect of the following are particularly welcome: - new descriptive or theoretical insights in Cognitive Linguistics - new or recent empirical or methodological aspects of Cognitive Linguistics - new or recent applications of Cognitive Linguistics - a critical evaluation of an aspect of the Cognitive Linguistics enterprise - the interface between Cognitive Linguistics and neighbouring disciplines - new frontiers in Cognitive Linguistics - new or recent theories within Cognitive Linguistics, or new developments in a particular theory The conference will also see the inauguration of the UK Cognitive Linguistics Association. There will also be a collection of peer-reviewed papers published based on the conference theme. Plenary speakers are: Paul Chilton, University East Anglia, UK 'Dimensions of discourse' Ronald Langacker, University of California, San Diego, USA 'Constructions and constructional meaning' Brigitte Nerlich, University of Nottingham, UK Talk title tbc Chris Sinha, University of Portsmouth, UK 'Mind, brain, society: Language as vehicle and language as window' Mark Turner, Case Western Reserve University, USA Talk title tbc Jordan Zlatev, Lund University, Sweden 'Intersubjectivity, bodily mimesis and the grounding of language' Conference Format The conference will run over three days. In addition to six plenary lectures which will each last for one hour, there will be a general session, consisting of 30 minute presentations in parallel, poster presentations and 3 invited theme sessions relating to the conference theme. The invited theme sessions are as follows: - Cognitive approaches to lexical semantics - Conceptual projection - Making sense of embodiment Submission of Abstracts Submissions are solicited for the general session and for poster presentations. Presentations in the general session should last for 20 minutes with 10 minutes for questions. All submissions for the general and poster sessions should follow the abstract guidelines below. - Abstracts of no more than 500 words (about a page) should be submitted to abstract at cogling.org.uk - Abstracts must be in 12 point font and submitted as an email attachment - The abstract should clearly indicate the talk/poster title, and may include references, as long as the total word count does not exceed 500 words. - Please do not include your name or any other obvious forms of identifiers, as far as is possible, in the abstract. This is because the abstracts will be subject to anonymous peer-review. - The preferred format for sending abstracts is in Word, RTF or PDF. - The abstract title should be given as the subject line of the email to which the abstract is attached. - In the body of the email message include the following information: name, title, affiliation, email address, telephone no., postal address, talk title. Please also indicate whether your preferred presentation format is general or poster session. - In order to assist with the reviewing process, please also list up to 5 keywords in the email message ABSTRACT SUBMISSION DEADLINE: MARCH 14th 2005 For full conference information please see the conference website: www.cogling.org.uk This conference is being held at the University of Sussex and organised by the Sussex Cognitive Linguistics Research Group, and the Linguistics and English Language Department. We are grateful to the School of Humanities, and to the British Academy for generous financial support. We also acknowledge the support of the University of Sussex Centre for Research in Cognitive Science (COGS). Organising committee chair: Vyv Evans Organising committee members: Rob Clowes, Jason Harrison, Anu Koskela, Shane Lindsay, John Sung, Joerg Zinken (University of Portsmouth) From sevigny at mcmaster.ca Wed Feb 16 22:38:12 2005 From: sevigny at mcmaster.ca (Alexandre Sevigny) Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 17:38:12 -0500 Subject: Job : Linguistics & Cognition Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, I would like to bring this employment opportunity to your attention. Please encourage new PHDs as well as those on the verge of finishing to apply. We are trying to find someone who will be interested in teaching between Linguistics and Cognitive Science, as the ad implies. Sincerely, Alex Sevigny The Department of Modem Languages and Linguistics at McMaster University invites applications for a two year contractually limited appointment at the rank of Assistant Professor in the area of linguistics, cognition, and language(s) other than English with a focus on morphology or syntax in a variety of frameworks. The ability to teach in other core areas of linguistics is desirable. The successful candidate will have a PhD in linguistics or a cognate discipline and will have demonstrated excellence in teaching and research. The Department of Modem Languages and Linguistics presently offers undergraduate degrees in Linguistics, German, Italian and Spanish. The starting date for the appointment is July 1, 2005. Starting salary will be based on experience and qualifications. Applications, including curriculum vitae, transcripts, samples of publications, and letters from three academic referees should be addressed to: Dr. Robert McNutt, Chair, Department of Modem Languages and Linguistics, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4M2, Canada. Applications received by March 31, 2005 will be assured of consideration. For further information on the Department of Modem Languages and Linguistics, see http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~modlang/ ****************************************** Alexandre Sevigny Assistant Professor & Undergraduate Counsellor Communication Studies & French Linguistics Room 507, Togo Salmon Hall, McMaster University 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8 Tel: 905.525.9140 ext 27661 http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~sevigny ****************************************** From bergs at phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de Thu Feb 17 19:52:46 2005 From: bergs at phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de (Alex Bergs) Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2005 20:52:46 +0100 Subject: TOC "Constructions" Message-ID: Dear all, We are very pleased to announce the publication of the first articles in our new open-access ejournal “Constructions”: - Kolehmainen, Leena, Meri Larjavaara. 