CFP: Dialects as a testing ground for theories of change

[Gunther De Vogelaer]

SECOND CALL FOR PAPERS:
'Dialects as a Testing Ground for Theories of Change'

1-day session at Methods in Dialectology XIII
Leeds, UK, 04-Aug-2008 - 08-Aug-2008

Submission deadline: December, 1st, 2007 (Notification of acceptance  
will be sent by January 20th, 2008)

MEETING DESCRIPTION
In recent years, historical linguists have highlighted the importance  
of grammatical variation and variant spread for our understanding of  
the fundamental mechanisms of linguistic change. Many approaches  
distinguish between the emergence of novel variants vs. the selection  
of variants in the course of speakers' use (cf., e.g., Weinreich,  
Labov & Herzog's 1968 distinction between the 'actuation' and  
'transition problem'). This is most obvious in evolutionary inspired  
approaches. But the perhaps most central ingredient of a model for  
linguistic change is still relatively little understood, and therefore  
controversial: Which factors are responsible for variant selection and  
spread? For instance, Croft (2000) assumes language-internal factors  
to be relevant only for the emergence of novel variants, but variant  
selection is claimed to be guided exclusively by social,  
extra-linguistic factors. Others (Haspelmath 1999, Seiler 2005, De  
Vogelaer 2006) have claimed that language-internal factors play a role  
in variant selection, too.

It is our opinion that the study of dialect variation has the  
potential to play a central role in the process of finding answers to  
such fundamental questions (see Kortmann 2002, Horvath 2004, and  
Filppula et al. 2005:vii for similar observations). There are several  
reasons for this: First, dialects are relatively free of  
standardization and therefore more tolerant against variant  
competition in grammar. Second, variants gradually spread not only on  
the temporal, but also on the spatial dimension. By a careful study of  
subtle dialect differences in space we therefore might expect to  
uncover the minimal differences of implementational steps that have  
taken place in the course of linguistic history. Furthermore, we think  
it is the right time for dialectologists to engage in debates on  
variation and change since there are several large research projects  
on dialect variation being conducted in a number of European countries  
(cf. the recently launched website http://www.dialectsyntax.org/). The  
following provides a (non-exhaustive) list of suggested research  
questions:

-Which is the contribution of current linguistic theory for the  
explanation of spatial variation and variant spread?
-Which is the contribution of dialect data for the further development  
of theories of linguistic change?
-What are the driving forces of variant selection? Are these factors  
social or linguistic?
-Is variation the result or the cause of change, or both?

In particular, we encourage papers adopting a dialect geographical  
approach. Additional questions that emerge when taking a dialect  
geographical approach have to do with the existence of transitional  
zones, where competing variants co-occur. This poses a potential  
problem for many models of grammar: what does the existence of  
transitional zones mean for our modeling of linguistic competence,  
i.e., can the linguistic competence of individuals living in  
transitional zones best be described in terms of competing grammars,  
the interaction of categorical rules or constraints, or do we need a  
probabilistic model? Other relevant questions include the following:

-Do geolinguistic data provide evidence for and/or against particular  
models of change?
-What can we conclude from the mechanisms of variant spread with  
regard to our understanding of linguistic competence?
-Can we find a speaker-based explanation for the fact that some  
variants spread at the expense of others?

Organizers
Gunther De Vogelaer (FWO Flanders / Ghent), Guido Seiler (Konstanz / Zurich) 

Keynote speaker
William Labov (University of Pennsylvania)

Practical information:
The workshop is part of the Methods in Dialectology-conference. More  
information concerning travelling, lodging etc. can be found on the  
Methods XIII-homepage:
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/english/methods.htm

Publication
Since it is our intention to publish a volume with papers from the  
section, we will prefer unpublished research over papers presenting  
data that have been published elsewhere.

Format
Presentations are allotted 20 minutes plus 10 minutes for discussion.  
Abstracts should be as specific as possible, with a statement of  
topic, approach and conclusions, and may be at most 400 words (not  
including data and references, which may be placed on an optional  
second page). Please submit your abstract anonymously as an email  
attachment (only Microsoft Word or PDF formats) to Gunther De Vogelaer  
(gunther.devogelaer at ugent.be) or Guido Seiler (gseiler at ds.unizh.ch).  
The body text of the email message must contain the following  
information:
(1) paper title
(2) name(s) of author(s)
(3) affiliation(s) of author(s)
(4) address where notification of acceptance should be sent
(5) phone number for each author
(6) email address for each author
(7) subfield (syntax, phonology, etc.)
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