16.1109, Calls: Semantics/Netherlands; General Ling/Netherlands

LINGUIST List linguist at linguistlist.org
Thu Apr 7 19:24:20 UTC 2005


LINGUIST List: Vol-16-1109. Thu Apr 07 2005. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 16.1109, Calls: Semantics/Netherlands; General Ling/Netherlands

Moderators: Anthony Aristar, Wayne State U <aristar at linguistlist.org>
            Helen Aristar-Dry, Eastern Michigan U <hdry at linguistlist.org>
 
Reviews (reviews at linguistlist.org) 
        Sheila Collberg, U of Arizona  
        Terry Langendoen, U of Arizona  

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org/

The LINGUIST List is funded by Eastern Michigan University, Wayne
State University, and donations from subscribers and publishers.

Editor for this issue: Amy Wronkowicz <amy at linguistlist.org>
================================================================  

As a matter of policy, LINGUIST discourages the use of abbreviations
or acronyms in conference announcements unless they are explained in
the text.

To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at 
http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.html. 



===========================Directory==============================  

1)
Date: 06-Apr-2005
From: Paul J.E. Dekker < p.j.e.dekker at uva.nl >
Subject: 15th Amsterdam Colloquium, 2005 

2)
Date: 05-Apr-2005
From: Elma Blom < w.b.t.blom at uva.nl >
Subject: Workshop Variation in Inflection 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Thu, 07 Apr 2005 15:09:51
From: Paul J.E. Dekker < p.j.e.dekker at uva.nl >
Subject: 15th Amsterdam Colloquium, 2005 
 

Fund Drive 2005 is now on! Visit http://linguistlist.org/donate.html to donate now!

Editor's note: This issue contains non-ISO-8859-1 characters.
To view the correct characters, go to http://linguistlist.org/issues/16/16-1109.html.

Full Title: 15th Amsterdam Colloquium, 2005 
Short Title: AC05 

Date: 19-Dec-2005 - 21-Dec-2005
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands 
Contact Person: Paul Dekker
Meeting Email: p.j.e.dekker at uva.nl
Web Site: http://www.illc.uva.nl/AC05/ 

Linguistic Field(s): Cognitive Science; Computational Linguistics; Discourse
Analysis; General Linguistics; Linguistic Theories; Philosophy of Language;
Pragmatics; Semantics 

Call Deadline: 01-Sep-2005 

Meeting Description:

The Amsterdam Colloquia aim at bringing together linguists, philosophers,
logicians and computer scientists who share an interest in the formal study of
the semantics and pragmatics of natural and formal languages. The spectrum of
topics covered ranges from descriptive (syntactic and semantic analyses of all
kinds of expressions) to theoretical (logical and computational properties of
semantic theories, philosophical foundations, evolution and learning of language). 

The general program hosts 30 contributed talks of 30 minutes. Authors can submit
an anonymous abstract of two pages (800 words), at our website. The abstract
should include a short 10 line summary clearly indicating subject matter and
conclusions.

The deadline for the submission of abstracts is September 1, 2005. Authors will
be notified of acceptance by October 15. Extended 6 page abstracts, to be
included in the proceedings, are due November 15. The proceedings will be
distributed at the conference.



	
-------------------------Message 2 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Thu, 07 Apr 2005 15:09:58
From: Elma Blom < w.b.t.blom at uva.nl >
Subject: Workshop Variation in Inflection 

	

Full Title: Workshop Variation in Inflection 

Date: 19-Dec-2005 - 20-Dec-2005
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands 
Contact Person: Elma Blom
Meeting Email: w.b.t.blom at uva.nl
Web Site: http://home.hum.uva.nl/variflex/Workshop.htm 

Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics 

Call Deadline: 15-Jun-2005 

Meeting Description:

Call for papers 
Workshop Variation in Inflection
December 19-20, 2005
University of Amsterdam
http://home.hum.uva.nl/variflex/index.htm

Invited speakers:
David Adger (Queen Mary University of London)
Anthony Kroch (University of Pennsylvania)
Cecilia Poletto (University of Padua)
Tom Roeper (University of Massachusetts/Amherst)
Bonnie Schwartz (University of Hawai'i at Manoa)

What are the factors that cause deflection? In order to answer this question,
the Meertens Institute (KNAW) and the Amsterdam Center for Language and
Communication (UvA) have started a research-program called Variation in
Inflection, or simply Variflex. Two types of factors may be relevant: internal
factors related to the linguistic system and external, sociolinguistic factors.
Typological variation (including dialect differences) and variation observed in
the development of monolingual children are telling with regard to the
boundaries set by our linguistic system. Typological variation and variation in
L2 acquisition provide information with regard to external factors.

Thus, a second question addressed in the Variflex program is: What are the
boundaries of variation in inflection? Empirical data suggest that the variation
space of inflectional morphology is huge. Even within one language system there
are various paradigms, dialects differ in inflectional contrasts and variation
surfaces in various stages in the process of the acquisition of inflection. The
amount of observed variation in inflectional morphology (at the interface of
morphology and syntax) contrasts strikingly with other observed variation such
as word order phenomena (syntax proper). Typological comparisons suggest that
there are natural classes of inflectional features that are hierarchically
organized, patterns of syncretism within a language suggest metaparadigmatic
structure, the "errors" that children make seem pre-determined and,
diachronically, not every possible change to inflectional paradigms has actually
taken place.

