34.596, Calls: Greek, Modern; General Linguistics, Phonology, Syntax/Greece

Thu Feb 16 21:59:53 UTC 2023

LINGUIST List: Vol-34-596. Thu Feb 16 2023. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 34.596, Calls: Greek, Modern; General Linguistics, Phonology, Syntax/Greece

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Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2023 21:57:07
From: Michalis Georgiafentis [michgeo at enl.uoa.gr]
Subject: Information Structure in Greek: Interface and Comparative Studies

Full Title: Information Structure in Greek: Interface and Comparative Studies 

Date: 14-Dec-2023 - 17-Dec-2023
Location: Thessaloniki, Greece 
Contact Person: Michalis Georgiafentis
Meeting Email: michgeo at enl.uoa.gr

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

Subject Language(s): Greek, Modern (ell)

Call Deadline: 16-Mar-2023 

Meeting Description:

One of the most exciting topics related to the study of information structure
is the connection between the language system itself and language
communication. In particular, during the process of en-/decoding information
structure, on the one hand, all the levels of linguistic analysis
(phonetics-phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics) are
involved in the way it is realized, and on the other, languages are
parameterized with respect to the mechanisms they employ for rendering
information structure.
The first wave of research on information structure established the role of
partitions of the utterance in the discourse. At this stage, information
structure was conceived as a separate layer at the level of the utterances, as
most clearly reflected in articulations such as ‘topic-comment’ and
‘focus-background’ (Mathesius 1961, Halliday 1967 or later approaches with the
same reasoning, e.g., Vallduví 1993). A second wave of research integrated
information structural functions such as ‘topic’ and ‘focus’ to the
grammatical layers, which gave rise to the cartographic approaches in syntax
(Rizzi 1997, É. Kiss 1998) or the direct mapping of phonological entities like
‘prominence’ to discourse functions such as ‘focus’ (Truckenbrodt 1995). A
third wave of research pursues a dissociation of the reflexes of information
structure from the grammar proper, as e.g., accounting for the exhaustive
identification through implicatures instead of a property of focus movement
(Wedgwood 2005) or deconstructing the reflexes of information structure in
prosody (Kratzer & Selkrik 2020).

In Greek, the discussion about this topic opened with Philippaki-Warburton
(1982, 1985) and was associated both with word order variation and with the
classification of Greek as far as the basic word order pattern and the
interpretation of the various patterns are concerned. Ever since numerous
studies have appeared, starting from different theoretical and experimental
perspectives and providing theory- and data-driven analyses, in an attempt to
account for the diverse nature of information structure in Greek.

In view of the above, this workshop aims at shedding light on various aspects
of information structure with emphasis on Greek addressing two main questions:
(a) How do different grammatical layers (especially syntax and phonology)
interact in the expression of information structure?
(b) What do we learn from the comparison of Greek with other (typologically or
geographically –through language contact–) related languages about the role of
different syntactic or prosodic properties in the expression of information
structure?

References
É. Kiss, K. 1998. Identificational focus versus information focus. Language
74: 245-273.
Halliday, M. A. K. 1967. Notes on transitivity and theme in English, Part 2.
Journal of Linguistics 3: 199-244.
Mathesius, V. 1961. A Functional Analysis of Present Day English on a General
Linguistic Basis [1975]. The Hague, Paris: Mouton.
Kratzer, A. & Selkirk, E. 2020. Deconstructing information structure. Glossa:
a journal of general linguistics 5(1): 113. 
Φιλιππάκη-Warburton, Eι. 1982. Η σημασία της σειράς Ρήμα Υποκείμενο
Αντικείμενο στα Νέα Ελληνικά. Μελέτες για την Ελληνική Γλώσσα 3: 135-158.
Philippaki-Warburton, I. 1985. Word order in Modern Greek. Transactions of the
Philological Society. 113-143.
Rizzi, L. 1997. The fine structure of the left periphery. In L. Haegeman
(ed.), Elements of Grammar. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 281-337.
Truckenbrodt, H. 1995. Phonological Phrases: Their Relation to Syntax, Focus,
and Prominence. PhD thesis, MIT.
Vallduvi, E. 1993. The Informational Component. PhD thesis, University of
Pennsylvania.
Wedgwood, D. 2005. Shifting the Focus. From Static Structures to the Dynamics
of Interpretation. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

Call for Papers:

We invite abstract submissions for 20-minute oral presentations in Greek or
English (plus 10-minute discussion). Submissions should conform to the
following format specifications:

Length: One A4 page (excluding references)
Font: Times New Roman 12pt
Space: Single
Margins: 1 inch (2.54 cm) all sides
Title, author(s), affiliation(s), email(s): Centered

Abstracts should be sent as a word document to the following email addresses:
michgeo at enl.uoa.gr, stavros.skopeteas at uni-goettingen.de, angtsok at gs.uoa.gr by
March 16, 2023.

Workshop coordinators: Michalis Georgiafentis, Stavros Skopeteas & Angeliki
Tsokoglou

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