28.5221, Calls: Typology, Syntax/France

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LINGUIST List: Vol-28-5221. Mon Dec 11 2017. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 28.5221, Calls: Typology, Syntax/France

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Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2017 14:34:40
From: Jingting Ye [jingting.ye at studserv.uni-leipzig.de]
Subject: Typology of the Syntax of Articles

 
Full Title: Typology of the Syntax of Articles 

Date: 03-Sep-2018 - 05-Sep-2018
Location: Paris, France 
Contact Person: Laura Becker
Meeting Email: laura.becker at uni-leipzig.de
Web Site: https://swl8.sciencesconf.org/resource/page/id/5 

Linguistic Field(s): Syntax; Typology 

Meeting Description:

In the functional literature, articles are predominantly addressed with
respect to their semantic function and referential contribution to meaning
(e.g. Hawkins 1978, Lyons 1999; Dryer 2014). A question that has received
considerably less attention (e.g. Himmelmann 1997) in functional comparative
and typological linguistics is the general syntactic and morpho-syntactic
behaviour of elements that we lump together under the label of “article” or
“(in)definite determiner” and it seems we still lack an understanding of the
cross-linguistic syntax of articles. 

The topics of the workshop include:

(i) Articles as cross-linguistic category: Although we might have clear
concepts for the syntactic properties of articles especially from European
languages, many elements from other languages have functions similar to
articles, but are somewhat different syntactically. What cross-linguistic (and
language-internal) criteria can we apply to consider elements as articles?

(ii) Articles and other elements in the noun phrase: The distribution of
articles in the nominal domain is often conditioned by the presence of other
elements in the noun phrase, e.g. demonstratives, possessives, and adjectives.
What kinds of interactions between articles and other elements in the noun
phrase do we find in the languages of the world?

(iii) The distribution of articles in certain syntactic positions: As Lyons
(1999: 51) noted for a number of European languages, adpositional phrases, and
certain case markers can restrict the applicability of articles. Looking at
the languages of the world, we find this blocking as a recurring pattern often
with locative, instrumental cases and spatial adpositions (e.g. in Gaahmg,
Rapanui, Mokpe, Armenian, Basque, Ch’ol). Are those effects of synchronic
functional nature, are they due to the diachronic development of articles, or
can they be accounted by frequency? 

(iv) Article inflection: Articles can agree with the noun in different
categories, i.e. they often for number, gender (or noun class), and case. The
form and the position of the article or the geographical area do not seem to
be correlated to the inflection of articles (Becker forthc.). Rather, the
inflectional behaviour of the noun can be correlated to the inflection of the
article. There is a clear cross-linguistic trend for the article to show
inflection if the noun does not. Is this an effect of synchronic functional
pressure, or result of the diachronic development? What about other the
agreement behaviour of other elements in the noun phrase? Can we find an
agreement hierarchy for the noun phrase in analogy to the one proposed for the
clause (Corbett 2006: 224ff)? Another category articles can inflect for is
person (e.g. in Biak). However, the use of 1, 2 person marked articles seems
to be restricted to certain constructions. Is this a cross-linguistically
recurrent pattern? What other (nominal) categories can articles agree for?

Other questions that can also be relevant to the overall topic of the workshop
include the grammaticalization of articles from less common sources and into
other syntactic markers (e.g. classifiers, nominal markers, case markers,
etc.), language contact and borrowing of syntactic constructions involving the
use of articles, or areal properties that influence the behaviour of articles
or the availability of articles.


Call for Papers:

We invite contributions that explore syntactic and morphosyntactic properties
of articles, such as comparative studies but also work on less documented
single languages. We are interested in both synchronic and diachronic
approaches, and we are open to different frameworks and linguistic theories,
as long as their contribution has general and empirical relevance.

To submit to this workshop, follow the instructions for abstract submission at
https://swl8.sciencesconf.org/resource/page/id/1 , making sure to indicate
''Typology of the Syntax of Articles'' as the relevant workshop.




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