From loenneke at ICSI.Berkeley.EDU Tue Dec 11 04:57:57 2007 From: loenneke at ICSI.Berkeley.EDU (Birte Loenneker-Rodman) Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:57:57 -0800 Subject: Third and final call GCLA/DGKL 2008 Message-ID: Last call for papers GCLA/DGKL 2008 Third international conference of the German Cognitive Linguistics Association Leipzig, September, 25 - 27, 2008 Topics :: Submissions :: Conference schedule :: Theme sessions :: Keynote speakers :: Tutorial :: Important dates :: Organizing committee The third international conference of the German Cognitive Linguistics Association (GCLA/DGKL) will take place in Leipzig, Germany, from September, 25 to 27, 2008. It is organized by the Linguistics Department at the Institute of English and American Studies at Leipzig University. Continuously updated information can be found on the conference website, http://www.uni-leipzig.de/~gcla08/. Special theme: Converging Evidence Topics Submissions are invited for papers addressing - from various perspectives - any facet of cognitive linguistics research, including research on meaning, conceptual structure, conceptual operations, cognitive processing, grammar, acquisition, language use, discourse function, and other issues. Papers supporting their arguments by various methodologies or drawing on evidence from various fields are especially welcome, though others are not excluded. The conference languages are English and German. Submissions Submissions may offer any of the following: 1. paper presentation; 2. poster presentation Guidelines for papers and posters: Abstracts * should not exceed 500 words of text (exclusive of references) * should indicate a clear title * should meet the following criteria: o topic relevance o originality o clear structure o conclusive argumentation * should be anonymous for purposes of blind peer-review * should be formatted as Word, RTF or PDF documents * should be submitted electronically to the conference e-mail address gcla08 at uni-leipzig.de. Please, include the following information in the main body of your e-mail: * Presentation title * Author name(s) * Affiliation * E-mail address for correspondence * 3-5 keywords * Preference for general or poster session Please, include the following information in the subject header of your e-mail: "Abstract submission - Author(s) name(s)". Abstract submission deadline (extended): December 31, 2007. Conference schedule Talks are scheduled in 30 minute slots: 20 minutes presentation, 5 minutes for discussion and 5 minutes to change sessions and/or change speakers. We anticipate 3 parallel sessions of regular papers, plus plenary lectures, plus 6 theme sessions. Theme sessions In addition to the general sessions, there will be 6 theme sessions dedicated to particular issues in Cognitive Linguistics. Detailed information concerning workshop themes, organization, and participation will be announced on the conference website http://www.uni-leipzig.de/~gcla08/. For more information or any further questions regarding the theme sessions, please contact the workshop organizers. Keynote speakers We are happy to announce the following plenary speakers: * Bernard Comrie, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig * Seana Coulson, University of California at San Diego * Holger Diessel, Jena University * Stefan Th. Gries, University of California at St. Barbara * G�nter Radden, Hamburg University * Gerard Steen, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Tutorial - Introductory course to Cognitive Linguistics The organizing team of the conference is planning to offer a one-day tutorial on the topic "Cognitive Linguistics - Theory, Methods, and Applications". Plans are to have it on September, 24, 2008 (the day preceding the conference). In four successive sessions, a compact overview on main issues and the current state of research in Cognitive Linguistics will be given. The tutorial is aimed at (primarily junior) researchers in the field of linguistics, but also at researchers and conference participants doing research in related fields (e.g. sociology, psychology, literary studies). Moreover, we address cognitive linguists who want to acquaint themselves with current issues, methods, and applications on an international level. The courses will be held by internationally established and top-rating scientists who are actively involved and set the tone for current cognitive-linguistic research. Important dates August, 2007 First Call for papers, posters and theme sessions October, 2007 Second Call for papers, posters and theme sessions December, 2007 Last Call for papers and posters December, 31, 2007 (extended) Deadline for paper and poster submissions March, 2008 Notification of acceptance September, 24, 2008 Tutorial on "Cognitive Linguistics - Theory, Methods, and Applications" September, 25-27, 2008 Third GCLA/DGKL-Conference Local organizing committee Doris Schönefeld Institute of English and American Studies, Leipzig University Beethovenstr. 15 04107 Leipzig, Germany schoenefeld at uni-leipzig.de -- Birte Loenneker-Rodman International Computer Science Institute 1947 Center Street, Suite 600 Berkeley, CA 94704 USA phone: (510) 666-2980 From phonosemantics at earthlink.net Tue Dec 11 05:47:49 2007 From: phonosemantics at earthlink.net (jess tauber) Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2007 00:47:49 -0500 Subject: Initial findings Message-ID: Caught this little tidbit in todays feeds- http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20071210/sc_livescience/yourinitialscouldspellsuccess So deliberate shaping of the external phonetic environment can conceivably alter future history, as mindless human drones bounce off its contours like balls in a Pachinko game? Already corporate naming companies are manipulating us with their low-level sound symbolism knowledge. What next? What about names of political candidates? Whose name sounds 'tougher', and who will then try to overcompensate? Where are the gods Maluma and Takete when you need them? Jess Tauber phonosemantics at earthlink.net From asanso at gmail.com Sat Dec 15 17:08:07 2007 From: asanso at gmail.com (=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Andrea_Sans=F2?=) Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2007 18:08:07 +0100 Subject: Call for manifestation of interest - Theme session proposal - SLE 2008, Italy Message-ID: Theme Session Proposal – "What do languages code when they code realisness?" SLE 2008 – Forlì Call for manifestation of interest Theme Session Proposal "What do languages code when they code realisness?" Dear list members, this is a call for manifestation of interest in a theme session that we plan to organize within the next annual meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE), to be held in Forlì, Italy, September 17-20, 2008 (http://sle2008.sitlec.unibo.it). The SLE policy for workshops and theme sessions requires us to prepare a proposal, to be submitted to the SLE program committee no later than February 15, 2008. This proposal should contain a short description of the topic to be dealt with, along with an estimate of the schedule and the overall time required. The working title of our proposal is: "What do languages code when they code realisness?". An extended description of the topic is included at the end of this message. We feel that the theme we are going to propose might raise the interest of typologists (and theoretical linguists) who have been (or are) working on the coding of realisness and related issues. Besides the individual papers, we intend to devote some time to a general discussion of the theoretical and empirical issues arising from the presentations. In detail, the structure of the theme session we intend to submit should include: · three invited contributions; · up to 10/12 selected papers (20 minutes + discussion); · a final slot (up to 60 minutes) for a general, round-table like discussion. What we ask you at this stage is to let us know as soon as possible if you are interested in contributing a paper to the theme session. Feel free to send a quick informal reply to this mail (just stating your willingness to submit a paper and specifying a possible topic for your contribution). Prospective contributors are also expected to send an abstract no later than February 1, 2008 (Friday). This tight schedule will leave us enough time to finalize the proposal to be submitted to the SLE committee. We should emphasize that there will be two stages: in the first stage, we will select papers which will be included in the proposal; in the second stage, the proposal as a whole will be evaluated by the SLE committee. Only upon acceptance of the entire theme session, every selected contribution will be considered officially "accepted" at the SLE conference. Convenors Caterina Mauri (University of Pavia, Italy) Andrea Sansò (Insubria University – Como, Italy) Important dates (first stage): · As soon as possible: informal e-mail with manifestation of interest · 1st February 2008: abstract submission (see format below) · 1st March 2008: notification of acceptance Important dates (second stage; the convenors will be looking after the finalization of the proposal): · 15th February 2008: submission of the abstract for the theme session to the SLE committee · 15th April 2008: submission of the full program (invited speakers + accepted abstracts + discussion time) to the SLE committee · 31st May 2008: notification of acceptance Format of abstracts: The selection of abstracts will be made on the basis of quality and relatedness to the topic and objectives of the theme session. The submitted abstracts (in PDF) should be anonymous, up to 2 pages long (including references), and the authors are expected to provide an overview of the goal, methodology, and data of their research. Abstracts should be sent to both convenors to the following e-mail addresses: Caterina Mauri: caterina.mauri at unipv.it Andrea Sansò: asanso at gmail.com All the abstracts will be anonymously reviewed by the program committee of the theme session (see below) before the finalization of the proposal. More information about the theme session (list of selected papers, invited speakers, etc.) will be circulated amongst the prospective participants right before the submission of the proposal to the SLE committee. Please include the following data in the body of the mail: (i) Author(s); (ii) Title; (iii) Affiliation; (iv) Contacts. Scientific committee (TBC): Kasper Boye (University of Copenhagen); Isabelle Bril (LACITO, CNRS, Villejuif); Sonia Cristofaro (University of Pavia); Ferdinand de Haan (Arizona University) Anna Giacalone (University of Pavia); Caterina Mauri (University of Pavia); Andrea Sansò (Insubria University, Como); Johan van der Auwera (University of Antwerp). Invited speakers: Sonia Cristofaro (University of Pavia); Ferdinand de Haan (Arizona University); Johan van der Auwera (University of Antwerp) Publication: if the theme session is accepted it is our intention to publish a selection of the papers with an international publisher. Caterina Mauri, Andrea Sansò *************************************** Presentation of the theme session Working title: What do languages code when they code realisness? Theme description and topics Since Givón (1984: 285ff.) and Chung and Timberlake (1985: 241ff.), the terms realis and irrealis have gained increasing currency in cross-linguistic studies on modality as flexible cover terms for a number of moods traditionally labelled as 'indicative', 'subjunctive', 'optative', 'counterfactual', 'potential', 'hypothetical', etc. Some authors (e.g. Elliott 2000: 80) have gone a step further, speaking of 'reality status' (or 'realisness') as a grammatical category to full right, realized differently in different languages, with at least two values: realis (or neutral) and irrealis. These two values are characterized in terms of actualization vs. non-actualization of a given state of affairs. According to Elliott, a proposition is realis if it asserts that a state of affairs is an "actualized and certain