To determine the variation space of agreement inflection in Dutch Variflex takes
a multidisciplinary approach that focuses on dialect variation, L1 acquisition,
L2 acquisition and language change. The overall research question of the program
is: Is deflection the effect of language contact, or to be more specific, the
effect of imperfect second language acquisition that characterizes language
contact situations, given that the output of this group of learners forms the
input of a new group of first language acquirers? In this workshop the first
results of Variflex will be discussed to a wider public. The above panel of
specialists is invited to give presentations on related matters, on the basis of
their own research, and to discuss all angles of the multidisciplinary approach.
The rest of the program consists of selected papers on the issue of variation in
inflection. Selected papers should address one or more of the specific questions
below:

Delimiting the variation space:
-	Successful, quick and almost errorless acquisition of agreement inflection by
monolingual children suggests UG-driven learning, where UG delimits the
hypothesis space of a language-learning child. What would be a UG-driven model
for the acquisition of inflection? In this respect the recent discussion on the
nature of the language faculty (Hauser, Chomsky & Fitch (2002)) and the reaction
of Jackendoff & Pinker (2004) may be interesting. 
-	Linguists disagree on the issue of whether or not inflectional paradigms exist
as mental objects (Bobaljik, 2001). Paradigms-as-mental-objects are argued to
play a role in the acquisition of inflection (Pinker, 1986; Baker, 1991;
Wunderlich, 1995). What would be the delimiting role (and hence advantage) of
paradigm-structure?
-	On the basis of typological studies such as Greenberg (1967), innate feature
hierarchies have been proposed for person and number features (Noyer 1997;
Harley & Ritter 2001). What is the status of these hierarchies, empirical
support for their existence and theoretical motivation?

Determining other influences on variation: 
-	In the literature on L2 acquisition of morphology, it has been argued that
children and adults pass through similar stages (Dulay & Burt 1974; Vermeer
1986). This may suggest that adult learners are as successful as children with
regard to the acquisition of inflection. Other observations contradict this
conclusion (Johnson & Newport 1989; Prévost & White 2000; Lardière 2001;
Schwartz 2003, 2004). Is there evidence for critical age effects with respect to
the acquisition of inflection?
-	Theories on L1-transfer in L2 acquisition make different prediction with
respect to transfer (Vainikka & Young-Scholten, 1994; Eubank 1993/1994, Schwartz
& Sprouse, 1994). Is inflection in the DP and IP influenced by L1 transfer?
-	The Language Contact hypothesis for deflection is supported by the comparison
between, for instance, Icelandic and African. Is the Language Contact hypothesis
supported by other cross-linguistic data; i.e., do languages that have a history
with much contact indeed show much deflection, and vice versa?

Variation and theoretical models:
How do different models treat inflectional contrasts? Which model is most
successful? Below, we give three examples of apparently promising theories. Each
model raises new questions, though:
-	Principles & Parameters theory (Chomsky, 1981) accounts for variation between
languages with language-specific parameter settings. The parameters themselves
are universal, just like the principles of grammar. Typologists (Rohrbacher,
1984) and acquisitionists (Wexler, 1998) working within this framework have
argued for strong correlations between micro- and macro-level variation. If each
inflectional feature is represented by a parameter, the notion of parameter
becomes vacuous. Thus, are parameters appropriate in explaining the huge amount
of variation in inflection?  
-	Distributed Morphology (Halle & Marantz, 1993) accounts for the variation
between languages by means of language-specific Impoverishment rules and
underspecification. In this framework, (micro-) variation in inflection is
independent of (macro-)variation in syntax. How does such a model account for
universal patterning, however?
-	Optimality Theory (Bresnan, 2001) accounts for variation between languages and
for developmental patterns by means of variation in constraint ranking (either
language-specific or for a specific developmental stage). Restrictions come from
universality of the constraints. Can/Should related geographic, diachronic and
developmental varieties be explained by related constraint rankings?

Program
The workshop is meant for linguists with an interest in one or more of these
areas: theoretical linguistics, morphosyntax, typology, dialect variation, L1
and L2 acquisition and/or language change. The program partly consists of
presentations and partly of (panel-)discussions with the audience (including
organizers). The first results of Variflex will be presented, and the five
invited speakers will present their own, related, work. In addition to these
presentations, we will select no more than eight speakers, who are each given 30
minutes for their presentation followed by 15 minutes for questions and
discussion. The workshop will take place on 19-20 December 2005 at the
University of Amsterdam. 

Reimbursement
We hope to be able to partially reimburse travel costs and costs for overnight
stay for selected speakers.

Guidelines for submission
Abstracts (in Times New Roman 12 point font with 1" margins) should be no more
than 2 pages including figures, examples and references. Please send your
abstract anonymously by e-mail as an attachment to w.b.t.blom at uva.nl. Acceptable
formats are attachments as MS Word or PDF documents.

Please include the following information in the body of the message: 
1. Name
2. Affiliation
3. Title of the paper
4. Postal address
5. E-mail address
6. Summer address (if different) 

Deadline for submission: June 15, 2005 
Notice of acceptance: September 15, 2005 

Organizing committee: Elma Blom, Jan de Jong, Alies MacLean, Fred Weerman

Variflex-members: Hans Bennis (Meertens Institute/KNAW, UvA), Fred Weerman
(UvA/ACLC), Elma Blom (child and adult L2 acquisition, IP-DP inflection,
UvA/ACLC), Jan de Jong (impaired bilingual acquisition, IP-DP inflection,
UvA/ACLC), Daniela Poli?enská (monolingual L1 acquisition, IP-DP inflection,
UvA/ACLC), Alies MacLean (dialect variation, IP-DP inflection, Meertens
Institute/KNAW), Suzanne Aalberse (diachrony, loss of 2nd person, UvA/ACLC),
Maren Pannemann (bilingual acquisition, DP, UvA/ACLC), Antje Orgassa (impaired
bilingual acquisition, IP-DP inflection, UvA/ACLC)


 



-----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-16-1109	

	



More information about the LINGUIST mailing list