Workshop on Categories of Information Structure Cross-Linguistically

[Dejan Matic]

Categories of Information Structure Cross-Linguistically (CISCL)
Nijmegen, Netherlands, 09-Nov-2012 -- 10-Nov-2012

URL:
http://www.mpi.nl/research/research-projects/syntax-typology-and-information-structure/events/2012-information-structure-and-subordination-south-america-and-beyond

Summary
The debate on the (non-)universality of linguistic categories has become
highly topical in the past decade, but despite the intensity of the
discussion, no consensus seems to be in sight. The positions come in two
basic flavours, universalist and particularistic, with many shadings in
between the extremes (Houser et al. 2002, Everett 2005, Nevins et al.
2009, Evans & Levinson 2009, Haspelmath 2010, to name just a few). The
categories of information structure (topic, focus, contrast, and similar)
could be of special interest in the ongoing debate. From the communicative
point of view, the function of IS to manage the common ground between
interlocutors. There is no reason to doubt that communicators,
irrespective of the language they use or the culture they use it in, need
to regulate and control the way the information is transferred in
conversation. Information structure as a communicative phenomenon thus
stands a good chance of being universal.
This is where it becomes interesting. Is this potentially universal
feature of human communication necessarily reflected in the grammar of all
languages? If this is the case, is it reflected though identical, merely
similar, or completely different categories? Are there linguistic systems
in which no IS-based grammatical categories are attested, and how do
speakers of such languages control the information flow? On the
methodological side, how do we establish the identity of two IS categories
from different languages and what criteria can be used to establish
differences? If there is variation, is it parametric or arbitrary?
These kinds of questions have been asked surprisingly rarely in the rich
literature on IS, although both universalist and particularistic views
have been expressed recently (Zimmermann & Onea 2011, Matić &
Wedgwood, to appear). In order to fill in this gap and contribute to the
universality debate from a new viewpoint, we would like to elicit
contributions of all theoretical persuasions on the above questions and
other related issues.

Programme and abstracts
http://www.mpi.nl/research/research-projects/syntax-typology-and-information-structure/events/2012-information-structure-and-subordination-south-america-and-beyond/program-abstracts

Registration
Anyone is welcome to come to the workshop. Attendance is free, but you
need to register at:
http://www.mpi.nl/research/research-projects/syntax-typology-and-information-structure/events/2012-information-structure-and-subordination-south-america-and-beyond/registration