SWL1

[Tracy Holloway King]

Call for Abstracts:
SYNTAX OF THE WORLD'S LANGUAGES (SWL 1)
Leipzig (Germany), 5-8 August 2004

Invited speakers:

Peter Austin (SOAS London)
Maria Polinsky (UC San Diego)
Marianne Mithun (UC Santa Barbara)

This conference will bring together researchers working on the syntactic
structure of less widely studied languages from a variety of
perspectives. Contributions are expected to be based on first-hand data
of individual languages or to adopt a broadly comparative perspective.
All major theoretical frameworks are equally welcome, as is work done in
analytical frameworks developed in typology or field linguistics.

Papers that adopt a diachronic/historical-comparative perspective or
that discuss language-contact effects are also welcome, as are papers
dealing with morphological or semantic issues, as long as syntactic
issues also play a major role.

Authors should not presuppose detailed knowledge of their theoretical
framework,and the papers should focus on widely relevant theoretical
issues, minimizing theory-internal argumentation. We recognize that
questions raised by theoretical frameworks often lead to the discovery
of interesting phenomena in lesser studied languages. However, the goal
of applying a theoretical framework should be seen as subsidiary to the
main purpose of the conference, that of enlarging our knowledge and
understanding of the syntactic phenomena of the world's languages.

Local organizers:
Balthasar Bickel (University of Leipzig, bickel at uni-leipzig.de)
Martin Haspelmath (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology,
haspelmath at eva.mpg.de)

Further members of the Abstract-reading Committee:

Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald (La Trobe U, Melbourne)
Bernard Comrie (MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig)
Donna Gerdts (Simon Fraser U, Vancouver)
Stephane Robert (LLACAN, Paris)
Jane Simpson (University of Sydney)

Send your one-page abstract to Martin Haspelmath at the address below,
either as a PDF-file by e-mail or as a hard copy, to arrive no later
than December 15th, 2003. A second page may be attached to the abstract
listing data. The abstract itself should contain no identification of
the author. A separate sheet or the cover e-mail should contain the
title of the abstract, the name(s) of the author(s), and one mailing
address, with telephone, fax, and email address as available:

Martin Haspelmath
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6
D-04103 Leipzig
haspelmath at eva.mpg.de
Fax +49-341-3550 333

The time allotted for presentation and discussion is 40 minutes.
Participants may not be involved in more than two abstracts, of which at
most one may be single-authored. English is the preferred language at
the conference.

The local organizers will, by January 31, 2004, convey their decision on
acceptance of papers to those submitting abstracts.

(Last updated: 22 June 2003)

-- Martin Haspelmath (haspelmath at eva.mpg.de) Max-Planck-Institut fuer
evolutionaere Anthropologie, Deutscher Platz 6 D-04103 Leipzig Tel.
(MPI) +49-341-3550 307, (priv.) +49-341-980 1616