28.4511, Calls: Gen Ling, Morphology, Semantics, Syntax/Switzerland

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LINGUIST List: Vol-28-4511. Fri Oct 27 2017. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 28.4511, Calls: Gen Ling, Morphology, Semantics, Syntax/Switzerland

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Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2017 13:31:12
From: Caterina Bonan [caterina.bonan at unige.ch]
Subject: The Geneva WH-orkshop on Optional Insituness

 
Full Title: The Geneva WH-orkshop on Optional Insituness 
Short Title: GenWH 2018 

Date: 16-Jan-2018 - 18-Jan-2018
Location: Genève, Switzerland 
Contact Person: Caterina Bonan
Meeting Email: caterina.bonan at unige.ch
Web Site: http://unige.ch/lettres/linguistique/welcome/ 

Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics; Morphology; Semantics; Syntax 

Call Deadline: 30-Nov-2017 

Meeting Description:

Ever since Chomsky 1977, wh-movement (and the lack thereof) in interrogative
sentences has animated much debate among theoretical linguists. The fact that
some languages force the wh-element to move to a fronted position - such as
English, 'Who did you see' - while others need the very same element to stay
in situ - such as Chinese, 'Hufei mai-le shenme' ('Hufei bought what') - is a
very well known puzzle that is still theoretically relevant today.

Whereas, on the whole, the mechanisms that lie behind overt wh-movement to a
fronted position in the clause are well defined, no satisfactory explanation
for wh-in-situ has been provided in the literature. For this reason,
''insituness'' has become a privileged research subject for linguists in
different fields (syntax, semantics and phonology). Historically, the ''ex
situ-in situ alternation'' was treated as a purely syntactic phenomenon,
whereas in the last two decades some very different types of approach have
been proposed to account for wh-in-situ (Baunaz, 2016; Bocci, 2013; Mathieu,
2004, 2016; Richards, 2010, 2016), clearly acknowledging that it is crucial to
take into serious consideration what is happening at the interfaces between
the syntactic, semantic and phonological components of grammar.

''Optional'' insituness, at work in languages like spoken French (Cheng &
Rooryck, 2000; Baunaz, 2011) several North Italian Dialects (Munaro et al.,
2001; Poletto & Pollock, 2004) and Spanish (Etxepare, 2003, Etxepare &
Uribe-Etxebarria, 2005) is even more obscure. In fact, French and other
languages of the sort exhibit both the Chinese and the English patterns: a
wh-element may move to a fronted position, but it may also appear
sentence-internally, ''in situ'' (Quand as-tu mangé vs Tu as mangé quand?,
'When did you eat?'). Optionality constitutes a problem in any theoretical
account, and it is even more difficult to be accounted for when coupled with a
syntactic phenomenon that is already cryptic per se.

Many scholars have tried to explain optional insituness, but no account has
provided an explanation that is both theoretically satisfying and
cross-linguistically valid yet. The Geneva WH-orkshop on Optional Insituness,
supported mainly by the Swiss National Science Foundation, aims at bringing
together academics from all around the world, thus creating a privileged
discussion space on the subject of Optional Insituness.

The list of invited speakers will be made public here soon.


Call for Papers:

[please notice that this call for abstracts is intended for MA and PhD
students only]

The GenWH 2018 organisers welcome both single- and multi-authored abstracts on
the subject of 'optional insituness'. Contributions from any subfield of
linguistics, interfaces included, are welcome. The abstracts will be NOT
longer than 1 page, references included, 1 inch margin at least, Times New
Roman 12pt, single spaced. The submission link will be soon available on
Easychair.

6 students will be selected to deliver a 20-minute talk (main session), and up
to 10 students will be granted a poster presentation on the 2nd and 3rd days
of the WH-orkshop (poster session). It is possible to either apply for both
sessions, or one in particular.

If compatible with our budget, we will (at least partially) help the selected
students with their travel and subsistence expenses.

Notification of acceptance: December 10.




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