34.831, Calls: Null Objects from a Crosslinguistic and Developmental Perspective (Frankfurt Edition)

Fri Mar 10 11:05:04 UTC 2023

LINGUIST List: Vol-34-831. Fri Mar 10 2023. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 34.831, Calls: Null Objects from a Crosslinguistic and Developmental Perspective (Frankfurt Edition)

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Date: 
From: Carlos Martínez García [carlma27 at ucm.es]
Subject: Null Objects from a Crosslinguistic and Developmental Perspective (Frankfurt Edition)

Full Title: Null Objects from a Crosslinguistic and Developmental
Perspective (Frankfurt Edition)
Short Title: NOCroDeP

Date: 07-Dec-2023 - 08-Dec-2023
Location: Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Contact Person: Carlos Martínez García
Meeting Email: carlma27 at ucm.es
Web Site: https://sites.google.com/ucm.es/nocrodep-2023-frankfurt-edit
io/homepage?authuser=1

Linguistic Field(s): Syntax

Call Deadline: 20-Apr-2023

Meeting Description:

   While null subjects (NSs) are a well-researched and discussed
phenomenon cross-linguistically, null objects (NOs) have still not
received much attention. The interpretation of NOs is influenced by
syntactic, semantic and discourse-pragmatic factors, and languages
that allow NOs show different sensitivity to these factors.
Additionally, data from language acquisition have suggested that NOs
are found more often in child language than in adult language
(Pérez-Leroux, Pirvulescu & Roberge 2008; Costa & Lobo 2009). An
effective theory of omitted arguments must determine what factors
restrict or favor object drop in a given language and explain the
conditions that affect the obligatoriness or the optionality of NOs.

   When it comes to object omission, cross-linguistically, indefinite
(unspecified) object drop is a more widespread and less restricted
phenomenon than definite object drop. Non-anaphoric indefinite NOs
(like cognate objects) do not offer any information that would not be
already stated overtly, so there is no reason to pose a deleted
element in object position in this case (Cummins & Roberge 2004).
However, for anaphoric indefinite and definite NOs, it is argued that
they are syntactically present and need an antecedent mentioned in the
discourse (Campos 1986 on European Spanish; Cyrino 2001 and Rinke,
Flores & Barbosa 2017 on European Portuguese; Giannakidou & Merchant
1997 on Modern Greek; Ruda 2017 on Polish; Dvorak 2015 on Czech).
Hence, the question of the status of this gap awaits an answer.

   There are currently two main approaches concerning the analysis of
object omission. The first option is the argument ellipsis analysis,
according to which the construction with NOs involves a DP ellipsis
that includes only the omission of the complement of V (Cyrino 2016,
2019, 2020 on Brazilian Portuguese; Giannakidou & Merchant 1997 on
Modern Greek; Oku 1998 and Takahashi 2013 on Japanese; Kim 1999 on
Chinese and Korean; Landau 2018 on Hebrew). The second option is the
pro analysis, according to which NOs exhibit pronominal properties,
and their interpretation is retrieved from the discourse, thus
reproducing the behavior of a typical pronoun (Rizzi 1986 on Italian;
Farrell 1990 on Brazilian Portuguese; Raposo 1986 and Barbosa, Duarte
& Kato 2005 on European Portuguese; Cummins & Roberge 2004 on French).
If we are to study the nature of NOs, it is a must to think about the
necessity of positing an empty category to account for the facts.

   Another issue regarding object omission is whether NOs are
typologically correlated to NSs. Interestingly, European Spanish, a
language with indefinite NOs (Campos 1986), allows for indefinite NSs
under restrictive conditions. This leads us to think about a symmetry
in the licensing of NSs and NOs. This suggests a unified approach to
both null arguments and a reconsideration of the pro-drop parameter
(Barbosa 2019).

   The main goal of this workshop is to discuss and provide new
empirical and theoretical insights on the concept of NOs from a
crosslinguistic and developmental perspective. Talks will be 40’ long
(30’ for presentation and 10’ for discussion).

Call for Papers:

Abstract submissions to the workshop can focus on one of the following
issues, among others:

- Which syntactic, semantic and discourse-pragmatic factors determine
the identification and interpretation of null objects?
- When are null objects optional and when obligatory?
- Are empty categories with pronominal (pro) features involved in the
case of null objects? Is an empty category necessary to account for
the facts?
- Could there be a unified analysis of null objects
cross-linguistically?
- Are null subjects and null objects typologically correlated?
- What insights does a developmental perspective on null objects
offer?

SUBMISSION
Abstracts must be written in English. They should be anonymous and not
longer than 500 words (references and images excluded). Submissions
are limited to a maximum of one individual and one joint abstract, or
two joint abstracts, per author. Each accepted contribution will have
30 minutes for presentation, followed by 10 minutes for discussion.
Abstracts should be submitted in PDF through EasyChair.

CONFIRMED INVITED SPEAKERS
Pilar Barbosa (University of Minho)
Maria Lobo (Linguistics Research Centre of NOVA University Lisbon)
Sonia Cyrino (State University of Campinhas)
Idan Landau (Tel Aviv University)

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
Pilar Barbosa (University of Minho)
Sonia Cyrino (State University of Campinhas)
Cristina Flores (University of Minho)
Nelli Kerezova (Goethe University)
Idan Landau (Tel Aviv University)
Maria Lobo (Linguistics Research Centre of NOVA University Lisbon)
Carlos Martínez (Complutense University of Madrid)
Esther Rinke (Goethe University)

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