33.3379, Calls: Romance; Gen Ling, Historical Ling, Semantics, Syntax/Germany

Tue Nov 1 18:19:19 UTC 2022

LINGUIST List: Vol-33-3379. Tue Nov 01 2022. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 33.3379, Calls: Romance; Gen Ling, Historical Ling, Semantics, Syntax/Germany

Moderators:

Editor for this issue: Everett Green <everett at linguistlist.org>
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Date: Tue, 01 Nov 2022 18:18:51
From: Désirée Kleineberg [desiree.kleineberg at uni-bielefeld.de]
Subject: Panel: Presence and absence of determiners in Romance languages (XXXVIII. Romanistentag)

Full Title: Panel: Presence and absence of determiners in Romance languages (XXXVIII. Romanistentag) 

Date: 24-Sep-2023 - 27-Sep-2023
Location: Leipzig, Germany 
Contact Person: Désirée Kleineberg
Meeting Email: desiree.kleineberg at uni-bielefeld.de

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

Language Family(ies): Romance 

Call Deadline: 31-Dec-2022 

Meeting Description:

In the domain of nominal determination, Romance languages and dialects vary
considerably, compared to each other, but also compared to their Latin base.
This is especially true for the presence and absence of determiners, which
seems to only be explainable by a complex interplay between semantic and
syntactic factors, diachronic tendencies as well as language contact.
In contrast to Latin, nouns in Romance generally require a determiner. Against
this background, recent research especially focuses on so-called bare nouns,
i.e. nominals without a determiner. In this framework, various research
questions and domains have emerged, concentrating on the semantic
interpretation and syntactic distribution of this kind of nouns, oftentimes
referring to the Nominal Mapping Parameter (Chierchia 1998). These domains
comprise research on the referential interpretation bare nouns may take in
different syntactic contexts (kind-level vs. existential readings; cf. among
others Carlson 1980; Espinal 2010; 2013 Espinal/McNally 2007;
Dobrovie-Sorin/Beyssade 2012), the general availability of bare nouns in
Romance varieties (especially in the framework of correlative language
typology; cf. Körner 1981; Carlier/Lamiroy 2014; Stark 2016) as well as bare
nouns and the mass-count distinction (cf. among others Meisterfeld 1998, Laca
1999; Pires de Oliveira/Rothstein 2011; Kleineberg 2022; Mihatsch/Kleineberg
in press).
In addition to these domains of variation in the synchrony of contemporary
language, there is also variation in the presence and absence of determiners
in diachronic evolution since an article system emerges only gradually in Late
Latin (Selig 1992) and is (further) grammaticalised in the early Romance
languages (cf. e.g. Garachana 2009; Carlier 2020). Although the corresponding
grammaticalisation paths are well known (Greenberg 1978; Mulder/Carlier 2011;
Lehmann 32015), recent work in various fields of research suggests a
refinement of these paths. This is particularly true for the domain of weak
referentiality (cf. e.g. Kuguel/Oggiani 2016; Gerards/Stark 2020; Gerards
2020), but also of grammaticalisation of articles with possessives,
anthroponyms or toponyms. Not only grammaticalisation, but also
pragmaticalisation paths are of interest here as pragmatic markers with
nominal origin (e.g. attenuating sp. tipo) lose the ability to be accompanied
by determiners in the course of their development (cf. Brems et al. to
appear). 
Furthermore, work on the ontogenetic formation of determiner systems – and
thus language acquisition research – can also provide important insights. This
is especially true with regard to favouring or inhibiting acquisition factors
of determiners as well as with regard to cross-linguistic typological
differences and their effects in the multilingual individual (cf. Bassano
2010; Bassano et al. 2011; Kupisch 2006).
Finally, a wide variety of Romance contact varieties and Romance-based creole
languages also offer a fruitful field of research for the study of systems of
nominal determination. This is especially true because in such varieties – in
contrast to Romance lexifier languages – bare nominals are less restricted.
Examples include Brazilian Portuguese (Wall 2017), Afro-Bolivian Spanish
(Gutiérrez-Rexach/Sessarego 2011), as well as various creoles (cf. among
others Kester/Schmitt 2007; Aboh/de Graff 2014; Baptista 2002, 30-35; Albers
2020; Wiesinger 2017; in press). To what extent such, often unstable nominal
systems can also be explained typologically and in terms of grammaticalisation
scales, or at least meaningfully interpreted, is still a largely open research
question.

Call for Papers:

The panel aims to address the indicated research questions, especially – but
not only – in the domains of the syntax-semantics interface, of diachrony and
language acquisition, and of language contact. Possible contributions may
focus on the following aspects, which are, however, by no means to be
understood as exhaustive, and may also be combined:

- Syntax-semantics interface: possibilities and variation of nominal
determination in different Romance varieties and their semantic and/or
pragmatic functions, optionally also taking into account diastratic and
diaphasic restrictions (e.g. use of determinerless nouns in headlines,
anthroponyms with determiners as a phenomenon of linguistic immediacy);
- Diachrony and language acquisition: grammaticalisation of determiners,
interrupted evolutions or preservation of older stages of a given language,
e.g. in phraseologisms, the development of Romance nominal determiner systems
from a typological point of view, nominal determiners and language
acquisition;
- Language contact: nominal determination in Romance contact varieties and
contact languages.

In addition to the empirical investigation and theoretical modelling of the
presence and absence of determiners in Romance, the aim of the panel is to
create a forum for unbiased, open exchange between researchers working in
formal and functional frameworks, who – according to our impression – could
benefit much more from each other than is currently the case. The panel thus
explicitly wants to create a locus for a critical examination of one’s own and
other “research programmes” in order to uncover hitherto unused synergies and
thus not only do justice to a heterogeneous, diversified research landscape,
but also to unify it with regard to the exploration of its common core
questions. 
We welcome contributions on all Romance varieties, especially those not
representing the major national languages. Talks may be held equally in any
Romance variety, English or German.

We invite submissions for talks (25 minutes + 10 minutes discussion).
Abstracts should be sent to both organisers by December 31, 2022:

David Paul Gerards (Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz):
david.gerards at uni-mainz.de
Désirée Kleineberg (University of Bielefeld):
desiree.kleineberg at uni-bielefeld.de

Abstract guidelines:
Abstracts may not exceed 4,000 characters (including spaces and references)
and should be submitted in both .pdf and .docx.

Notification: by February 15, 2023.

Please note that the conference will take place in person in Leipzig, Germany.

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