27.2423, Calls: Historical Linguistics, Morphology, Typology/Switzerland

Wed Jun 1 14:56:42 UTC 2016

LINGUIST List: Vol-27-2423. Wed Jun 01 2016. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 27.2423, Calls: Historical Linguistics, Morphology, Typology/Switzerland

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Date: Wed, 01 Jun 2016 10:56:19
From: Rik van Gijn [erik.vangijn at uzh.ch]
Subject: Diachronic Morphology: Theoretical, Areal, and Phylogenetic Perspectives

Full Title: Diachronic Morphology: Theoretical, Areal, and Phylogenetic Perspectives 
Short Title: DIAMOR2017 

Date: 26-Jan-2017 - 27-Jan-2017
Location: Zurich, Switzerland 
Contact Person: Rik van Gijn
Meeting Email: erik.vangijn at uzh.ch
Web Site: http://www.arealmorphology.uzh.ch/en/limits/Workshops.html 

Linguistic Field(s): Historical Linguistics; Morphology; Typology 

Call Deadline: 15-Oct-2016 

Meeting Description:

Grammar and lexicon (in the sense of 'vocabulary') have both been central to
understanding language change. However, their diachronic behavior is often
contrasted in at least two respects:

(i) It has been suggested that, on the whole, grammar (including morphology)
changes more slowly than lexicon (e.g. Nichols 1992, 2003, Dunn et al. 2005).
It has also been suggested that different types of grammatical structure have
different degrees of diachronic stability, though this has so far not led to
consensus (see Dediu & Cysouw 2013 for an overview of different approaches)

(ii) In contact linguistics, it has repeatedly been claimed that structure is
more resistant to borrowing than vocabulary (see e.g. Moravcsik 1978, Thomason
& Kaufman 1988, McMahon & McMahon 2005), while at the same time structure is
expected to leave substrate signals after language shift and in situations of
convergence.

Morphology, with its close ties to both the lexicon and syntax, can play a key
role in arriving at a better understanding of this seemingly contrastive
diachronic behavior of lexicon and grammar. Morphology itself seems to display
ambiguous diachronic behavior. On the one hand, the distribution of broad
morphological types over the globe suggests areal, contact-related diffusion.
On the other hand, patterns of flexivity and syncretism often show strong
lineage-specific signals. 

In order to better understand the dynamics of morphological patterns in time
and space, we need (1) to develop more fine-grained approaches to
morphological categories and types, in which broad types are broken down into
lower-level variables, whose phylogenetic and areal behavior can then be
studied individually; and (2) to adopt methods of analysis that are sensitive
to genealogical and geographical diversity. Combining the latest insights in
morphological theory and comparative-historical linguistics is crucial for
adequately addressing one of the key challenges in comparative morphology:
distinguishing contact-induced vs universally favored vs random spread of
specific morphological patterns within families, or cross-family stability vs.
areal spread.  

Keynote Speakers:

Marianne Mithun (UC Santa Barbara)
Andrew Spencer (University of Essex)

References:

Dediu, Dan & Michael Cysouw. 2013. Some structural aspects of language are
more stable than others: a comparison of seven methods. PLoS ONE 8(1): e55009.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0055009
Dunn, Michael, Angela Terrill, Ger Reesink, Robert A. Foley & Stephen C.
Levinson. 2005. Structural phylogenetics and the reconstruction of ancient
language history. Science 309 (5743): 2072-2075.
McMahon, April & Robert McMahon. 2005. Language classification by numbers.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Moravcsik, Edith A. 1978. Language contact. In Joseph H. Greenberg, Charles A.
Ferguson & Edith A. Moravcsik (eds.), Universals of human language: Method &
theory, 93-122. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Nichols, Johanna. 1992. Linguistic diversity in space and time. Chicago:
Chicago University Press.
Nichols, Johanna. 2003. Diversity and Stability in Language. In: Brian D.
Joseph & Richard D. Janda (eds.) The Handbook of Historical Linguistics,
283-310. Malden: Blackwell
Thomason, Sarah G. & Terrence D. Kaufman. 1988. Language Contact,
Creolization, and Genetic Inheritance. Berkeley: University of California
Press.

Call for Papers:

With this workshop we want to achieve a rapprochement between
comparative-historical morphology and morphological theory, addressing the
question of how morphological theory can contribute to comparative-diachronic
approaches to morphology and vice versa. We are especially interested in the
following topics (but potential contributors should not feel restricted by
them):

- Differential stability of subparts of morphology
- Comparisons between lexicon, syntax, and morphology in terms of rates of
change
- The diachronic behavior of lexicon-like morphology and morphology-like
syntax
- Fine-grained approaches to the areal and genealogical behavior of
morphological types
- The use of modern computational techniques in establishing phylogenetic
and/or areal patterns in morphology
- The use of refined geographical methods to map and explain patterns of areal
diffusion 

Abstracts (max. 1 page) should be uploaded to Easychair by 15 October 2016.
Notification of acceptance: 1 November 2016
Uploading abstracts to Easychair involves the following steps
Go to the Easychair Abstract submission page 
(https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=diamor2017)

>>Already registered? --> Log in
>>Not yet registered? --> Click on the ''sign up for an account'' and fill out
the form. The system will send you an e-mail with the instructions how to
finish the registration.

Once you are logged in, you can submit your abstract

Click NEW SUBMISSION at the top of the page.
Following the instructions, fill in the form, and then submit.

Organizing Committee:
Rik van Gijn, Stefan Dedio, Francesco Gardani, Florian Matter, Peter Ranacher,
Florian Sommer, Manuel Widmer

Scientific Committee:
The organizing committee plus Wolfgang Behr, Balthasar Bickel, Mathias Jenny,
Michele Loporcaro, Robert Weibel, Paul Widmer, Fernando Zúñiga

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