27.4294, Calls: Gen Ling, Phonology, Pragmatics, Semantics, Syntax/Switzerland

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LINGUIST List: Vol-27-4294. Tue Oct 25 2016. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 27.4294, Calls: Gen Ling, Phonology, Pragmatics, Semantics, Syntax/Switzerland

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Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2016 15:13:58
From: Gabriela Soare [Gabriela.Soare at unige.ch]
Subject: Why Is 'Why' Unique? Its Syntactic and Semantic Properties

 
Full Title: Why Is 'Why' Unique? Its Syntactic and Semantic Properties 

Date: 10-Sep-2017 - 13-Sep-2017
Location: Zurich, Switzerland 
Contact Person: Gabriela Soare
Meeting Email: Gabriela.Soare at unige.ch

Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics; Phonology; Pragmatics; Semantics; Syntax 

Call Deadline: 18-Nov-2016 

Meeting Description:

It has been known for about 20 years that ‘why’ differs from other wh-elements
syntactically, semantically and pragmatically: 

(i) For instance, unlike other wh-elements, ‘why’ can co-occur with focused
elements, and this imposes different conditions on what can count as a
possible answer to a why-question (Bromberger 1992)
(ii) The latter trigger implicatures which are different from those of
non-why-questions (Bromberger 1992)
(iii) ‘Why’ does not leave a trace or a copy within the IP, (iv) its peculiar
properties extend to the PF interface as it exhibits special intonational
contours.  

Several authors have argued that unlike other wh-elements, the adjunct ‘why’
(and its equivalent in other languages) is externally merged in the left
periphery of the clause (Rizzi 1990, 2001, Hornstein 1995, Ko 2005, Stepanov
and Tsai 2008, Thornton 2008), or that it moves locally within the left
periphery (Shlonsky and Soare 2011). 

‘Why’ and ‘for which reason’ in multiple wh-constructions:

One of the main goals of this workshop is to look into the distribution of
‘why’ and its counterpart ‘for which reason’ in multiple wh-constructions.
Cross-linguistically, they may have distinct categorial status, which then has
consequences on their merge positions. 
 
‘Why’ and locality:

Assuming that ‘why’ is merged in Spec InterrogativeP, it is not sensitive to
any intervention effects. However, in long-distance construals, it has been
argued that the target of movement of ‘why’ is FocusP (Rizzi 2001). Hence it
is expected to give rise to minimality effects. The workshop proposes to
investigate such cases further.  

Acquisition of ‘why’:

In point of acquisition, Thornton (2008) argues that the child acquiring
English initially adopts the parametric properties of ‘why’ of Italian-like
languages thus providing an important example of parametric discontinuity,
meaning that the child adopts one value and then switches to another one. This
raises the question of what determines the initial discontinuity, and the
later convergence to the target value.

Workshop convenors:

- Joanna Blochowiak
- Gabriela Soare
- Luigi Rizzi
- Ur Shlonsky


Call for Papers:

It has been known for about 20 years that ‘why’ differs from other wh-elements
in point of syntax, semantics and pragmatics. This workshop aims at bringing
together researchers working on any of these aspects which single out ‘why’. 

We invite submissions of abstracts of 300 words (excluding references), which
should be sent to Joanna Blochowiak (Joanna.Blochowiak at unige.ch) and Gabriela
Soare (Gabriela.Soare at unige.ch) by November 18, 2016. If approved the workshop
will be part of the 50th Annual Meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea
(SLE) in Zurich.

We welcome contributions exploring the above-mentioned topics and others
including (but not limited to) the following research questions:

a) How does ‘why’ behave in wh-in-situ languages? Is there a difference
between partial wh-in-situ language like French (in main clauses) and true
wh-in-situ languages? How does it behave in other languages?
b) If ‘why’ is externally merged in the left periphery, does one find
languages with a dedicated overt particle?
c) What properties make ’why’ attach to anything unlike other wh-elements (Why
this book? Vs. *How/*When this book?) (see also de Villiers 1991, 1996)
d) The acquisition results underscoring the specificities of ‘why’ are related
to corpus study. Can one submit the properties of ‘why’ to experimentation?
e) At the PF interface, ‘why’ has special intonational contours. Work on
different languages is further needed to pursue this line of experimental
investigation.

Important Dates:

18 November 2016: Deadline for submission of 300-word abstracts to
Joanna.Blochowiak at unige.ch and Gabriela.Soare at unige.ch
25 November 2016: Notification of acceptance by the workshop conveners and
submission of the workshop proposal to SLE.
25 December 2016: Notification of acceptance of workshop proposals from SLE
organizers to workshop conveners.
15 January 2017: Submission of 500-word abstracts (considering any feedback
from the reviewing procedure) for review by SLE.
31 March 2017: Notification of paper acceptance




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