34.282, Calls: Syntax/Germany

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-34-282. Thu Jan 26 2023. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 34.282, Calls: Syntax/Germany

Moderators:

Editor for this issue: Everett Green <everett at linguistlist.org>
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Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2023 00:32:26
From: Valentin Rose [varose at uos.de]
Subject: Topic, Focus, Subject - between grammatical necessity and information-structural load

 
Full Title: Topic, Focus, Subject - between grammatical necessity and information-structural load 
Short Title: TFS23 

Date: 20-Sep-2023 - 22-Sep-2023
Location: Osnabrück, Germany 
Contact Person: Valentin Rose
Meeting Email: tfs at uos.de
Web Site: https://sites.google.com/view/tfs-osnabrueck/home 

Linguistic Field(s): Syntax 

Call Deadline: 31-Mar-2023 

Meeting Description:

Subjecthood is a multifaceted and allegedly universal notion that – quite
surprisingly – still withstands a universally accepted definition. The
traditional definition was heavily influenced by the Greek term hypokeimenon
‘subject of predication’ (literally ‘the material of which things are made’):
the clausal constituent of which the rest of the sentence is predicated.
However, this definition of subjecthood falls short on several points. First,
it is at odds with the very existence of expletives in non-null subject
languages (It seems that …). Furthermore, it is unclear to what extent the
pair subject – predicate differs from the pairs topic – comment and/or focus –
background. Although subjects and topics share the notion of “aboutness”, they
diverge with respect to optionality: a clause must have a subject, but can
dispense with a topic (Rizzi 2005; and more generally the very existence of
wide-focus sentences). In many cases, subjects will also be topics and there
are grammatical processes where both notions must coincide, typically
topic-drop (e.g. German Was ist mit Peter? – Ist wieder krank). However,
topichood is neither restricted to, nor required for subjects. Topics may be
recursive, while subjects never are. Therefore, a sentence may involve topics
that are not subjects (e.g. Italian Le pillole, sì che pro le ha prese ‘The
pills, for sure he has taken them’). On the other hand, focused subjects
instantiate subjects that are not topics, at least under the standard view
that topics and focus do not coincide (possibly with the exception of
contrastive readings, but see Neeleman e.a. 2009). Just like other
constituents, subjects may also be focused and there are principled
interactions between the notions of subjecthood and focus. Since focus must
always be overtly realized (and is frequently prosodically marked), focused
subjects may never be null, not even in null-subject languages. Interestingly,
whereas expletive subjects may be left out in topic-drop (e.g. German 11.
Dezember. Hat nicht aufgehört zu regnen ‘December 11. Didn't stop raining’),
they cannot be in the context of focus (e.g. *It was yesterday that didn't
stop raining).
 
A proper definition of subjecthood should, at the best, consider three major
aspects: thematic-argumental, morpho-syntactic and information structural
properties (Svenonius 2002, Dryer 2013). There are straightforward cases in
which these three components converge on a single constituent (John sleeps).
In contrast to these “easy” subjects and as discussed above, there are also
cases in which these components are carried over to different constituents, or
may lack altogether (There are cats in the garden; it rains; The
Russian-Ukrainian war worries the president; It was yesterday that John came):
expletives lack a theta-role by definition, the argumental status of
quasi-argumental subjects is still unsettled (but see Haider 2019) and the
subject of (some) psych verbs does not carry the thematically highest θ-role
etc.

This conference reaches out to researchers from all theoretical frameworks and
invites them to convene and discuss new insights in all areas of the syntax
and semantics of subjects, topics and foci and the interactions thereof, e.g.

- Resolution strategies of pronominal subjects,
- Expression of subjects and subject marking,
- Word order variation and universal implications,
- Internal make-up and feature composition of pronouns,
- Interactions between subject syntax and Verb-second,
- Contrastive categories in discourse,
- Clausal Left Periphery,
- EPP effects,
- Interactions between subject- and non-subject clitics,
- Focus movement and subject placement,
- Taxonomy of topics,
- …

We particularly welcome contributions that investigate these and related
themes in a contrastive, diachronic or interdisciplinary way.


Call for Papers:

Anonymous abstracts should be uploaded on easychair.org
(https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=tfs23) not later than March, 31st.
They should not exceed 2 pages all-in (12-point, Times New Roman, single line
spacing, 2.5cm margins). Contributors will be asked on easychair.org to apply
for either a talk (20’+10’) or poster slot. Notifications of acceptance will
be sent by April, 30th.




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LINGUIST List: Vol-34-282	
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