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Dear ALT members,<br>
I would like to announce an additional workshop for the IV
Role&Reference Grammar meeting in Dublin this year. (Have a look at
<a href="http://www.itb.ie/events/rrg2004.html" eudora="autourl">http://www.itb.ie/events/rrg2004.html</a>.)<br>
<x-tab> </x-tab>The
announcement follows below and is contained in the attachments.<br><br>
Best ,<br>
Björn Wiemer.<br><br>
<br><br>
<br>
<div align="center"><b>2004 International Role and Reference Grammar
Conference<br><br>
</b><u>Applications of RRG in diachronic syntax<br><br>
</u></div>
<br><br>
The workshop addresses two topics. The first one pursues to bring
together descriptive work on diachronic syntax which has been done in the
RRG framework up to day. The second, and central, topic of the workshop
aims at highlighting in which way RRG is able to contribute substantially
to the examination (maybe also explanation) of processes occurring
diachronically in the (morpho-)syntax of diverse languages (or language
groups). If we take a look at the global “algorithm” reflecting the
linking mechanism between semantic and syntactic representation in RRG
(see Fig. 4.9 in Van Valin&LaPolla 1997: 177), we notice that
diachronic changes in the grammar (i.e. morphosyntax) of languages can be
captured only by the language-specific part of this algorithm and the
role played by the Actor-Undergoer-hierarchy (because grammatical rules
refer only to macroroles). Languages differ as to the range of specific
semantic roles which can be treated as an Actor or an Undergoer. We might
therefore ask how language-specific constraints in the treatment of
argument positions come about and what triggers them. What we need to
capture, then, is the relationship between the Layered Structure of the
Clause (as representing language-specific manners of coding) and the
structure of lexical entries.<br><br>
More specific questions as the following ones should thus be discussed
during the workshop:<br><br>
1.
Alternations of morphological cases and/or of prepositions and diachronic
changes affecting such alternations (is it the lexicon which is under
change or rather the rules of the linking mechanism?). In particular, is
“exceptional case marking” really exceptional, or is it eventually
subject to rules (which may “shrink” or be extended
diachronically)?<br><br>
2. How can discrepancies
between syntactic and semantic (in)transitivity be generalized? How can
they be explained from a diachronic viewpoint?<br><br>
3. How do constructions
grammaticalize? It is basically the interface between semantic and
pragmatic relations and the syntactic organization (the Layered Structure
of the Clause, LSC) which is central to the whole theory. In particular,
how do ‘restricted neutralizations’ (pivots and controllers)
arise?<br><br>
4. Are certain types of
changes in grammatical constructions unidirectional (or tend to be
so)?<br><br>
5. How does a former
extra-core slot develop into a part of the Core and, thus, become more
tightly integrated into the language’s syntax?<br><br>
6. In which way does the
gradual integration of material from the Periphery and extra-core
positions into clausal and core-syntax correlate (and change) with the
projection of focus structure?<br><br>
7. How do prenuclear focus positions arise? Are the first entities to
occupy this position always WH words? (Analogous questions could be put
regarding other positions of the LSC.)<br><br>
8. Can we formulate an
equivalent of restricted neutralizations for information structure (focus
constructions)?<br><br>
<br>
Contributions should last 20-25 minutes (+ discussion time). Abstracts
are expected to be sent to the organizer of the conference
(<a href="mailto:Brian.Nolan@itb.ie">Brian.Nolan@itb.ie</a>) and of the
workshop
(<a href="mailto:Bjoern.Wiemer@uni-konstanz.de">Bjoern.Wiemer@uni-konstanz.de</a>)
until March, 15<sup>th</sup>, 2004.<br><br>
A more elaborated version of this sketch is available from the organizer
of the workshop. Please request!<br><br>
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Privatdozent Dr. Björn Wiemer<br>
Universität Konstanz<br>
FB Sprachwissenschaft / Slavistik<br>
Postfach 55 60, D 179<br>
D- 78457 Konstanz<br><br>
Tel.: ++49/ 7531/ 88 -2582<br>
Fax: ++49/ 7531/ 88 -4007<br>
Tel. (privat): ++49/ 7531/ 6 77 73<br>
e-mail: Bjoern.Wiemer@uni-konstanz.de<br>
Homepage:
<a href="http://www.uni-konstanz.de/FuF/Philo/Sprachwiss/slavistik/wiemer/index.htm" eudora="autourl">http://www.uni-konstanz.de/FuF/Philo/Sprachwiss/slavistik/wiemer/index.htm<br>
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