fact of reality", whereas it is classified as irrealis if "it implies that a SoA belongs to the realm of the imagined or hypothetical, and as such it constitutes a potential or possible event but it is not an observable fact of reality" (Elliott 2000: 66-67). There are languages which obligatorily mark realisness in all finite clauses by means of a comprehensive (morphological or syntactic) system of markers, others where the system is partial and the realisness of a proposition needs to be indicated only in specific syntactic contexts, and finally there are languages in which the marking of realisness is merely optional. In other terms, realisness may be encoded by means of an array of morpho-syntactic strategies (simple affixation, portmanteau affixation, sentence particles, adverbs, etc.). Both the functional characterization and the formal aspects of realisness are controversial (Bybee et al 1994; Bybee 1998). On the one hand, the solidarities between realisness and other functional domains such as, for instance, tense, aspect, and evidentiality make it difficult to decide whether (and to what extent) realisness is an independent functional dimension (see, e.g. Fleischman 1995). On the other hand, there are certain states of affairs (e.g. habitual, directive, and future SoAs, etc.) that are coded by means of either realis or irrealis strategies across languages, in a largely unpredictable way. This variation may reflect the inherently hybrid reality status of these states of affairs: they may have occurred but their reference time is non-specific (e.g. habituals; Givón 1984: 285; Cristofaro 2004), they may have not yet occurred but they are either highly probable or expected with a high degree of certainty (e.g. directives, futures; Roberts 1990; Chafe 1995; Mithun 1995; Ogloblin 2005; Sun 2007), etc. Some of the factors that appear to have an influence on the cross-linguistic coding of realisness have been already hinted at in the typological literature. For instance, in some languages argument structure and referentiality/definiteness of arguments appear to be crucial to the choice of a realis or irrealis strategy (the presence of definite arguments entailing realis marking, whereas indefinite/non-specific arguments require irrealis marking). Furthermore, the deictic anchoring of the proposition to the speaker's here-and-now (in the sense of Fleischman 1989) may determine different realisness values for directives and futures in some languages (e.g. predictions, intentions or scheduled events are marked as realis, whereas other future SoAs are irrealis; second-person directives, which require the presence of the performer, are coded as realis more frequently than third-person directives). Yet, a complete picture of the range of factors affecting realisness is still missing. New insights into these factors and their interactions may come from a wider amount of cross-linguistic data, as well as a better understanding of the diachronic mechanisms leading to the emergence and establishing of realisness systems. This theme session aims to assess our current understanding of the realisness dimension in grammar and to plot the directions for future research. We invite abstracts for papers dealing with foundational/theoretical issues and/or taking an empirical, data-driven stance on the coding of realisness across languages. At the foundational/theoretical level, possible topics include (but are not limited to): · the status of realisness in linguistic theory; · interactions between realisness and other functional domains (tense, aspect, evidentiality, etc.); · cross-linguistic variation in the classification of certain states of affairs as either realis or irrealis; · factors affecting the realisness value of a state of affairs: argument structure; referentiality/definiteness of arguments; degree of deictic anchoring to the speaker's here-and-now; etc. At the empirical level, possible topics include (but are not limited to): · in-depth investigations of realisness systems in single languages or language families; · the areal dimension of realisness marking; · realisness in languages without dedicated realis/irrealis markers; · realisness as a relevant dimension in interclausal relations: disjunction (see, e.g., Mauri 2008), complementation (Ammann & van der Auwera 2004), switch reference, etc.; · the diachronic origin and the grammaticalization of realis/irrealis markers as a key to understanding their functional properties and distribution. References Ammann, A., and J. van der Auwera. 2004. Complementizer-headed main clauses for volitional moods in the languages of South-Eastern Europe. A Balkanism? In: O. Tomić (ed.), Balkan syntax and semantics, 293-314. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Bybee, J. 1998. "Irrealis" as a grammatical category. Anthropological Linguistics 40 (2): 257-271. Bybee, J., R. Perkins, and W. Pagliuca. 1994. The evolution of grammar. Tense, aspect, and modality in the languages of the world. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Bybee, J., and S. Fleischman (eds.). 1995. Modality in grammar and discourse. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Chafe, W. 1995. The realis-irrealis distinction in Caddo, the Northern Iroquoian languages, and English. In: Bybee & Fleischman (eds.) 1995, 349-365. Chung, S., and A. Timberlake. 1985. Tense, aspect, and mood. In: T. Shopen (ed.), Language typology and syntactic description, Vol. III: Grammatical categories and the lexicon, 202-258. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Cristofaro, S. 2004. Past habituals and irrealis. In: Y. A. Lander, V. A. Plungian, A. Yu. Urmanchieva (eds.), Irrealis and Irreality, 256-272. Moscow: Gnosis. Elliott, J. R. 2000. Realis and irrealis: Forms and concepts of the grammaticalisation of reality. Linguistic Typology 4: 55-90. Fleischman, S. 1989. Temporal distance: a basic linguistic metaphor. Studies in Language 13 (1): 1-50. Fleischman, S. 1995. Imperfective and irrealis. In: Bybee & Fleischman (eds.) 1995, 519-551. Givón, T. 1984. Syntax. A functional-typological introduction. Vol. 1. Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Mauri, C. 2008. The irreality of alternatives. Towards a typology of disjunction. Studies in Language 32 (1): 22-55. Mithun, M. 1995. On the relativity of irreality. In: Bybee & Fleischman (eds.) 1995, 367-388. Ogloblin, A. K. 2005. Javanese. In: A. Adelaar, and N. P. Himmelmann (eds.), The Austronesian languages of Asia and Madagascar, 590-624. London-New York: Routledge. Roberts, J. R. 1990. Modality in Amele and other Papuan languages. Journal of Linguistics 26: 363-401. Sun, J. T.-S. 2007. The irrealis category in rGyalrong. Language and Linguistics 8 (3): 797-819. From aberez at umail.ucsb.edu Mon Dec 17 09:23:24 2007 From: aberez at umail.ucsb.edu (Andrea Berez) Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2007 10:23:24 +0100 Subject: 2nd CFP: Workshop on American Indigenous Languages Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, Below please find the 2nd Call for Papers for the 11th Annual Workshop on American Indigenous Languages, to be held at the University of California, Santa Barbara on May 23 and 24, 2008. The abstract deadline is February 8. Best wishes, Andrea Berez -- ----------------------------- Andrea L. Berez PhD student, Dept. of Linguistics University of California, Santa Barbara http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~aberez/ ********************************************************************************************* Workshop on American Indigenous Languages Santa Barbara, CA May 23-24, 2008 The Linguistics department at the University of California, Santa Barbara announces its 11th annual Workshop on American Indigenous Languages (WAIL), which provides a forum for the discussion of theoretical and descriptive studies of the indigenous languages of the Americas. Anonymous abstracts are invited for talks on any topic in linguistics. Talks will be 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes for discussion. Abstracts should be 500 words or less (excluding examples and/or references) and can be submitted by hard copy or email. Individuals may submit abstracts for one single-authored and one co-authored paper. Please indicate your source(s) and type(s) of data in the abstract (e.g. recordings, texts, conversational, elicited, narrative, etc.). For co-authored papers, please indicate who plans to present the paper as well as who will be in attendance. Special Panel on Language Policy: This year we are welcoming abstracts for a Special Panel on all issues concerning language policy. Talks will be 20 minutes each, followed by a group discussion/question-and-answer period. For email submissions: Include the abstract as an attachment. Please limit your abstracts to the following formats: PDF, RTF, or Microsoft Word document. Include the following information in the body of the email message: (1) your name; (2) affiliation; (3) mailing address; (4) phone number; (5) email address; (6) title of your paper; (7) whether your submission is for the general session or the Special Panel. Send email submissions to: wail.ucsb at gmail.com For hard copy submissions: Please send four copies of your abstract, along with a 3x5 card with the following information: (1) your name; (2) affiliation; (3) mailing address; (4) phone number; (5) email address; (6) title of your paper; (7) whether your submission is for the general session or the Special Panel. Send hard copy submissions to: Workshop on American Indigenous Languages Attn: Joye Kiester or Verónica Muñoz Ledo Department of Linguistics University of California, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA 93106 DEADLINE FOR RECEIPT OF ABSTRACTS: February 8, 2008 Notification of acceptance will be by email no later than February 29, 2008. General Information: Santa Barbara is situated on the Pacific Ocean near the Santa Yñez Mountains. The UCSB campus is located near the Santa Barbara airport. Participants may also fly into LAX airport in Los Angeles, which is approximately 90 miles southeast of the campus. Shuttle buses run between LAX and Santa Barbara. Information about hotel accommodations will be posted on our website (http://orgs.sa.ucsb.edu/nailsg/). For further information contact the conference coordinators, Joye Kiester and Verónica Muñoz Ledo, at wail.ucsb at gmail.com or (805) 893-3776, or check out our website at http://orgs.sa.ucsb.edu/nailsg/ From haspelmath at eva.mpg.de Tue Dec 18 13:24:42 2007 From: haspelmath at eva.mpg.de (Martin Haspelmath) Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2007 14:24:42 +0100 Subject: Leipzig Spring School in Linguistic Diversity 2008 Message-ID: Announcing: *Leipzig Spring School on Linguistic Diversity* 26 March - 4 April 2008 The Leipzig linguistics community invites advanced students (Ph.D. or M.A. level) in linguistics and related fields to attend this ten-day event in March/April 2008. It is co-organized by linguists at the University of Leipzig and at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology The Spring School offers courses in different areas of linguistics, which look at language from the point of view of linguistic diversity (comparative syntax, areal typology, comparative phonology, language contact, typological psycholinguistics). The courses will be taught by linguists from the various Leipzig-based institutions and visiting scientists currently working in Leipzig. The participation fee is only EUR 35. Organizers: Prof. Martin Haspelmath (MPI-EVA) Prof. Balthasar Bickel (U Leipzig) Tyko Dirksmeyer (U Leipzig/MPI-EVA) Fachschaftsrat Linguistik (U Leipzig) For more information, see http://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/conference/08_springschool/index.html. The registration (including affordable accommodation) is now open. The deadline for paying the accomodation fees is 15 February 2008. -- Martin Haspelmath (haspelmath at eva.mpg.de) Max-Planck-Institut fuer evolutionaere Anthropologie, Deutscher Platz 6 D-04103 Leipzig Tel. (MPI) +49-341-3550 