Call for papers - RASCAL Conference

[C Cannizzaro]

Relating Asymmetries between Speech & Comprehension in the Acquisition
of Language (RASCAL) Conference
University of Groningen, the Netherlands
January 24th & January 25th, 2009

Call deadline: September 22, 2008

Background:
In the past decades, research on language acquisition has identified
several asymmetries between production and comprehension in various
languages and in various components of the grammar (e.g., word order,
tense/aspect, contrastive stress and referring expressions such as
pronouns). It has been shown that young children sometimes use a
particular grammatical form, for example the pronoun him, in an adult-
like systematic way when they speak. Yet, research also shows that
they often do not understand this same form correctly when uttered by
someone else. In other cases, children understand a form before they
seem to be able to use it themselves. Such asymmetries came as a
surprise to investigators, since speakers who obey a rule in
production are presumed to know this rule, and hence should obey this
rule in comprehension, too (and vice versa for hearers). Obviously,
such asymmetries in acquisition create difficulties for a traditional
rule-based grammar, since no asymmetries are expected under the view
of the grammar as a direction-insensitive system of rules. The aim of
this conference is to bring together theoretical and empirical
research addressing symmetries and asymmetries in child language
comprehension and production.

Invited speakers:
Lila Gleitman, University of Pennsylvania
Helen Tager-Flusberg, Boston University

We welcome contributions related to the following fields:
- Linguistic Theory
- First language acquisition
- Second language acquisition
- Bilingualism
- Language Disorders
- Cognition & Language
- Psycholinguistics
- Semantics
- Syntax
- Pragmatics
- Discourse & Narrative

We are interested in submissions that consider the theoretical
implications of (a)symmetrical relations between production and
comprehension, submissions that address the  role of grammar and
cognitive development in language acquisition and submissions that
address methodological problems in comparing performance in
comprehension with performance in production. Furthermore, submissions
that focus on language disorders and symmetries/asymmetries between
comprehension and production are also solicited.

Abstracts:
Abstracts are invited for 30 minute talks (with 15 minutes for
discussion), as well as poster presentations. The conference language
is English.

Submissions should include:
- A cover page with the title of the paper/poster, all authors’ names
and affiliations,and contact information of the 1st author (postal
address, email address, telephone). On the cover page, include 2-4 key
words relating to research fields and indicate whether you would like
your abstract to be considered for a poster, a paper, or both.
- A one-page abstract (single-spaced with at least size 11 font), with
an optional second page for examples, data and references.  No
identity properties of the author should be found on the abstract
page(s).

Cover page and abstract must be submitted electronically to
rascal at rug.nl, in PDF FORMAT.  Please title the email “Abstract
RASCAL”  +  the first author’s last name.  All authors will be invited
to submit their paper for a journal proceedings volume.

The deadline for abstract submission is September 22, 2008 and
notification of acceptance will be sent no later than October 27,
2008.

Further information is available on our website:
www.rug.nl/let/RASCAL2009
rascal at rug.nl

Organizers: Charlotte Koster, Sanne Kuijper, Gisi Cannizzaro, Petra
Hendriks

--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Info-CHILDES" group.
To post to this group, send email to info-childes at googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to info-childes-unsubscribe at googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/info-childes?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---