27.1704, Confs: Phonology/UK

Tue Apr 12 18:14:04 UTC 2016

LINGUIST List: Vol-27-1704. Tue Apr 12 2016. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 27.1704, Confs:  Phonology/UK

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Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2016 14:13:54
From: Florian Breit [florian.breit.12 at ucl.ac.uk]
Subject: How to do Phonology: A Mini-Course with Jonathan Kaye

How to do Phonology: A Mini-Course with Jonathan Kaye 

Date: 03-May-2016 - 12-May-2016 
Location: London, United Kingdom 
Contact: Florian Breit 
Contact Email: florian.breit.12 at ucl.ac.uk 

Linguistic Field(s): Phonology 

Meeting Description: 

The UCL and SOAS Departments of Linguistics are pleased to announce a free
workshop with Jonathan Kaye. The event will be held over four separate days, 3
May, 6 May, 9 May and 13 May. All are welcome.

How to do Phonology: A mini-course with Jonathan Kaye

To do phonology you need:

1. A theory that is ridiculously easy to disprove. This is your beacon; it
shows you where to look.

2. A large dose of scepticism. The amount of inaccuracies contained in
phonological descriptions is breathtaking. Always, always, always check your
facts. Assume that everything you read is false until proven otherwise.

This mini-course will provide a number of case-studies in which a theory with
strong empirical content (easily falsifiable) leads to the exposure of widely
believed, but entirely false claims. We shall start with the study of the
claim by Bromberger & Halle that phonology and syntax are fundamentally
different with respect to the formal nature of their structures. Close
inspection of the “evidence” they provide to support their conclusion shows
that there is every reason to believe that their conclusion, phonology is
fundamentally different from syntax, is incorrect.

A dissection of their arguments leads us to issues such as the existence of
the mysterious “Dialect B” of Canadian English. In fact, a more comprehensive
study of the facts of Dialect A (the dialect that did and does exist) shows
that the entire phenomenon has nothing to do with phonology at all.

The destruction of sacred cows continues with claims about the entirely
fictional “voicing assimilation” of English, “velar palatalization” of Italian
(or indeed other language), umlaut or metaphony, and a host of other allegedly
phonological events.

The moral of this mini-seminar is to demonstrate that a theory with little or
no empirical content is incapable of separating the wheat from the chaff (i.e.
the phonology from the noise).

Study of the facts of Dialect A (the dialect that did and does exist) shows
that the entire phenomenon has nothing to do with phonology at all.

The destruction of sacred cows continues with claims about the entirely
fictional “voicing assimilation” of English, “velar palatalization” of Italian
(or indeed other language), umlaut or metaphony, and a host of other allegedly
phonological events.

The moral of this mini-seminar is to demonstrate that a theory with little or
no empirical content is incapable of separating the wheat from the chaff (i.e.
the phonology from the noise).

Programme & Venues:

Tue 3 May 2016

11:30am–1pm 
Session 1

1pm–2pm Lunch

2pm–3:30pm 
Session 2

Venue: 
UCL Chandler House
Room G15
2 Wakefield Street
London WC1N 1PF

Fri 6 May 2016

11:30am–1pm
Session 3

1pm–2pm Lunch

2pm-3:30pm
Session 4

Venue: 
UCL Chandler House
Room G15
2 Wakefield Street
London WC1N 1PF

Mon 9 May

11:30am–1pm 
Session 5

1pm–2pm  
Lunch

2pm–3:30pm 
Session 6

Venue: 
SOAS Main Building
Room G51
Russell Square
London WC1H 0XG

Fri 13 May
11:30am–1pm 
Session 7

1pm–2pm  
Lunch

2pm–3:30pm 
Session 8

Venue:
SOAS Brunei Gallery
Room B104
Russell Square
London WC1H 0XG

Contact & Enquiries

Monik Charette (mc at soas.ac.uk),
or Florian Breit (florian.breit.12 at ucl.ac.uk)

Open to all. There is no need to confirm attendance.

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