307, (priv.) +49-341-980 1616 From loenneke at ICSI.Berkeley.EDU Tue Dec 11 04:57:57 2007 From: loenneke at ICSI.Berkeley.EDU (Birte Loenneker-Rodman) Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:57:57 -0800 Subject: Third and final call GCLA/DGKL 2008 Message-ID: Last call for papers GCLA/DGKL 2008 Third international conference of the German Cognitive Linguistics Association Leipzig, September, 25 - 27, 2008 Topics :: Submissions :: Conference schedule :: Theme sessions :: Keynote speakers :: Tutorial :: Important dates :: Organizing committee The third international conference of the German Cognitive Linguistics Association (GCLA/DGKL) will take place in Leipzig, Germany, from September, 25 to 27, 2008. It is organized by the Linguistics Department at the Institute of English and American Studies at Leipzig University. Continuously updated information can be found on the conference website, http://www.uni-leipzig.de/~gcla08/. Special theme: Converging Evidence Topics Submissions are invited for papers addressing - from various perspectives - any facet of cognitive linguistics research, including research on meaning, conceptual structure, conceptual operations, cognitive processing, grammar, acquisition, language use, discourse function, and other issues. Papers supporting their arguments by various methodologies or drawing on evidence from various fields are especially welcome, though others are not excluded. The conference languages are English and German. Submissions Submissions may offer any of the following: 1. paper presentation; 2. poster presentation Guidelines for papers and posters: Abstracts * should not exceed 500 words of text (exclusive of references) * should indicate a clear title * should meet the following criteria: o topic relevance o originality o clear structure o conclusive argumentation * should be anonymous for purposes of blind peer-review * should be formatted as Word, RTF or PDF documents * should be submitted electronically to the conference e-mail address gcla08 at uni-leipzig.de. Please, include the following information in the main body of your e-mail: * Presentation title * Author name(s) * Affiliation * E-mail address for correspondence * 3-5 keywords * Preference for general or poster session Please, include the following information in the subject header of your e-mail: "Abstract submission - Author(s) name(s)". Abstract submission deadline (extended): December 31, 2007. Conference schedule Talks are scheduled in 30 minute slots: 20 minutes presentation, 5 minutes for discussion and 5 minutes to change sessions and/or change speakers. We anticipate 3 parallel sessions of regular papers, plus plenary lectures, plus 6 theme sessions. Theme sessions In addition to the general sessions, there will be 6 theme sessions dedicated to particular issues in Cognitive Linguistics. Detailed information concerning workshop themes, organization, and participation will be announced on the conference website http://www.uni-leipzig.de/~gcla08/. For more information or any further questions regarding the theme sessions, please contact the workshop organizers. Keynote speakers We are happy to announce the following plenary speakers: * Bernard Comrie, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig * Seana Coulson, University of California at San Diego * Holger Diessel, Jena University * Stefan Th. Gries, University of California at St. Barbara * G???nter Radden, Hamburg University * Gerard Steen, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Tutorial - Introductory course to Cognitive Linguistics The organizing team of the conference is planning to offer a one-day tutorial on the topic "Cognitive Linguistics - Theory, Methods, and Applications". Plans are to have it on September, 24, 2008 (the day preceding the conference). In four successive sessions, a compact overview on main issues and the current state of research in Cognitive Linguistics will be given. The tutorial is aimed at (primarily junior) researchers in the field of linguistics, but also at researchers and conference participants doing research in related fields (e.g. sociology, psychology, literary studies). Moreover, we address cognitive linguists who want to acquaint themselves with current issues, methods, and applications on an international level. The courses will be held by internationally established and top-rating scientists who are actively involved and set the tone for current cognitive-linguistic research. Important dates August, 2007 First Call for papers, posters and theme sessions October, 2007 Second Call for papers, posters and theme sessions December, 2007 Last Call for papers and posters December, 31, 2007 (extended) Deadline for paper and poster submissions March, 2008 Notification of acceptance September, 24, 2008 Tutorial on "Cognitive Linguistics - Theory, Methods, and Applications" September, 25-27, 2008 Third GCLA/DGKL-Conference Local organizing committee Doris Sch??nefeld Institute of English and American Studies, Leipzig University Beethovenstr. 15 04107 Leipzig, Germany schoenefeld at uni-leipzig.de -- Birte Loenneker-Rodman International Computer Science Institute 1947 Center Street, Suite 600 Berkeley, CA 94704 USA phone: (510) 666-2980 From phonosemantics at earthlink.net Tue Dec 11 05:47:49 2007 From: phonosemantics at earthlink.net (jess tauber) Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2007 00:47:49 -0500 Subject: Initial findings Message-ID: Caught this little tidbit in todays feeds- http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20071210/sc_livescience/yourinitialscouldspellsuccess So deliberate shaping of the external phonetic environment can conceivably alter future history, as mindless human drones bounce off its contours like balls in a Pachinko game? Already corporate naming companies are manipulating us with their low-level sound symbolism knowledge. What next? What about names of political candidates? Whose name sounds 'tougher', and who will then try to overcompensate? Where are the gods Maluma and Takete when you need them? Jess Tauber phonosemantics at earthlink.net From asanso at gmail.com Sat Dec 15 17:08:07 2007 From: asanso at gmail.com (=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Andrea_Sans=F2?=) Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2007 18:08:07 +0100 Subject: Call for manifestation of interest - Theme session proposal - SLE 2008, Italy Message-ID: Theme Session Proposal ? "What do languages code when they code realisness?" SLE 2008 ? Forl? Call for manifestation of interest Theme Session Proposal "What do languages code when they code realisness?" Dear list members, this is a call for manifestation of interest in a theme session that we plan to organize within the next annual meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE), to be held in Forl?, Italy, September 17-20, 2008 (http://sle2008.sitlec.unibo.it). The SLE policy for workshops and theme sessions requires us to prepare a proposal, to be submitted to the SLE program committee no later than February 15, 2008. This proposal should contain a short description of the topic to be dealt with, along with an estimate of the schedule and the overall time required. The working title of our proposal is: "What do languages code when they code realisness?". An extended description of the topic is included at the end of this message. We feel that the theme we are going to propose might raise the interest of typologists (and theoretical linguists) who have been (or are) working on the coding of realisness and related issues. Besides the individual papers, we intend to devote some time to a general discussion of the theoretical and empirical issues arising from the presentations. In detail, the structure of the theme session we intend to submit should include: ? three invited contributions; ? up to 10/12 selected papers (20 minutes + discussion); ? a final slot (up to 60 minutes) for a general, round-table like discussion. What we ask you at this stage is to let us know as soon as possible if you are interested in contributing a paper to the theme session. Feel free to send a quick informal reply to this mail (just stating your willingness to submit a paper and specifying a possible topic for your contribution). Prospective contributors are also expected to send an abstract no later than February 1, 2008 (Friday). This tight schedule will leave us enough time to finalize the proposal to be submitted to the SLE committee. We should emphasize that there will be two stages: in the first stage, we will select papers which will be included in the proposal; in the second stage, the proposal as a whole will be evaluated by the SLE committee. Only upon acceptance of the entire theme session, every selected contribution will be considered officially "accepted" at the SLE conference. Convenors Caterina Mauri (University of Pavia, Italy) Andrea Sans? (Insubria University ? Como, Italy) Important dates (first stage): ? As soon as possible: informal e-mail with manifestation of interest ? 1st February 2008: abstract submission (see format below) ? 1st March 2008: notification of acceptance Important dates (second stage; the convenors will be looking after the finalization of the proposal): ? 15th February 2008: submission of the abstract for the theme session to the SLE committee ? 15th April 2008: submission of the full program (invited speakers + accepted abstracts + discussion time) to the SLE committee ? 31st May 2008: notification of acceptance Format of abstracts: The selection of abstracts will be made on the basis of quality and relatedness to the topic and objectives of the theme session. The submitted abstracts (in PDF) should be anonymous, up to 2 pages long (including references), and the authors are expected to provide an overview of the goal, methodology, and data of their research. Abstracts should be sent to both convenors to the following e-mail addresses: Caterina Mauri: caterina.mauri at unipv.it Andrea Sans?: asanso at gmail.com All the abstracts will be anonymously reviewed by the program committee of the theme session (see below) before the finalization of the proposal. More information about the theme session (list of selected papers, invited speakers, etc.) will be circulated amongst the prospective participants right before the submission of the proposal to the SLE committee. Please include the following data in the body of the mail: (i) Author(s); (ii) Title; (iii) Affiliation; (iv) Contacts. Scientific committee (TBC): Kasper Boye (University of Copenhagen); Isabelle Bril (LACITO, CNRS, Villejuif); Sonia Cristofaro (University of Pavia); Ferdinand de Haan (Arizona University) Anna Giacalone (University of Pavia); Caterina Mauri (University of Pavia); Andrea Sans? (Insubria University, Como); Johan van der Auwera (University of Antwerp). Invited speakers: Sonia Cristofaro (University of Pavia); Ferdinand de Haan (Arizona University); Johan van der Auwera (University of Antwerp) Publication: if the theme session is accepted it is our intention to publish a selection of the papers with an international publisher. Caterina Mauri, Andrea Sans? *************************************** Presentation of the theme session Working title: What do languages code when they code realisness? Theme description and topics Since Giv?n (1984: 285ff.) and Chung and Timberlake (1985: 241ff.), the terms realis and irrealis have gained increasing currency in cross-linguistic studies on modality as flexible cover terms for a number of moods traditionally labelled as 'indicative', 'subjunctive', 'optative', 'counterfactual', 'potential', 'hypothetical', etc. Some authors (e.g. Elliott 2000: 80) have gone a step further, speaking of 'reality status' (or 'realisness') as a grammatical category to full right, realized differently in different languages, with at least two values: realis (or neutral) and irrealis. These two values are characterized in terms of actualization vs. non-actualization of a given state of affairs. According to Elliott, a proposition is realis if it asserts that a state