Call for papers: "Multilingualism as a Cause & Consequence of Language Change" -- DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACTS 20 AUGUST

[Scott McGinnis]

Call for papers

WORKSHOP ON MULTILINGUALISM AS A CAUSE AND CONSEQUENCE OF LANGUAGE CHANGE
To be held as part of the 24th Meeting of the German Linguistic Association
(DGfS), Mannheim, Germany, February 27-March 1, 2002

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
In the last years the cause of language change has no longer been attributed
to internal causes (i.e. the failure of correct learning due to some change
in the evidence available to the learner) but to external factors (i.e.
change induced through second-language acquisition in a contact situation
(cf. Kroch & Taylor 1997)).

Longobardi (2001) states that "a priori the ideal restrictive theory of
language change should probably claim that diachronic change does not
exist". He proposes the so-called Inertia Theory: syntactic change should
not arise unless caused by other types of change (phonological changes and
semantic changes as well as the disappearance/appearance of whole lexical
items), which should in turn be traced back to external factors. Syntactic
change may also be a consequence of other syntactic changes, given a
plausible theory of UG and language acquisition.
This workshop will address the issue of primitive changes responsible for
syntactic change: whether these can be traced back to interfaces with syntax
or to some plausible external justifications of a sociolinguistic nature.
The questions that arise from such a model of syntactic change are e.g.:
(a) To what extent is lexical, semantic and/or phonological variation a
necessary condition for syntactic change?
(b) What role does multilingualism play in syntactic change?
(c) How can a theoretical model justify grammatic variation?
(d) To what extent are external factors relevant for syntactic change?
This workshop is of interest to historical linguists, typologists, and
syntacticians of any theoretical framework.

Organisers:
Gisella Ferraresi /Esther Rinke: Universität Hamburg, SFB
'Mehrsprachigkeit', Max-Brauer-Allee 60, D-22765 Hamburg,
email: ferraresi at uni-hamburg.de, erinke at uni-hamburg.de

SUBMISSION
Deadline for submission of abstracts is August 20th.

One-page abstracts should be submitted via one of the following e-mail
adresses: ferraresi at uni-hamburg.de, erinke at uni-hamburg.de
Alternatively, you can send a printed abstract to via snail-mail to the
postal adress above.

Talks should preferably be given in English. The time slots available are
one hour or half an hour (including discussion).
For further information, please contact the organisers. Information about
the DGfS and about the Mannheim conference will be found under:
http://www.dgfs-home.de/