22.4600, Calls: Syntax, Semantics, Typology, Linguistic Theories/Germany

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LINGUIST List: Vol-22-4600. Thu Nov 17 2011. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 22.4600, Calls: Syntax, Semantics, Typology, Linguistic Theories/Germany

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1)
Date: 17-Nov-2011
From: Andreas Trotzke [andreas.trotzke at uni-konstanz.de]
Subject: Complex Sentences, Types of Embedding, and Recursivity


-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2011 14:03:25
From: Andreas Trotzke [andreas.trotzke at uni-konstanz.de]
Subject: Complex Sentences, Types of Embedding, and Recursivity

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Full Title: Complex Sentences, Types of Embedding, and Recursivity 

Date: 05-Mar-2012 - 06-Mar-2012
Location: Konstanz, Germany 
Contact Person: Andreas Trotzke
Meeting Email: compsent2012 at googlemail.com

Linguistic Field(s): Linguistic Theories; Semantics; Syntax; Typology 

Call Deadline: 01-Dec-2011 

Meeting Description:

Complex sentences have always been a matter of intense investigation in linguistics. Since complex syntax is clearly evidenced by sentential embedding and since embedding of one sentence in another is taken to signal recursivity of the grammar, the capacity of computing complex sentences is of central interest to the recent hypothesis that syntactic recursion is the defining property of natural language. In the light of more recent claims that complex syntax is not a universal property of all living languages, the issue of how to detect and define syntactic complexity has become a much debated topic in current linguistics.

This workshop deals with the variability, but also with the universality of complex sentences both from a synchronic and from a diachronic perspective. Specifically, are there living or dead languages that lack complex sentences, and what would the evidence consist of? Or can it be shown that sentence embedding is present even in the most controversial cases? These issues pertain to what types of embedding can be distinguished and what kind of basic procedures are underlying them. In particular, are there fundamentally different modes of embedding for clauses and other syntactic constituents? Is there a single criterion for clausal embedding, or does one need to distinguish different types such as sentences with or without a complementizer, nominalizations, different types of infinitives, etc.? Are recursive procedures a sine qua non for complex syntax, or do iterative rather than recursive mechanisms suffice to generate sentence-level embedding? What is the place of recursivity in the grammar then?

The workshop also aims at connecting the issue of complex sentences to interdisciplinary domains of research. How much of a role has the computation of complex sentences played in human evolution? Specifically, has the capacity of sentence embedding been shaped by cultural constraints and thus evolved by some 'ratchet effect' assumed in theories of cultural evolution? Or is it more plausible to hypothesize slight genetic changes causing a 'great leap forward'?

Invited Speakers:

Uli Sauerland
Edwin Williams
Jan-Wouter Zwart

Workshop Organizers:

Andreas Trotzke (University of Konstanz)
Josef Bayer (University of Konstanz)
Antje Lahne (University of Konstanz) 

2nd Call for Papers:

We invite submissions of anonymous abstracts for 40 minute talks including discussion. Submissions should not exceed one page, 12pt. single spaced, with an optional additional page for examples and references. Either PDF or Word format is accepted. Please upload your abstracts at http://linguistlist.org/confcustom/CompSent2012 by the deadline listed below. The submissions will be reviewed anonymously. 

Important Dates: 

Submission deadline: 1 December 2011 
Notification: 10 December 2011 
Workshop: 5-6 March 2012





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