19.1840, Calls: Cog Sci,Pragmatics,Psycholing,Typology/Germany; Cog Sci/Germany

Tue Jun 10 13:41:45 UTC 2008

LINGUIST List: Vol-19-1840. Tue Jun 10 2008. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 19.1840, Calls: Cog Sci,Pragmatics,Psycholing,Typology/Germany; Cog Sci/Germany

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1)
Date: 10-Jun-2008
From: Carla Umbach < carla.umbach at uos.de >
Subject: DGfS-workshop on Comparison and Similarity 

2)
Date: 09-Jun-2008
From: Daniel Gutzmann < danielgutzmann at gmail.com >
Subject: Expressives and other non-truth-conditional meaning

-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:38:00
From: Carla Umbach [carla.umbach at uos.de]
Subject: DGfS-workshop on Comparison and Similarity
E-mail this message to a friend:
http://linguistlist.org/issues/emailmessage/verification.cfm?iss=19-1840.html&submissionid=181401&topicid=3&msgnumber=1  

Full Title: DGfS-workshop on Comparison and Similarity 
Short Title: Comparison&Similarity 

Date: 04-Mar-2009 - 06-Mar-2009
Location: Osnabrueck, Germany 
Contact Person: Carla Umbach
Meeting Email: comparison at cogsci.uni-osnabrueck.de
Web Site: http://www.cogsci.uni-osnabrueck.de/CL/comparison 

Linguistic Field(s): Cognitive Science; Pragmatics; Psycholinguistics; Typology 

Call Deadline: 31-Jul-2008 

Meeting Description:

The workshop is part of the 31. annual meeting of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für
Sprachwissenschaft (DGfS). We would like to address the question of what
strategies there are in natural languages to express comparison, how theses
strategies can be modeled, and how these strategies relate to the findings from
Cognitive Psychology. We are interested in semantic/pragmatic approaches as well
as contrastive/typological studies and, in particular, contributions from
Cognitive Psychology. 

Call for Papers

Comparison constructions and similarity-based classification

Workshop at the 31. annual meeting of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für
Sprachwissenschaft (DGfS), 
4.- 6. March, 2009, Osnabrück

Classification of objects and situations can be expressed linguistically in two
basic ways, either by ascribing a (nominal or verbal etc.) predicate to the
object/ situation, or by comparing the object/ situation to some entity known to
the addressee. When ascribing a predicate classification is performed according
to the meaning of the predicate. In (1a), for example, we are told that Anna's
height is 1,80m. But when using a comparison construction the classifying
property has to be inferred from a similarity relation between the compared
entities and the relevant respect of similarity. Thus, in (1b) we only learn
that Anna and Marie are similar with respect to height and we have to infer
Anna's height from what we know about Marie. Likewise, in (2a) the property of
the student in question is explicitly mentioned while (2b) it has to be inferred
from what we know about Marie. 

(1) a. Anna ist 1,80m groß. ('Anna is 1,80 tall')
      b. Anna ist so groß wie Marie. ('Anna is as tall as Marie')
(2) a. Uns fehlt eine kluge Mathestudentin im Seminar.
         ('We need a clever Math student in the seminar.')
      b. Uns fehlt eine Studentin wie Marie im Seminar.  
         ('We need a student like Marie in the seminar.')

While the meaning of comparison constructions based on gradable adjectives has
been discussed in detail (e.g., Bierwisch 1986, Kennedy 1999), there are few
approaches addressing comparison constructions beyond the adjectival domain and
there is no general account of how similarity is exploited in natural language.
On the other hand, in Cognitive Psychology similarity-based classification is
regarded as a basic cognitive ability of human agents and has been studied at
length (cf. Hahn & Chater 1998). 

In the workshop, we would like to address the question of 
- what strategies there are in natural languages to express comparison, 
- how theses strategies can be modeled, and 
- how these strategies relate to the findings from Cognitive Psychology. 
We are interested in semantic/pragmatic approaches as well as
contrastive/typological studies and, in particular, contributions from Cognitive
Psychology.

Invited speakers:
Louise McNally (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona)
Ulrike Hahn (School of Psycholgy, Cardiff University)
Manfred Bierwisch (Humboldt Universität Berlin)
Peter Bosch (University of Osnabrück) 

Organizers:
Carla Umbach (University of Osnabrück, carla.umbach 'at' uos.de)
Klaus von Heusinger (University of Stuttgart, Klaus.vonHeusinger 'at'
ling.uni-stuttgart.de)

Abstract submission:
There are 12 slots for presentations (30 minutes, including discussion), in
addition to the invited talks. Abstracts should be anonymous and at most 2 pages
in length. Please send your abstracts electronically (pdf, ps, rtf) to
comparison 'at' cogsci.uni-osnabrueck.de, and include your name, affiliation and
the title of the abstract in the body of the e-mail.