of affairs is an "actualized and certain fact of reality", whereas it is classified as irrealis if "it implies that a SoA belongs to the realm of the imagined or hypothetical, and as such it constitutes a potential or possible event but it is not an observable fact of reality" (Elliott 2000: 66-67). There are languages which obligatorily mark realisness in all finite clauses by means of a comprehensive (morphological or syntactic) system of markers, others where the system is partial and the realisness of a proposition needs to be indicated only in speci?c syntactic contexts, and ?nally there are languages in which the marking of realisness is merely optional. In other terms, realisness may be encoded by means of an array of morpho-syntactic strategies (simple affixation, portmanteau affixation, sentence particles, adverbs, etc.). Both the functional characterization and the formal aspects of realisness are controversial (Bybee et al 1994; Bybee 1998). On the one hand, the solidarities between realisness and other functional domains such as, for instance, tense, aspect, and evidentiality make it difficult to decide whether (and to what extent) realisness is an independent functional dimension (see, e.g. Fleischman 1995). On the other hand, there are certain states of affairs (e.g. habitual, directive, and future SoAs, etc.) that are coded by means of either realis or irrealis strategies across languages, in a largely unpredictable way. This variation may reflect the inherently hybrid reality status of these states of affairs: they may have occurred but their reference time is non-specific (e.g. habituals; Giv?n 1984: 285; Cristofaro 2004), they may have not yet occurred but they are either highly probable or expected with a high degree of certainty (e.g. directives, futures; Roberts 1990; Chafe 1995; Mithun 1995; Ogloblin 2005; Sun 2007), etc. Some of the factors that appear to have an influence on the cross-linguistic coding of realisness have been already hinted at in the typological literature. For instance, in some languages argument structure and referentiality/definiteness of arguments appear to be crucial to the choice of a realis or irrealis strategy (the presence of definite arguments entailing realis marking, whereas indefinite/non-specific arguments require irrealis marking). Furthermore, the deictic anchoring of the proposition to the speaker's here-and-now (in the sense of Fleischman 1989) may determine different realisness values for directives and futures in some languages (e.g. predictions, intentions or scheduled events are marked as realis, whereas other future SoAs are irrealis; second-person directives, which require the presence of the performer, are coded as realis more frequently than third-person directives). Yet, a complete picture of the range of factors affecting realisness is still missing. New insights into these factors and their interactions may come from a wider amount of cross-linguistic data, as well as a better understanding of the diachronic mechanisms leading to the emergence and establishing of realisness systems. This theme session aims to assess our current understanding of the realisness dimension in grammar and to plot the directions for future research. We invite abstracts for papers dealing with foundational/theoretical issues and/or taking an empirical, data-driven stance on the coding of realisness across languages. At the foundational/theoretical level, possible topics include (but are not limited to): ? the status of realisness in linguistic theory; ? interactions between realisness and other functional domains (tense, aspect, evidentiality, etc.); ? cross-linguistic variation in the classification of certain states of affairs as either realis or irrealis; ? factors affecting the realisness value of a state of affairs: argument structure; referentiality/definiteness of arguments; degree of deictic anchoring to the speaker's here-and-now; etc. At the empirical level, possible topics include (but are not limited to): ? in-depth investigations of realisness systems in single languages or language families; ? the areal dimension of realisness marking; ? realisness in languages without dedicated realis/irrealis markers; ? realisness as a relevant dimension in interclausal relations: disjunction (see, e.g., Mauri 2008), complementation (Ammann & van der Auwera 2004), switch reference, etc.; ? the diachronic origin and the grammaticalization of realis/irrealis markers as a key to understanding their functional properties and distribution. References Ammann, A., and J. van der Auwera. 2004. Complementizer-headed main clauses for volitional moods in the languages of South-Eastern Europe. A Balkanism? In: O. Tomi? (ed.), Balkan syntax and semantics, 293-314. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Bybee, J. 1998. "Irrealis" as a grammatical category. Anthropological Linguistics 40 (2): 257-271. Bybee, J., R. Perkins, and W. Pagliuca. 1994. The evolution of grammar. Tense, aspect, and modality in the languages of the world. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Bybee, J., and S. Fleischman (eds.). 1995. Modality in grammar and discourse. Amsterdam: Benjamins. Chafe, W. 1995. The realis-irrealis distinction in Caddo, the Northern Iroquoian languages, and English. In: Bybee & Fleischman (eds.) 1995, 349-365. Chung, S., and A. Timberlake. 1985. Tense, aspect, and mood. In: T. Shopen (ed.), Language typology and syntactic description, Vol. III: Grammatical categories and the lexicon, 202-258. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Cristofaro, S. 2004. Past habituals and irrealis. In: Y. A. Lander, V. A. Plungian, A. Yu. Urmanchieva (eds.), Irrealis and Irreality, 256-272. Moscow: Gnosis. Elliott, J. R. 2000. Realis and irrealis: Forms and concepts of the grammaticalisation of reality. Linguistic Typology 4: 55-90. Fleischman, S. 1989. Temporal distance: a basic linguistic metaphor. Studies in Language 13 (1): 1-50. Fleischman, S. 1995. Imperfective and irrealis. In: Bybee & Fleischman (eds.) 1995, 519-551. Giv?n, T. 1984. Syntax. A functional-typological introduction. Vol. 1. Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Mauri, C. 2008. The irreality of alternatives. Towards a typology of disjunction. Studies in Language 32 (1): 22-55. Mithun, M. 1995. On the relativity of irreality. In: Bybee & Fleischman (eds.) 1995, 367-388. Ogloblin, A. K. 2005. Javanese. In: A. Adelaar, and N. P. Himmelmann (eds.), The Austronesian languages of Asia and Madagascar, 590-624. London-New York: Routledge. Roberts, J. R. 1990. Modality in Amele and other Papuan languages. Journal of Linguistics 26: 363-401. Sun, J. T.-S. 2007. The irrealis category in rGyalrong. Language and Linguistics 8 (3): 797-819. From aberez at umail.ucsb.edu Mon Dec 17 09:23:24 2007 From: aberez at umail.ucsb.edu (Andrea Berez) Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2007 10:23:24 +0100 Subject: 2nd CFP: Workshop on American Indigenous Languages Message-ID: Dear Colleagues, Below please find the 2nd Call for Papers for the 11th Annual Workshop on American Indigenous Languages, to be held at the University of California, Santa Barbara on May 23 and 24, 2008. The abstract deadline is February 8. Best wishes, Andrea Berez -- ----------------------------- Andrea L. Berez PhD student, Dept. of Linguistics University of California, Santa Barbara http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~aberez/ ********************************************************************************************* Workshop on American Indigenous Languages Santa Barbara, CA May 23-24, 2008 The Linguistics department at the University of California, Santa Barbara announces its 11th annual Workshop on American Indigenous Languages (WAIL), which provides a forum for the discussion of theoretical and descriptive studies of the indigenous languages of the Americas. Anonymous abstracts are invited for talks on any topic in linguistics. Talks will be 20 minutes, followed by 10 minutes for discussion. Abstracts should be 500 words or less (excluding examples and/or references) and can be submitted by hard copy or email. Individuals may submit abstracts for one single-authored and one co-authored paper. Please indicate your source(s) and type(s) of data in the abstract (e.g. recordings, texts, conversational, elicited, narrative, etc.). For co-authored papers, please indicate who plans to present the paper as well as who will be in attendance. Special Panel on Language Policy: This year we are welcoming abstracts for a Special Panel on all issues concerning language policy. Talks will be 20 minutes each, followed by a group discussion/question-and-answer period. For email submissions: Include the abstract as an attachment. Please limit your abstracts to the following formats: PDF, RTF, or Microsoft Word document. Include the following information in the body of the email message: (1) your name; (2) affiliation; (3) mailing address; (4) phone number; (5) email address; (6) title of your paper; (7) whether your submission is for the general session or the Special Panel. Send email submissions to: wail.ucsb at gmail.com For hard copy submissions: Please send four copies of your abstract, along with a 3x5 card with the following information: (1) your name; (2) affiliation; (3) mailing address; (4) phone number; (5) email address; (6) title of your paper; (7) whether your submission is for the general session or the Special Panel. Send hard copy submissions to: Workshop on American Indigenous Languages Attn: Joye Kiester or Ver?nica Mu?oz Ledo Department of Linguistics University of California, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA 93106 DEADLINE FOR RECEIPT OF ABSTRACTS: February 8, 2008 Notification of acceptance will be by email no later than February 29, 2008. General Information: Santa Barbara is situated on the Pacific Ocean near the Santa Y?ez Mountains. The UCSB campus is located near the Santa Barbara airport. Participants may also fly into LAX airport in Los Angeles, which is approximately 90 miles southeast of the campus. Shuttle buses run between LAX and Santa Barbara. Information about hotel accommodations will be posted on our website (http://orgs.sa.ucsb.edu/nailsg/). For further information contact the conference coordinators, Joye Kiester and Ver?nica Mu?oz Ledo, at wail.ucsb at gmail.com or (805) 893-3776, or check out our website at http://orgs.sa.ucsb.edu/nailsg/ From haspelmath at eva.mpg.de Tue Dec 18 13:24:42 2007 From: haspelmath at eva.mpg.de (Martin Haspelmath) Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2007 14:24:42 +0100 Subject: Leipzig Spring School in Linguistic Diversity 2008 Message-ID: Announcing: *Leipzig Spring School on Linguistic Diversity* 26 March - 4 April 2008 The Leipzig linguistics community invites advanced students (Ph.D. or M.A. level) in linguistics and related fields to attend this ten-day event in March/April 2008. It is co-organized by linguists at the University of Leipzig and at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology The Spring School offers courses in different areas of linguistics, which look at language from the point of view of linguistic diversity (comparative syntax, areal typology, comparative phonology, language contact, typological psycholinguistics). The courses will be taught by linguists from the various Leipzig-based institutions and visiting scientists currently working in Leipzig. The participation fee is only EUR 35. Organizers: Prof. Martin Haspelmath (MPI-EVA) Prof. Balthasar Bickel (U Leipzig) Tyko Dirksmeyer (U Leipzig/MPI-EVA) Fachschaftsrat Linguistik (U Leipzig) For more information, see http://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/conference/08_springschool/index.html. The registration (including affordable accommodation) is now open. The deadline for paying the accomodation fees is 15 February 2008. -- Martin Haspelmath (haspelmath at eva.mpg.de) Max-Planck-Institut fuer evolutionaere Anthropologie, Deutscher Platz 6 D-04103 Leipzig Tel. (MPI) +49-341-3550 307, (priv.) +49-341-980 1616