2004. “The ‘bizarre’ valency behaviour of Finnish verbs: How a specific context gives rise to valency alternation patterns”. Constructions 1/2004. urn:nbn:de:0009-4-310 Full text: < http://www.digijournals.de/constructions/articles/31> - Haspelmath, Martin. 2004. “Explaining the Ditransitive Person-Role Constraint: a usage-based approach”. Constructions 2/2004. urn:nbn:de:0009-4-359 Full text: < http://www.digijournals.de/constructions/articles/35> Publisher: Heinrich-Heine-Universitaet Duesseldorf / English Language and Linguistics http://www.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/anglist3 http://www.constructions-online.de Journal Title: Constructions Please note that Constructions is not published in issue & volume format. Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics, Linguistic Theories HAVE YOU SEEN OUR NEW JOURNALS? "Constructions": www.constructions-online.de "language at internet": www.languageatinternet.de ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr. Alexander Bergs, M.A. Anglistik III (English Language and Linguistics) Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf Universitätsstr. 1 D-40225 Düsseldorf Tel +49 211 81-12823 Fax +49 211 81-15649 bergs at phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de http://www.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/anglist3/Bergs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From Julia.Ulrich at degruyter.com Tue Feb 22 09:51:51 2005 From: Julia.Ulrich at degruyter.com (Julia Ulrich) Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 10:51:51 +0100 Subject: Alexander T. Bergs, Social Networks and Historical Sociolinguistics Message-ID: New from Mouton de Gruyter Alexander T. Bergs SOCIAL NETWORKS AND HISTORICAL SOCIOLINGUISTICS Studies in Morphosyntactic Variation in the Paston Letters (1421-1503) 2005. xii, 318 pages. Cloth. EUR 88.00 / sFr 141.00 / approx. US$ 106.00 ISBN 3-11-018310-2 (Topics in English Linguistics 51) Date of publication: 02/2005 http://www.degruyter.de/rs/bookSingle.cfm?id=IS-3110183102-1&l=E The book presents an analysis of selected domains of morphosyntactic variation in a 250,000 word collection of the Middle English Paston Letters (1421-1503) from a historical sociolinguistic point of view. In the three case studies, two nominal and one verbal variable are described and discussed in detail: the replacement of Old English pronouns by borrowed pronouns, the introduction and spread of the wh-relativizers, and the spread and routinization of light verb constructions (take, make, give, have, do plus deverbal noun). While the study aims at a balanced integration of theories and methods from a number of different approaches in sociolinguistics, cognitive linguistics, typology, and language change, its main focus is social network theory and the role of the linguistic individual in the formation and change of language structures. Questions of individual language use and of deliberate versus unmonitored changes in the (individual) system take center stage and are discussed in the light of social network analysis. Traditional empirical social network analysis is carefully revised. Despite its many merits in present-day sociolinguistics, it often needs to be supplemented by hermeneutic-biographical analyses of the individual speakers' lives when applied to historical data. With this background, common theories and models of language change, such as grammaticalization, paradigmatic pressure, typological alignment, and generational shifts, are illustrated and evaluated from the point of view of single speakers and social groups, and their particular embedding in the speech community through various network structures. The book is of interest to advanced students and researchers in English and general linguistics, Middle English, historical linguistics and language change, corpus linguistics, as well as sociolinguistics. Alexander T. Bergs is Assistant Professor at the Department of English Language and Linguistics at Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, Germany. TO ORDER, PLEASE CONTACT SFG Servicecenter-Fachverlage Postfach 4343 72774 Reutlingen, Germany Fax: +49 (0)7071 - 93 53 - 33 E-mail: deGruyter at s-f-g.com For USA, Canada, Mexico: Walter de Gruyter, Inc. PO Box 960 Herndon, VA 20172-0960 Tel.: +1 (703) 661 1589 Tel. Toll-free +1 (800) 208 8144 Fax: +1 (703) 661 1501 e-mail: degruytermail at presswarehouse.com Please visit our website for other publications by Mouton de Gruyter: www.mouton-publishers.com For free demo versions of Mouton de Gruyter's multimedia products, please visit www.mouton-online.com __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Diese E-Mail und ihre Dateianhaenge sind fuer den angegebenen Empfaenger und/oder die Empfaengergruppe bestimmt. Wenn Sie diese E-Mail versehentlich erhalten haben, setzen Sie sich bitte mit dem Absender oder Ihrem Systembetreuer in Verbindung. Diese Fusszeile bestaetigt ausserdem, dass die E-Mail auf bekannte Viren ueberprueft wurde. This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender or the system manager. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept for the presence of computer viruses. From bergs at phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de Thu Feb 24 13:28:07 2005 From: bergs at phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de (Alex Bergs) Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2005 14:28:07 +0100 Subject: REMINDER: Call for Papers CALC workshop Message-ID: REMINDER: APPROACHING DEADLINE!!! ICHL WORKSHOP Constructions and Language Change (CALC) Conveners: Gabriele Diewald, Hannover University Alexander Bergs, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf Introduction Studies in diachronic linguistics increasingly acknowledge that linguistic change is highly context-dependent. Especially in its initial stages, linguistic change is tied not only to particular text type or registers, but to specific morphosyntactic and semantic environments, i.e. to specific recurring patters of co-present linguistic features, that is to say "constructions". This workshop investigates and highlights the role of “constructions” in linguistic change. In doing so, the term “constructions” is deliberately understood to have a broad extension, i.e. to include, but not be limited to Construction Grammar proper. Thus, any constructional approach to language and linguistic change is welcome. Suggestions for topics to be addressed in this workshop include: - The role of constructions as source(s) of linguistic change - The role of constructions as product(s) of linguistic change - Mechanisms of change within constructions - Constructions and grammaticalization - Constructions, frequency, and linguistic change - Cross-linguistic constructional phenomena in linguistic change - The definition and delimitation of the terms "construction", "context" etc. Call for Papers We encourage abstract submission on any of the topics mentioned above. Papers on other related issues are also welcome. Papers, no matter whether theory or data-driven, need not take a construction grammar point of view, but should explicitly employ a constructional approach to language. Presentations will have the usual 20 min + 10 min discussion format. We plan to publish selected proceedings with an international publishing house. Abstracts of no more than 350 words should be sent as MS Word compatible files to the following address: bergs at phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de. Deadline is March 1, 2005. Notification of acceptance will be send out April 1, 2005. HAVE YOU SEEN OUR NEW JOURNALS? "Constructions": www.constructions-online.de "language at internet": www.languageatinternet.de ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr. Alexander Bergs, M.A. Anglistik III (English Language and Linguistics) Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf Universitätsstr. 1 D-40225 Düsseldorf Tel +49 211 81-12823 Fax +49 211 81-15649 bergs at phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de http://www.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/anglist3/Bergs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From tzurs at post.tau.ac.il Sun Feb 27 13:48:53 2005 From: tzurs at post.tau.ac.il (tzurs) Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2005 15:48:53 +0200 Subject: Request. Message-ID: Hello, A few weeks ago (well maybe more..) I posted a request for help with translating terms related to teaching, I'd first like to thank everyone that replied, the data I got has helped our research and was extremely interesting for us, we're still analyzing it. I now have another request which I'm hope is not "out of line" for this forum, we've composed an online questionnaire (as part of a research "fishing" expedition) that is related to the meaning (or more accurately, the concept of) teaching in different cultures/languages, the link to this survey is not on our university website due to technical reasons (that are beyond the scope blah blah), http://www.weil.co.il/quest the questionnaire is relatively short (takes about 10 minutes to complete), mainly composed of multiple choice questions and can be taken anonymously (if you wish to get a summary of results, please specify your email in the appropriate text box). The questionnaire is given in English because this is unfortunately the only foreign language I "know". So, if this is out of line, please excuse me and simply ignore this post, if you can/want to share your language concept of teaching, we would be fascinated if you filled out the questionnaire, it would also be absolutely great if you could forward this to other people who may be interested in completing it. please feel free to contact me at tzurs at post.tau.ac.il for any questions/critic etc regarding this issue, All the best, --tzurs Tel-Aviv university From tzurs at hotmail.com Sun Feb 27 15:15:15 2005 From: tzurs at hotmail.com (tzur sayag) Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2005 17:15:15 +0200 Subject: Request. Message-ID: SORRY you all, I have a spell bug in the web site address...sorry about that. the new correct address is: http://www.wei.co.il/quest SORRY. --tzurs ----- Original Message ----- From: "tzurs" To: Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2005 3:48 PM Subject: [FUNKNET] Request. Hello, A few weeks ago (well maybe more..) I posted a request for help with translating terms related to teaching, I'd first like to thank everyone that replied, the data I got has helped our research and was extremely interesting for us, we're still analyzing it. I now have another request which I'm hope is not "out of line" for this forum, we've composed an online questionnaire (as part of a research "fishing" expedition) that is related to the meaning (or more accurately, the concept of) teaching in different cultures/languages, the link to this survey is not on our university website due to technical reasons (that are beyond the scope blah blah), http://www.weil.co.il/quest the questionnaire is relatively short (takes about 10 minutes to complete), mainly composed of multiple choice questions and can be taken anonymously (if you wish to get a summary of results, please specify your email in the appropriate text box). The questionnaire is given in English because this is unfortunately the only foreign language I "know". So, if this is out of line, please excuse me and simply ignore this post, if you can/want to share your language concept of teaching, we would be fascinated if you filled out the questionnaire, it would also be absolutely great if you could forward this to other people who may be interested in completing it. please feel free to contact me at tzurs at post.tau.ac.il for any questions/critic etc regarding this issue, All the best, --tzurs Tel-Aviv university From tzurs at post.tau.ac.il Mon Feb 28 00:20:27 2005 From: tzurs at post.tau.ac.il (tzurs) Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2005 