Call for papers: 'Dialects as a testing ground for theories of change' (Methods XII-session)

Fri Oct 12 09:38:09 UTC 2007

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)

CALL FOR PAPERS

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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