call for papers Comparative Diachronic Syntax Conference

[Wurff, W.A. van der]

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Conference on Comparative Diachronic Syntax

University of Leiden Centre for Linguistics (ULCL), 29-30 August 2003

Description of Conference Topic

In the synchronic study of syntax, the comparative approach has been highly
successful in uncovering insights into the nature of syntactic principles
and the variation that they allow. In fact, it may not be an overstatement
to say that modern syntax is to a large extent based on comparative work. It
is certainly true that any analysis of language-specific data will not be
considered successful if it cannot be made responsive to data from other
languages.
        In the diachronic study of syntax, the role of cross-linguistic
comparative concerns is somewhat less clear. While diachronic investigation
focusing on typology and grammaticalisation has produced an important body
of comparative work, it is sometimes rough-grained and often neglects issues
of syntactic structure. Diachronic study from other perspectives, while it
may be more fine-grained and structure-conscious, tends to ignore questions
of cross-linguistic comparison.
        It therefore appears that there is still a need to explore the
implications of a principled comparative stance to historical syntactic
change. This conference hopes to stimulate discussion of the possibilities
and problems that such a stance would create, with reference to specific
case histories or more general issues in the study of syntactic change.
Among the questions that could be addressed are the following:

        *       what can a comparative perspective contribute to our
understanding of some specific syntactic change or set of changes in a
language?
        *       what is the exact contribution that models of comparative
synchronic syntax can make to the study of diachrony?
        *       are there types of diachronic syntactic phenomena that may
be particularly well or ill suited to comparative analysis?
        *       does comparative diachronic analyis place special demands on
the kinds of data that are required?

Call for papers

Key-note speaker at the conference will be Professor Ian Roberts (University
of Cambridge; confirmed). There are ten to twelve slots for further papers
on the conference topic.

Abstracts are invited for 40-minute papers (followed by 15 minutes
discussion). The abstract should have a maximum length of two pages,
including any references, and should reach the address below before 1
January 2003, preferably in the form of an e-mail message or attachment.
Notification of acceptance will be sent by e-mail by 1 February 2003.


Practical information

        *       Dates: Friday 29 August and Saturday 30 August 2003
        *       Programme: from 9.15 till 17.15 on both days
        *       Location: Faculty of Arts, Room 148 of Main Building (also
known as Building 1175 or LAK Building), University of Leiden, Leiden
        *       Conference fee: EUR 20 (this will cover abstracts, tea,
coffee, and drinks on Friday), to be paid at registration on the first day
of the conference
        *       Five double rooms have been reserved for participants to the
conference, in the International Centre of the University of Leiden,
Rapenburg 6, Leiden (within walking distance of the conference site) from 28
to 30 August 2003 (so Thursday, Friday and Saturday night); price: EUR 20
per person per night (no breakfast included, but there are simple
self-catering facilities on the premises). Anyone wanting to share such a
room should contact the conference organiser as soon as possible.

Contact address

Conference on Comparative Diachronic Syntax
Dr. Wim van der Wurff
Department of English
P.O. Box 9515
NL-2300 RA Leiden
The Netherlands

e-mail: w.a.van.der.wurff at let.leidenuniv.nl


For all further information, see the ULCL website at
<http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/ulcl/events/compdiachr/>