02:20:27 +0200 Subject: Request. Message-ID: Hi all, I'm not sure this ever got to the group, I had an error in the link I gave before, the correct one is: http://www.wei.co.il/quest sorry & thanx in advance for filling out the questionnaire. --tzurs. ----- Original Message ----- From: "tzur sayag" To: Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2005 5:15 PM Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Request. > SORRY you all, > I have a spell bug in the web site address...sorry about that. > the new correct address is: > http://www.wei.co.il/quest > SORRY. > --tzurs > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "tzurs" > To: > Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2005 3:48 PM > Subject: [FUNKNET] Request. > > > Hello, > > A few weeks ago (well maybe more..) I posted a request for help with > translating terms related to teaching, > I'd first like to thank everyone that replied, the data I got has helped > our research and > was extremely interesting for us, we're still analyzing it. > > I now have another request which I'm hope is not "out of line" for this > forum, > we've composed an online questionnaire (as part of a research "fishing" > expedition) that is related to the meaning (or more accurately, the > concept of) teaching in different cultures/languages, > the link to this survey is not on our university website due to technical > reasons (that are beyond the scope blah blah), http://www.weil.co.il/quest > > the questionnaire is relatively short (takes about 10 minutes to > complete), mainly composed of multiple choice questions and can be taken > anonymously (if you wish to get a summary of results, please specify your > email in the appropriate text box). The questionnaire is given in English > because this is unfortunately the only foreign language I "know". > > So, if this is out of line, please excuse me and simply ignore this post, > if you can/want to share your language concept of teaching, we would be > fascinated if you filled out the questionnaire, it would also be > absolutely great if you could forward this to other people who may be > interested in completing it. > > please feel free to contact me at tzurs at post.tau.ac.il for any > questions/critic etc regarding this issue, > > All the best, > --tzurs > Tel-Aviv university > From ksinnema at ling.helsinki.fi Wed Feb 9 16:12:15 2005 From: ksinnema at ling.helsinki.fi (=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Kaius_Sinnem=E4ki?=) Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2005 18:12:15 +0200 Subject: Call for abstracts: Approaches to complexity in language Message-ID: CALL FOR ABSTRACTS The Linguistic Association of Finland and the Department of General Linguistics, University of Helsinki, jointly organize the symposium Approaches to Complexity in Language in Helsinki, Finland, on August 24-26, 2005. Language complexity has recently attracted the attention of linguists of various persuasions. Obviously, the concept has different definitions in different approaches to language. Some look at the issue from a more autonomous theoretical point of view, drawing from e.g. information theory, while others see complexity as difficulty of processing, language learning, and language acquisition. These approaches need of course not be contradictory. Complexity has always been an important issue for creolists and contact linguists, as well as for formal theorists and psycholinguists. Of late, typologists have become increasingly interested in the question. Confirmed plenary speakers: - Wouter Kusters (University of Leiden) - Ritva Laury (California State University, Fresno; University of Helsinki) - John McWhorter (Manhattan Institute; University of California Berkeley) Activities: - plenary lectures - presentations by other participants (20 min + 10 min for discussion) - posters - workshops We encourage contributions approaching language complexity from different points of view, e.g. - What is complexity in language and how should it be defined? - Complexity in different linguistic domains (e.g. phonology, morphology, syntax, lexicon). - Complexity in spoken vs. written language. - Does complexity in one domain correlate with (lack of) complexity in another? - How do social changes and language contacts influence complexity? - How can complexity be compared across languages? The main topics of the symposium will center around these issues, but papers approaching complexity from other points of view are equally welcome. Submission of abstracts and workshop proposals: The deadline for submission of abstracts (in English; max 500 words) is April 30, 2005. Please submit your abstract by e-mail to the address of the organizing committee . The abstract should be included in the body of the message. Please indicate clearly whether your abstract is intended as a poster or a section paper. Participants will be notified about acceptance by May 31, 2005. The abstracts will be published on the web pages of the symposium at . Proposals for workshops should be submitted no later than March 31, 2005, and notification of acceptance will be given by April 15. These one-day workshops will run in parallel sessions with the main conference programme. Alternatively, the first day of the symposium may be dedicated to workshops. The symposium organizers will provide the lecture rooms and other facilities, but the workshop organizers will be responsible for the organization of their workshops (choice of speakers etc). Registration: The deadline for registration is August 1, 2005. Please register by e-mail to the address of the organizing committee (see below). Registration fees: - general: EUR 50 - members of the association: EUR 25 - undergraduate students free Participants from abroad are requested to pay in cash upon arrival. Participants from Finland may send the registration fee by giro account no 800013-1424850 to The Linguistic Association of Finland (SKY) / Symposium, or pay in cash upon arrival. In case you have further questions please contact the organizing committee (see below). Check for information updates at the symposium