31.2849, Confs: Pragmatics/Switzerland

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-31-2849. Mon Sep 21 2020. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 31.2849, Confs: Pragmatics/Switzerland

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Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2020 12:04:13
From: Salvador Pons [salvador.pons at uv.es]
Subject: New approaches in the research on approximatives: theoretical assessments for further descriptions

 
Full Title: New approaches in the research on approximatives: theoretical assessments for further descriptions 

Date: 04-Jul-2021 - 09-Jul-2021
Location: Winthertur, Switzerland 
Contact Person: Salvador Pons Bordería
Meeting Email: salvador.pons at uv.es
Web Site: https://pragmatics.international/page/Winterthur2021 

Linguistic Field(s): Pragmatics 

Call Deadline: 25-Oct-2020 

Meeting Description:

In the last thirty years, grammarians (García-Medall 1993), theoretical
pragmatists (Sadock 1981; Atlas 1989), formal semantists (Jayez 1987, Jayez &
Tovena 2008) and discourse analysts (Albelda 2005, Pons 2005) have been
interested in a small set of forms, called approximatives, such as English
almost/barely (Horn 2009), Spanish casi/apenas (Schwenter 2002, Albeda Marco
2005) or Portuguese quase/mal (Amaral 2007); but also French presque/à peine
(Ducrot 1972), German fast (Rapp & Von Stechow 1999), Hebrew
kimʔat/bekošim/begadol (Sevi 1998, Greenberg & Ronen 2012), Italian quasi
(Amaral & Del Prete 2010), Mandarin Chinese chā-yīdiar (Li 1976), Dutch
bijna/nauwelijks (Klein 1998) or Polish prawie/niemal (Morzycki 2001).

Approximatives are conceived as the blend of two meaning components: proximity
and polarity. Proximity is meant as expressing closeness to the accomplishment
of a predicate, while polarity refers to the negative vs. positive
implications. This conception about the meaning of approximatives has deep
roots in a long-lasting divergence about the nature of the polar component: on
the one hand, an entailment-based analysis (Sevi 1998; Horn 2009, 2011); on
the other hand, a discourse-based account (Ziegeler 2000, 2010, 2016). Such a
semantic/pragmatic debate is currently at an impasse; recent data, concerned
with context-sensibility and linguistic variation in the interpretation of
approximatives cannot be fitted in either of the two approaches (Pons Bordería
& Schwenter 2011, Pardo-Llibrer 2018).

This panel aims to reopen this discussion, focusing on three main questions
regarding proximity and polarity:
- Theoretical and methodological issues in the research on approximatives.
- (Sub)components in the description of approximatives.
- Negative variation in approximatives. 
The first question addresses the relationship among prototypical
approximatives (almost/barely) and other possible members of the paradigm
(Andean Spanish todavía, Mexican Spanish hasta, among others). It also
addresses the role of corpus-based or experimental studies and their impact in
the way theory is created. 

The second question explores how the underlying meaning (sub)components of
approximatives are intertwined, so that meaning extensions can be properly
explained (for instance, the erasure of the polar component in Spanish casi
que or Italian quasi quasi; as well as the negative-positive ambivalence in
Spanish por poco no or in Dutch nauwelijks).

The third question seeks diachronic explanations about the arising and
bleaching of negation in the grammaticalization of approximatives, especially
in cases where the negation disappears but is incorporated into the meaning of
an approximative (for instance, the German particle geradezu or Andean Spanish
todavía – still – meaning not yet).


Call for Papers: 

This panel welcomes methodological and theoretical contributions, both
synchronic and diachronic, for a better characterization of the proximal-polar
meaning, especially in non-Western languages.

Those interested in the panel should send an abstract to the conference site
(https://pragmatics.international/page/Winterthur2021). If you are not sure
about how to proceed, or if you want to contact the organizers, you can send
an email to salvador.pons at uv.es.




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LINGUIST List: Vol-31-2849	
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