Deadline for abstract submission: July 31, 2008
Notification of acceptance: September 15, 2008

Scientific committee:
Manfred Bierwisch (Berlin), Peter Bosch (Osnabrück), Regine Eckardt (Göttingen),
Cornelia Endriss (Osnabrück), Ulrike Hahn (Cardiff), Louise McNally (Barcelona),
Rick Nouwen (Utrecht), Malte Zimmermann (Potsdam)

web link: http://www.cogsci.uni-osnabrueck.de/CL/comparison/

-------------------------Message 2 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:38:14
From: Daniel Gutzmann [danielgutzmann at gmail.com]
Subject: Expressives and other non-truth-conditional meaning
E-mail this message to a friend:
http://linguistlist.org/issues/emailmessage/verification.cfm?iss=19-1840.html&submissionid=181351&topicid=3&msgnumber=2 

Full Title: Expressives and other non-truth-conditional meaning 

Date: 04-Mar-2009 - 06-Mar-2009
Location: University of Osnabrück, Germany 
Contact Person: Daniel Gutzmann
Meeting Email: danielgutzmann at gmail.com

Linguistic Field(s): Cognitive Science 

Call Deadline: 31-Aug-2008 

Meeting Description:

Workshop on expressives and other kinds of non-truth-conditional meaning

31th DGfS annual conference, University of Osnabrück

March 04-06, 2009 

Call for papers

Description:
Expressives and other expressions and constructions that -- although having
conventional rather than conversational meaning -- do not contribute to truth
conditions and which therefore fall outside the simple picture that the
distinction between semantics and pragmatics is solely drawn by the notion of
truth, recently gain more and more attention in both semantic and pragmatic
research. The focus of this recent development lies in extending the formal
tools of semantic analysis to cover such non-truth-conditional though
conventional aspects of meaning as well. 

Especially expressives and many kinds of non-truth-conditional particles have
recently attracted a lot of interest. However, there are still many unsolved
questions about both the meaning and the form of expressions that contribute
non-truth-conditional meaning. For instance, it remains unclear how ordinary
truth-conditional content and rather 'use-conditional' expressions can be
integrated into a single compositional approach. Furthermore, there is the
question what non-truth-conditional expressions do contribute, e.g., whether
they contribute felicity conditions on utterances, or whether they affect the
context of utterance. How do they help to shape the overall form of the
discourse and how do they relate to other pragmatic phenomena like
conversational implicatures, presuppositions, and speech acts? How is their
special semantic status and their particular pragmatic function reflected in
their phonetical, morphological, and syntactic structure?

This workshop provides a forum for researchers of all subfields of linguistics
and related disciplines like cognitive sciences or philosophy to address these
closely connected questions. Although the main focus of the workshop lies on
formal approaches to the semantics, pragmatics, and syntax of
non-truth-conditional aspects of meaning, morphological and phonological
research may shed some light on these questions, too. Furthermore, typological
and experimental approaches may provide empirical evidences that can help to
decide between competing theoretical approaches.

Organizers:
Hans Martin-Gärtner (ZAS, Berlin) 
Daniel Gutzmann (University of Mainz)

We invite submission of extended, anonymous abstracts. Including references and
examples, abstracts should not exceed two d i n a 4 pages using 1 inch/2.5cm
margins on each side and at least 11 pt font size. Authors should attach a
separate ID page including the title of the talk, their names, affiliations, and
email addresses. There are approximately 16 slots for 20+10min talks, but
depending on the number of accepted abstracts, there may be room for some 45+15
min talks. Please indicate in your email whether you would be interested in such
an extended presentation. The workshop language is English. Abstracts should be
submitted electronically in PDF format to Daniel Gutzmann
(danielgutzmann at gmail.com) by the deadline listed below.

Important Note:
Please note that the workshop is a proper part of the annual DGfS conference and
that therefore, all speakers and participants have to register for the
conference. In accordance with the conference guidelines, speakers are only
allowed to give a talk in one of the workshops of the DGfS conference.

Invited Speaker:
tba 

Important Dates:
Deadline for submission: August 31, 2008 
Notification of acceptance: September 15, 2008 
Preliminary program: December 15, 2008 
DGfS conference: March 04-06, 2009

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