website: Organizing committee: Marja Etel?m?ki Pentti Haddington Soili Hakulinen Arja Hamari Fred Karlsson Seppo Kittil? Matti Miestamo Urpo Nikanne Heli Pitk?nen Kaius Sinnem?ki E-mail: From remlingk at gvsu.edu Wed Feb 9 18:48:48 2005 From: remlingk at gvsu.edu (Kathryn Remlinger) Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2005 13:48:48 -0500 Subject: Call for Papers Message-ID: Call for Papers: Language Variation and Change in the United States The American Dialect Society, Midwest Region With the Midwest Modern Language Association 10-13 November 2005 The Pfister Milwaukee, Wisconsin Papers dealing with varieties of English and other languages spoken in the United States will be considered. Presentations may be based in traditional dialectology or in other areas of language variation and change, including sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, anthropological linguistics, folk linguistics, language and gender/sexuality, language attitudes, linguistics in the schools, critical discourse analysis, or narratology. April 15, 2005 is the deadline for 300-word abstracts. Email submissions only. Send abstracts to: Kathryn Remlinger remlingk at gvsu.edu American Dialect Society, Midwest Secretary Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan Membership to ADS is recommended. Membership is $50 and includes a year's subscription to the society's journal, American Speech, and a copy of the Publication of the American Dialect Society (PADS, an annual hardbound supplement). Membership information is available at www.americandialect.org. Membership to MMLA is required. Membership is $35 for full and associate professors, $30 for assistant professors and schoolteachers, $20 for adjunct and part-time faculty, and $15 for students, retired, and unemployed. Information on membership is available at the website below or by writing to MMLA, 302 English-Philosophy Bldg, U of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242-1408, tel: 1-319-335-0331. For more information about ADS at MMLA, see the MMLA website, www.uiowa.edu/~mmla, go to "Call for Papers," scroll down to "Associated Organizations," then to "American Dialect Society." -- Kathryn Remlinger, Ph.D. Associate Professor of English: Linguistics Grand Valley State University Allendale, MI 49401 USA remlingk at gvsu.edu tel: 616-331-3122 fax: 616-331-3430 From vyv.evans at sussex.ac.uk Mon Feb 14 11:24:29 2005 From: vyv.evans at sussex.ac.uk (Vyv Evans) Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2005 11:24:29 +0000 Subject: Second Call: New Directions in Cognitive Linguistics Message-ID: SECOND Call for Papers (please circulate): NEW DIRECTIONS IN COGNITIVE LINGUISTICS First UK Cognitive Linguistics Conference 23-25 October 2005 University of Sussex, Brighton, UK www.cogling.org.uk Within the last 25 years or so, Cognitive Linguistics has emerged as a radical and exciting new approach to the study of language and the mind within the interdisciplinary project known as Cognitive Science. In that time, a rich and relatively mature set of theories has developed which have by now been applied to a wide range of linguistic and cognitive phenomena. As Cognitive Linguistics has grown and matured, debates have emerged regarding foundational theoretical positions and data collection practices and methodologies. Moreover, in recent years, both the empirical basis and the interdisciplinary character of Cognitive Linguistics have been significantly strengthened. The purpose of this international conference is to take stock of the major achievements associated with Cognitive Linguistics since its emergence, and to provide a forum for examining new directions. Papers are invited for submission which relate to any aspect of cognitive Linguistics, from theory to description. However, priority will be given to papers which relate to the theme 'new directions'. Papers which relate to some aspect of the following are particularly welcome: - new descriptive or theoretical insights in Cognitive Linguistics - new or recent empirical or methodological aspects of Cognitive Linguistics - new or recent applications of Cognitive Linguistics - a critical evaluation of an aspect of the Cognitive Linguistics enterprise - the interface between Cognitive Linguistics and neighbouring disciplines - new frontiers in Cognitive Linguistics - new or recent theories within Cognitive Linguistics, or new developments in a particular theory The conference will also see the inauguration of the UK Cognitive Linguistics Association. There will also be a collection of peer-reviewed papers published based on the conference theme. Plenary speakers are: Paul Chilton, University East Anglia, UK 'Dimensions of discourse' Ronald Langacker, University of California, San Diego, USA 'Constructions and constructional meaning' Brigitte Nerlich, University of Nottingham, UK Talk title tbc Chris Sinha, University of Portsmouth, UK 'Mind, brain, society: Language as vehicle and language as window' Mark Turner, Case Western Reserve University, USA Talk title tbc Jordan Zlatev, Lund University, Sweden 'Intersubjectivity, bodily mimesis and the grounding of language' Conference Format The conference will run over three days. In addition to six plenary lectures which will each last for one hour, there will be a general session, consisting of 30 minute presentations in parallel, poster presentations and 3 invited theme sessions relating to the conference theme. The invited theme sessions are as follows: - Cognitive approaches to lexical semantics - Conceptual projection - Making sense of embodiment Submission of Abstracts Submissions are solicited for the general session and for poster presentations. Presentations in the general session should last for 20 minutes with 10 minutes for questions. All submissions for the general and poster sessions should follow the abstract guidelines below. - Abstracts of no more than 500 words (about a page) should be submitted to abstract at cogling.org.uk - Abstracts must be in 12 point font and submitted as an email attachment - The abstract should clearly indicate the talk/poster