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--></style><title>ZAS Conference announcement: Focus in African
languages</title></head><body>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">CALL FOR
ABSTRACTS<br>
The ZAS (Project P7) and SFB 632 (Humboldt University, Berlin, and the
University of Potsdam) are pleased to announce that they are
organizing an:<br>
International conference on FOCUS IN
AFRICAN LANGUAGES,<br>
to be held at the ZAS, Berlin,
from 6-8 October 2005.<br>
<br>
Invited Speakers (confirmed):<br>
Enoch Aboh, Larry Hyman, Victor Manfredi, Stéphane Robert, Russell
Schuh.<br>
<br>
The theme of the conference is the expression of information structure
in African languages. Papers are particularly welcome discussing the
following aspects of Information Structure:<br>
<br>
- Formal marking of information structure, including focus
particles<br>
- Suprasegmental encoding of information structure<br>
- The interaction of suprasegmental and segmental encoding of
information structure<br>
- Fixed positions for the expression of topic, focus<br>
- WH-questions and question-answer pairs<br>
- Focus vs. topic: how can these be distinguished?<br>
- Topic-focus organization vs. thetic statements<br>
- Types of focus<br>
<br>
Papers will be chosen by the organizing committee on the basis of
abstracts submitted. The final program is intended to represent a
broad range of African languages and also a broad range of themes and
approaches to this topic.<br>
<br>
In conjunction with the Conference, the following Workshop will be
held:<br>
Date: Sunday, 9 October 2005<br>
Theme: Information structure in Bantu languages<br>
(co-organized with the London-Leiden-Berlin Bantu Grammar network:
http://mercury.soas.ac.uk/users/lm5/bantu_project.htm)<br>
<br>
<b>Important Dates</b>:<br>
Abstract submission deadline: 3 April 2005<br>
Program finalized: 1 June 2005<br>
<br>
<b>Abstract submission information</b>:<br>
Abstracts should be no longer than one page (approximately 500 words
of text), including data and references. (Font size must be at least
12 point Times or equivalent; the margins should be at least 1 inch
(2,5 cm) on all sides or equivalent.)<br>
Talks are 30 minutes, plus 10 minutes for discussion.<br>
Please indicate on the abstract if you would like it to be considered
for the workshop on Bantu languages.<br>
We prefer for the abstracts to be submitted electronically, as an
attachment sent to the email address below. Please submit the abstract
as a pdf file, if possible. MSWord is acceptable if the abstract
contains no special fonts. In case of electronic submission, attach
the abstract without name and affiliation and send this information
separately in the body of the message.<br>
If the abstract is faxed or sent by post, two copies of the abstract
should be submitted, one anonymous and the other including the
author's name and affiliation just under the title. Mailed abstracts
must be sent in time to be received by the deadline.<br>
<br>
Address: FiAL, ZAS, Jaegerstr. 10-11, D-10117 Berlin, Germany.<br>
email: fial05@zas.gwz-berlin.de; Fax: +49-30-201.92.402<br>
<br>
Organizing and Abstract Review Committee:<br>
Tom Gueldemann, Laura Downing, Sabine Zerbian (ZAS); Brigitte
Reineke, Ines Fiedler, Katharina Hartmann, Anne Schwarz, Malte
Zimmermann (Humboldt);<br>
Lutz Marten (SOAS) and Lisa Cheng (Leiden) for the Bantu
workshop</font></div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><br>
Participants in the Berlin Focus conference are encouraged to attend
the Gur Workshop held at the University of Bayreuth, Germany on 12 -
14 October 2005:</font></div>
<div><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Theme: "
Aktuelle Fragen der Gursprachenforschung. Zwischen Ton und Text"
["Current questions in Gur Language Research: Between Tone and
Text"]<br>
(http://www.uni-bayreuth.de/departments/afrikanistik/tagu/gurcon1.htm<span
></span>l)</font><br>
</div>
<div> </div>
<div><tt>--</tt></div>
<div><font color="#000000">**********************</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000"><i>Dr. Laura J. Downing</i></font></div>
<div><font color="#000000"><i>Zentrum fuer Allgemeine
Sprachwissenschaft (ZAS)<br>
Jaegerstr. 10-11</i></font></div>
<div><font color="#000000"><i>10117 Berlin, Germany</i></font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">email: downing@zas.gwz-berlin.de<br>
Phone: 49-30-201.92.424<x-tab>
</x-tab><x-tab>
</x-tab>Fax: 49-30-201.92.402</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">Web Page:<font size="-3">
http://www.zas.gwz-berlin.de/mitarb/homepage/downing/ljdindex.html</font
></font></div>
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