27.3423, Calls: Comp Ling, Historical Ling, Semantics, Syntax, Text/Corpus Ling/USA

Mon Aug 29 19:32:07 UTC 2016

LINGUIST List: Vol-27-3423. Mon Aug 29 2016. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 27.3423, Calls: Comp Ling, Historical Ling, Semantics, Syntax, Text/Corpus Ling/USA

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Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2016 15:31:31
From: Lukasz Jedrzejowski [lukasz-jedrzejowski at daad-alumni.de]
Subject: Diachrony & Subordination. Theory and Corpus Analysis

Full Title: Diachrony & Subordination. Theory and Corpus Analysis 

Date: 31-Jul-2017 - 04-Aug-2017
Location: San Antonio, Texas, USA 
Contact Person: Lukasz Jedrzejowski
Meeting Email: lukasz-jedrzejowski at daad-alumni.de
Web Site: http://ichl23.utsa.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Workshop-Diachrony-and-Subordination.pdf 

Linguistic Field(s): Computational Linguistics; Historical Linguistics; Semantics; Syntax; Text/Corpus Linguistics 

Call Deadline: 01-Dec-2016 

Meeting Description:

Since the end of the 1980s, interest in historical discourse pragmatics and in
the rise and change of clause connection has been intensifying, partly due to
the interest in subjectification (following Traugott 1989 and subsequent
work), partly because of interest in the rise of subordinating connectives
(complementizers, conjunctions) and subordination patterns (clausal
complementation and adverbial subordination; e.g. Deutscher 2000 or Axel
2012), but also because of purported inverse developments subsumed under
insubordination (Evans 2007). However, typological accounts and diachronic
in-depth studies devoted to specific languages have seldom, to date,
experienced cross-fertilization. Proposals as to how to treat subordination
cross-linguistically have either been largely restricted to synchronic
typology (e.g., Givón 1980; Dixon & Aikhenvald 2006; 2009; Noonan 20072; van
Lier 2009; Bril 2010; Schmidtke-Bode 2014), or they have been formulated only
in cognitive-communicative terms (e.g., Cristofaro 2003), so that they usually
do not tell us how to establish and analyze structural change and, ironically,
have only occasionally proved useful in diachronic investigations (Ganenkov
2015). In addition, in light of Haspelmath’s recent work on ‘comparative
concepts’ (Haspelmath 2010), we should ask what criteria are
cross-linguistically and panchronically most important for gauging
subordination across languages and periods. Beyond that, a need is felt for
annotation in historical corpora that allows analysts to handle variation and
that does not force them to make decisions based on preconceived categories
(cf. Curzan 2009 for an overview of selected issues).

The workshop will seek a link between a theory of clause combining in
diachronic change and the preparation of corpora that help linguists to
interpret variation. As the most significant questions to be addressed, we see
the following:

1. Which processes are involved in the formation of subordination in clause
combining? In particular, how do reanalysis, exaptation (i.e. exploitation of
fossilized relic forms), analogy (first of all, in paradigmatic tightening),
and morphological coalescence interact? How is (micro-)variation in historical
stages to be evaluated? To what extent do structural changes and differences
in syntactic status (i.e. heterosemy) correlate with semantic changes, both in
the sense of conventionalization of invited inferences (inferred > coded
meaning) and in types of polysemy and difference of meaning ranges?

2. How should corpora be annotated in order to optimize an analysis of the
processes mentioned in 1.? In general, how should corpora be annotated so that
the analyst is not forced to make decisions concerning syntactic structures
and category membership of particular units (particle vs. complementizer or
cliticized vs. agglutinated vs. no longer transparent?) or their functions if
the primary data allow for different decisions? That is, syntactically or
semantically ambiguous (or vague) structures and status should be annotated as
such, variation should not be artificially diminished by forced coding
decisions which would skew further analyses, especially if frequency counts
are involved and results are quantified. How, in general, should corpora be
annotated to allow for multivariate statistical analyses? How should vagueness
and ambiguity in the syntax and in the meaning/function of connectives be
annotated?

These two groups of questions connect theoretical questions related to
diachronic morphosyntax and the semantics-pragmatics interface with
methodological challenges whose solution is crucial for an adequate approach
to the empirical basis necessary to test hypotheses and for data-mining.

Call for Papers:

Abstracts should be a maximum of two pages in length, including references,
and may focus on any aspect of historical linguistics.  Abstracts should be
submitted via the conference Easy Chair link
(https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ichl23).  If you have problems using
Easy Chair, please contact us at ichl23 at utsa.edu. Authors may present a
maximum of two papers at ICHL 23, whether single-authored or co-authored. 
Abstracts will be reviewed anonymously by at least three members of the
Scientific Committee.

Abstracts may be submitted for the General Session or for one of the Workshops
listed below. Abstracts submitted for a workshop but not accepted there will
be automatically considered for inclusion in the general session.

Deadline for submission on Easy Chair:  December 1, 2016.

Notifications of acceptance will be sent by February 15, 2017.

Conference registration opens December 1, 2016.

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