title, and may include references, as long as the total word count does not exceed 500 words. - Please do not include your name or any other obvious forms of identifiers, as far as is possible, in the abstract. This is because the abstracts will be subject to anonymous peer-review. - The preferred format for sending abstracts is in Word, RTF or PDF. - The abstract title should be given as the subject line of the email to which the abstract is attached. - In the body of the email message include the following information: name, title, affiliation, email address, telephone no., postal address, talk title. Please also indicate whether your preferred presentation format is general or poster session. - In order to assist with the reviewing process, please also list up to 5 keywords in the email message ABSTRACT SUBMISSION DEADLINE: MARCH 14th 2005 For full conference information please see the conference website: www.cogling.org.uk This conference is being held at the University of Sussex and organised by the Sussex Cognitive Linguistics Research Group, and the Linguistics and English Language Department. We are grateful to the School of Humanities, and to the British Academy for generous financial support. We also acknowledge the support of the University of Sussex Centre for Research in Cognitive Science (COGS). Organising committee chair: Vyv Evans Organising committee members: Rob Clowes, Jason Harrison, Anu Koskela, Shane Lindsay, John Sung, Joerg Zinken (University of Portsmouth) From sevigny at mcmaster.ca Wed Feb 16 22:38:12 2005 From: sevigny at mcmaster.ca (Alexandre Sevigny) Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 17:38:12 -0500 Subject: Job : Linguistics & Cognition Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, I would like to bring this employment opportunity to your attention. Please encourage new PHDs as well as those on the verge of finishing to apply. We are trying to find someone who will be interested in teaching between Linguistics and Cognitive Science, as the ad implies. Sincerely, Alex Sevigny The Department of Modem Languages and Linguistics at McMaster University invites applications for a two year contractually limited appointment at the rank of Assistant Professor in the area of linguistics, cognition, and language(s) other than English with a focus on morphology or syntax in a variety of frameworks. The ability to teach in other core areas of linguistics is desirable. The successful candidate will have a PhD in linguistics or a cognate discipline and will have demonstrated excellence in teaching and research. The Department of Modem Languages and Linguistics presently offers undergraduate degrees in Linguistics, German, Italian and Spanish. The starting date for the appointment is July 1, 2005. Starting salary will be based on experience and qualifications. Applications, including curriculum vitae, transcripts, samples of publications, and letters from three academic referees should be addressed to: Dr. Robert McNutt, Chair, Department of Modem Languages and Linguistics, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4M2, Canada. Applications received by March 31, 2005 will be assured of consideration. For further information on the Department of Modem Languages and Linguistics, see http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~modlang/ ****************************************** Alexandre Sevigny Assistant Professor & Undergraduate Counsellor Communication Studies & French Linguistics Room 507, Togo Salmon Hall, McMaster University 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON L8S 4L8 Tel: 905.525.9140 ext 27661 http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~sevigny ****************************************** From bergs at phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de Thu Feb 17 19:52:46 2005 From: bergs at phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de (Alex Bergs) Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2005 20:52:46 +0100 Subject: TOC "Constructions" Message-ID: Dear all, We are very pleased to announce the publication of the first articles in our new open-access ejournal ?Constructions?: - Kolehmainen, Leena, Meri Larjavaara. 2004. ?The ?bizarre? valency behaviour of Finnish verbs: How a specific context gives rise to valency alternation patterns?. Constructions 1/2004. urn:nbn:de:0009-4-310 Full text: < http://www.digijournals.de/constructions/articles/31> - Haspelmath, Martin. 2004. ?Explaining the Ditransitive Person-Role Constraint: a usage-based approach?. Constructions 2/2004. urn:nbn:de:0009-4-359 Full text: < http://www.digijournals.de/constructions/articles/35> Publisher: Heinrich-Heine-Universitaet Duesseldorf / English Language and Linguistics http://www.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/anglist3 http://www.constructions-online.de Journal Title: Constructions Please note that Constructions is not published in issue & volume format. Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics, Linguistic Theories HAVE YOU SEEN OUR NEW JOURNALS? "Constructions": www.constructions-online.de "language at internet": www.languageatinternet.de ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr. Alexander Bergs, M.A. Anglistik III (English Language and Linguistics) Heinrich-Heine-Universit?t D?sseldorf Universit?tsstr. 1 D-40225 D?sseldorf Tel +49 211 81-12823 Fax +49 211 81-15649 bergs at phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de http://www.