25.4659, Calls: Historical Linguistics, Typology/USA

Wed Nov 19 20:38:39 UTC 2014

LINGUIST List: Vol-25-4659. Wed Nov 19 2014. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 25.4659, Calls: Historical Linguistics, Typology/USA

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Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 15:38:26
From: Na'ama Pat-El [npatel at austin.utexas.edu]
Subject: Historical Linguistics and Typology: Assessing a Partnership

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Full Title: Historical Linguistics and Typology: Assessing a Partnership 

Date: 12-Sep-2015 - 13-Sep-2015
Location: Austin, TX, USA 
Contact Person: Na'ama Pat-El
Meeting Email: ut.austin.histling at gmail.com

Linguistic Field(s): Historical Linguistics; Typology 

Call Deadline: 01-May-2015 

Meeting Description:

This conference seeks to reexamine the relationship between historical linguistics and typology (see call for papers).

Historical linguistics and linguistic typology have long had a close relationship. From a functional-typological perspective, diachronic pathways help explain the emergence and distribution of cross-linguistic patterns; from a historical perspective, common processes of change and cross-linguistically attested states are both taken as indicators of more likely reconstructions. In fact, many early typologists argued that typology should be the foundation of reconstruction; Roman Jakobson (1958: 23), for example, believed that typology is a crucial predictive tool, and thus a reconstruction that conflicts with it is ''questionable.'' Indeed, some typologically oriented scholars are of the opinion that, in cases where a reconstruction contradicts a strong cross-linguistic tendency, the reconstruction must be reevaluated or discarded. Many scholars, like Jakobson himself, do not defend the requirement that reconstructions conform to typological results, beyond arguing, as Greenberg does, that ''it is a highly suspicious circumstance that a language not directly attested, but only reconstructed by a complex line of reasoning, should not conform to well-attested synchronic typological principles'' (1995:146). The idea that a feature can be reconstructed only if it is already attested elsewhere, while never fully discussed in the literature, is repeated even in recent works in the relatively new subfield of diachronic typology (for example, Hendery 2012:245).  At the same time, however, some historical linguists reject this idea, suggesting instead that typology can be used as a tool in the reconstruction process, but should not necessarily override the results attained via internal or comparative reconstruction (Compare here the debate within Indo-European linguistics over the glottalic theory.)

Call for Papers:

Despite some push-back from historical linguists, especially within Indo-European linguistics, there is essentially no programmatic debate on this issue today and many historical linguists accept the typological mandate without question. Given the general lack of overt empirical or theoretical discussion of the relationship between historical linguistics and typology, we invite proposals for 20-minute presentations (plus 10 minutes for questions) on topics dealing with the relationship between these areas of linguistic investigation. Contributions may address issues such as the following:

- What can typology and historical linguistics offer each other, and what risks may derive from their close company?
- Do typology and historical linguistics treat evidence similarly? 
- How do both disciplines make sense of rare or unusual phenomena?
- Do newer approaches, such as diachronic typology and grammaticalization, offer insights into the relationship between typology and historical linguistics?
- In light of new emphases on the diversity of human languages, to what extent must we reconsider any reliance on universals as a tool for historical linguistics?

Please send abstracts of no longer than 500 words (not including references) to ut.austin.histling at gmail.com by May 1, 2015.

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