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/anglist3/Bergs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From Julia.Ulrich at degruyter.com Tue Feb 22 09:51:51 2005 From: Julia.Ulrich at degruyter.com (Julia Ulrich) Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 10:51:51 +0100 Subject: Alexander T. Bergs, Social Networks and Historical Sociolinguistics Message-ID: New from Mouton de Gruyter Alexander T. Bergs SOCIAL NETWORKS AND HISTORICAL SOCIOLINGUISTICS Studies in Morphosyntactic Variation in the Paston Letters (1421-1503) 2005. xii, 318 pages. Cloth. EUR 88.00 / sFr 141.00 / approx. US$ 106.00 ISBN 3-11-018310-2 (Topics in English Linguistics 51) Date of publication: 02/2005 http://www.degruyter.de/rs/bookSingle.cfm?id=IS-3110183102-1&l=E The book presents an analysis of selected domains of morphosyntactic variation in a 250,000 word collection of the Middle English Paston Letters (1421-1503) from a historical sociolinguistic point of view. In the three case studies, two nominal and one verbal variable are described and discussed in detail: the replacement of Old English pronouns by borrowed pronouns, the introduction and spread of the wh-relativizers, and the spread and routinization of light verb constructions (take, make, give, have, do plus deverbal noun). While the study aims at a balanced integration of theories and methods from a number of different approaches in sociolinguistics, cognitive linguistics, typology, and language change, its main focus is social network theory and the role of the linguistic individual in the formation and change of language structures. Questions of individual language use and of deliberate versus unmonitored changes in the (individual) system take center stage and are discussed in the light of social network analysis. Traditional empirical social network analysis is carefully revised. Despite its many merits in present-day sociolinguistics, it often needs to be supplemented by hermeneutic-biographical analyses of the individual speakers' lives when applied to historical data. With this background, common theories and models of language change, such as grammaticalization, paradigmatic pressure, typological alignment, and generational shifts, are illustrated and evaluated from the point of view of single speakers and social groups, and their particular embedding in the speech community through various network structures. The book is of interest to advanced students and researchers in English and general linguistics, Middle English, historical linguistics and language change, corpus linguistics, as well as sociolinguistics. Alexander T. Bergs is Assistant Professor at the Department of English Language and Linguistics at Heinrich-Heine-University, D?sseldorf, Germany. TO ORDER, PLEASE CONTACT SFG Servicecenter-Fachverlage Postfach 4343 72774 Reutlingen, Germany Fax: +49 (0)7071 - 93 53 - 33 E-mail: deGruyter at s-f-g.com For USA, Canada, Mexico: Walter de Gruyter, Inc. PO Box 960 Herndon, VA 20172-0960 Tel.: +1 (703) 661 1589 Tel. Toll-free +1 (800) 208 8144 Fax: +1 (703) 661 1501 e-mail: degruytermail at presswarehouse.com Please visit our website for other publications by Mouton de Gruyter: www.mouton-publishers.com For free demo versions of Mouton de Gruyter's multimedia products, please visit www.mouton-online.com __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Diese E-Mail und ihre Dateianhaenge sind fuer den angegebenen Empfaenger und/oder die Empfaengergruppe bestimmt. Wenn Sie diese E-Mail versehentlich erhalten haben, setzen Sie sich bitte mit dem Absender oder Ihrem Systembetreuer in Verbindung. Diese Fusszeile bestaetigt ausserdem, dass die E-Mail auf bekannte Viren ueberprueft wurde. This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender or the system manager. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept for the presence of computer viruses. From bergs at phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de Thu Feb 24 13:28:07 2005 From: bergs at phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de (Alex Bergs) Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2005 14:28:07 +0100 Subject: REMINDER: Call for Papers CALC workshop Message-ID: REMINDER: APPROACHING DEADLINE!!! ICHL WORKSHOP Constructions and Language Change (CALC) Conveners: Gabriele Diewald, Hannover University Alexander Bergs, Heinrich-Heine-Universit?t D?sseldorf Introduction Studies in diachronic linguistics increasingly acknowledge that linguistic change is highly context-dependent. Especially in its initial stages, linguistic change is tied not only to particular text type or registers, but to specific morphosyntactic and semantic environments, i.e. to specific recurring patters of co-present linguistic features, that is to say "constructions". This workshop investigates and highlights the role of ?constructions? in linguistic change. In doing so, the term ?constructions? is deliberately understood to have a broad extension, i.e. to include, but not be limited to Construction Grammar proper. Thus, any constructional approach to language and linguistic change is welcome. Suggestions for topics to be addressed in this workshop include: - The role of constructions as source(s) of linguistic change - The role of constructions as product(s) of linguistic change - Mechanisms of change within constructions - Constructions and grammaticalization - Constructions, frequency, and linguistic change - Cross-linguistic constructional phenomena in linguistic change - The definition and delimitation of the terms "construction", "context" etc. Call for Papers We encourage abstract submission on any of the topics mentioned above. Papers on other related issues are also welcome. Papers, no matter whether theory or data-driven, need not take a construction grammar point of view, but should explicitly employ a constructional approach to language. Presentations will have the usual 20 min + 10 min discussion format. We plan to publish selected proceedings with an international publishing house. Abstracts of no more than 350 words should be sent as MS Word compatible files to the following address: bergs at phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de. Deadline is March 1, 2005. Notification of acceptance will be send out April 1, 2005. HAVE YOU SEEN OUR NEW JOURNALS? "Constructions": www.constructions-online.de "language at internet": www.languageatinternet.de ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr. Alexander Bergs, M.A. Anglistik III (English Language and Linguistics) Heinrich-Heine-Universit?t D?sseldorf Universit?tsstr. 1 D-40225 D?sseldorf Tel +49 211 81-12823 Fax +49 211 81-15649 bergs at phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de http://www.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/anglist3/Bergs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From tzurs at post.tau.ac.il Sun Feb 27 13:48:53 2005 From: tzurs at post.tau.ac.il (tzurs) Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2005 15:48:53 +0200 Subject: Request. Message-ID: Hello, A few weeks ago (well maybe more..) I posted a request for help with translating terms related to teaching, I'd first like to thank everyone that replied, the data I got has helped our research and was extremely interesting for us, we're still analyzing it. I now have another request which I'm hope is not "out of line" for this forum, we've composed an online questionnaire (as part of a research "fishing" expedition) that is related to the meaning (or more accurately, the concept of) teaching in different cultures/languages, the link to this survey is not on our university website due to technical reasons (that are beyond the scope blah blah), http://www.weil.co.il/quest the questionnaire is relatively short (takes about 10 minutes to complete), mainly composed of multiple choice questions and can be taken anonymously (if you wish to get a summary of results, please specify your email in the appropriate text box). The questionnaire is given in English because this is unfortunately the only foreign language I "know". So, if this is out of line, please excuse me and simply ignore this post, if you can/want to share your language concept of teaching, we would be fascinated if you filled out the questionnaire, it would also be absolutely great if you could forward this to other people who may be interested in completing it. please feel free to contact me at tzurs at post.tau.ac.il for any questions/critic etc regarding this issue, All the best, --tzurs Tel-Aviv university From tzurs at hotmail.com Sun Feb 27 15:15:15 2005 From: tzurs at hotmail.com (tzur sayag) Date: Sun, 27 Feb 2005 17:15:15 +0200 Subject: Request. Message-ID: SORRY you all, I have a spell bug in the web site address...sorry about that. the new correct address is: http://www.wei.co.il/quest SORRY. --tzurs ----- Original Message ----- From: "tzurs" To: Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2005 3:48 PM Subject: [FUNKNET] Request. Hello, A few weeks ago (well maybe more..) I posted a request for help with translating terms related to teaching, I'd first like to thank everyone that replied, the data I got has helped our research and was extremely interesting for us, we're still analyzing it. I now have another request which I'm hope is not "out of line" for this forum, we've composed an online questionnaire (as part of a research "fishing" expedition) that is related to the meaning (or more accurately, the concept of) teaching in different cultures/languages, the link to this survey is not on our university website due to technical reasons (that are beyond the scope blah blah), http://www.weil.co.il/quest the questionnaire is relatively short (takes about 10 minutes to complete), mainly composed of multiple choice questions and can be taken anonymously (if you wish to get a summary of results, please specify your email in the appropriate text box). The questionnaire is given in English because this is unfortunately the only foreign language I "know". So, if this is out of line, please excuse me and simply ignore this post, if you can/want to share your language concept of teaching, we would be fascinated if you filled out the questionnaire, it would also be absolutely great if you could forward this to other people who may be interested in completing it. please feel free to contact me at tzurs at post.tau.ac.il for any questions/critic etc regarding this issue, All the best, --tzurs Tel-Aviv university From tzurs at post.tau.ac.il Mon Feb 28 00:20:27 2005 From: tzurs at post.tau.ac.il (tzurs) Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2005 02:20:27 +0200 Subject: Request. Message-ID: Hi all, I'm not sure this ever got to the group, I had an error in the link I gave before, the correct one is: http://www.wei.co.il/quest sorry & thanx in advance for filling out the questionnaire. --tzurs. ----- Original Message ----- From: "tzur sayag" To: Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2005 5:15 PM Subject: Re: [FUNKNET] Request. > SORRY you all, > I have a spell bug in the web site address...sorry about that. > the new correct address is: > http://www.wei.co.il/quest > SORRY. > --tzurs > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "tzurs" > To: > Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2005 3:48 PM > Subject: [FUNKNET] Request. > > > Hello, > > A few weeks ago (well maybe more..) I posted a request for help with > translating terms related to teaching, > I'd first like to thank everyone that replied, the data I got has helped > our research and > was extremely interesting for us, we're still analyzing it. > > I now have another request which I'm hope is not "out of line" for this > forum, > we've composed an online questionnaire (as part of a research "fishing" > expedition) that is related to the meaning (or more accurately, the > concept of) teaching in different cultures/languages, > the link to this survey is not on our university website due to technical > reasons (that are beyond the scope blah blah), http://www.weil.co.il/quest > > the questionnaire is relatively short (takes about 10 minutes to > complete), mainly composed of multiple choice questions and can be taken > anonymously (if you wish to get a summary of results, please specify your > email in the appropriate text box). The questionnaire is given in English > because this is unfortunately the only foreign language I "know". > > So, if this is out of line, please excuse me and simply ignore this post, > if you can/want to share your language concept of teaching, we would be > fascinated if you filled out the questionnaire, it would also be > absolutely great if you could forward this to other people who may be > interested in completing it. > > please feel free to contact me at tzurs at post.tau.ac.il for any > questions/critic etc regarding this issue, > > All the best, > --tzurs > Tel-Aviv university >