28.878, Calls: Disc Analysis, Gen Ling, Pragmatics, Semantics, Typology/Netherlands

Wed Feb 15 15:48:49 UTC 2017

LINGUIST List: Vol-28-878. Wed Feb 15 2017. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 28.878, Calls: Disc Analysis, Gen Ling, Pragmatics, Semantics, Typology/Netherlands

Moderators: linguist at linguistlist.org (Damir Cavar, Malgorzata E. Cavar)
Reviews: reviews at linguistlist.org (Helen Aristar-Dry, Robert Coté,
                                   Michael Czerniakowski)
Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

Editor for this issue: Kenneth Steimel <ken at linguistlist.org>
================================================================

Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2017 10:48:40
From: Kees Thijs [k.thijs at ftr.ru.nl]
Subject: Particles and the Dimensions of Meaning

Full Title: Particles and the Dimensions of Meaning 

Date: 29-Jun-2017 - 30-Jun-2017
Location: Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands 
Contact Person: Kees Thijs
Meeting Email: k.thijs at ftr.ru.nl

Linguistic Field(s): Discourse Analysis; General Linguistics; Pragmatics; Semantics; Typology 

Call Deadline: 07-Apr-2017 

Meeting Description:

This workshop is organised by Kees Thijs and Corien Bary and is part of a
larger (ERC-funded) project on perspective taking in language at the Radboud
University in Nijmegen [http://ncs.ruhosting.nl/perspective/]. 

The main issue addressed in the present workshop is the way in which the
notorious polyfunctionality of discourse particles - both within and across
linguistic categories - can be related to various dimensions of meaning (e.g.
proposition, speech act). Central themes are the notions of common ground,
context, scope and the nature of various discourse layers. The workshop is
mainly of a theoretical nature and aims to address more methodological and
fundamental questions, both from more formal and more cognitive semantic
perspectives.  

Invited speakers are:

Daniel Gutzmann (University of Cologne)
Markus Egg (Humboldt University Berlin)
Elena Karagjosova (Freie Universität Berlin)
Rutger Allan (VU University Amsterdam)

Those who are interested in participating in the workshop - either as speakers
or listeners - can contact Kees Thijs (k.thijs at ftr.ru.nl). See also the Call
for Papers.

Call for Papers:

Workshop 'Particles and the dimensions of meaning'
Radboud University Nijmegen
June 29-30, 2017

Across languages, pragmatic or discourse particles are well-known for both
their cross-categorial and category-internal polyfunctionality (cf. Foolen
1996, Fischer 2006). It is a notoriously difficult challenge for
semantics/pragmatics to understand what exactly these functions are and,
secondly, how they relate to each other.

It has by now become commonplace to assume that this polyfunctionality at
least partly corresponds to different layers or dimensions of meaning: a
particle can for example target the propositional content in one function, the
speech act in another (e.g. Karagjosova 2004, Egg 2013). Other functions seem
to pertain rather to the level of information-structure (e.g. those of focus
particles (König 1991) and topic markers) or involve coherence relations
between units of discourse (connective or text-structuring functions, as in
e.g. Fraser 1999). While this reference to different layers of discourse often
seems an intuitive way of thinking about the different usages, it also raises
many important questions. These range from more methodological ones (what
tests can we use to argue for particles working at a certain dimension?) to
more fundamental ones (what structure do notions such as common ground and
context need to have for an adequate description of particles?).

The goal of the present workshop is contribute to these central questions
which have often been implicit in particle research. In this way we hope to
arrive at a clearer picture of the dimensions of meaning in the context of
particle research. We aim to bring together different perspectives on these
matters, both from a more cognitive and a more formal semantic approach.

Topics of interest include the following:

Theoretical foundations: 
- The kind of meaning dimensions and linguistic concepts that are
cross-linguistically needed for an adequate description of the various
functions of particles.
- The exact structure needed for concepts like common ground (Clark 1996) and
context.

Tests, clues and parameters that can be used to argue for a particular
particle function within a particular dimension. 

Scope (what does it mean for a particle to ‘have scope over’, ‘pertain to’ or
‘target’ a linguistic unit, e.g. NP, clause or sentence?) 

Issues of monosemy, polysemy, heterosemy and diachronic change.

Classification of particles (e.g. modal/attitudinal particles vs.
discourse-oriented connective particles, cf. Degand, Cornillie & Pietrandrea
2013)

Particles as a distinct class (e.g. the relationship of evidential particles
with other evidential expressions, cf. Matthewson forthc.) 

Difference in approaches: 
- What do the differences between a cognitive and a formal linguistic approach
to particles ultimately boil down to?
- How do functional discourse-oriented notions such as discourse acts and
moves (cf. Hengeveld & MacKenzie 2008) relate to notions such as sentence mood
(Gutzmann 2015) or speech acts à la Searle (Karagjosova 2004, Egg 2013)?

Special environments:
- Co-occurrence of certain particles, especially in view of their scope.
- Particles in subordinated clauses.

The slots per talk will be at least and hour and we plan to schedule enough
time for plenary discussion in addition. We welcome papers that contribute to
the methodological and fundamental questions/topics summarized above. Those
who are interested in preparing a talk are invited to sent a short talk
proposal (approx. 1 page) to k.thijs at ftr.ru.nl before April 7. We plan to have
a final program at the start of May.

----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-28-878	
----------------------------------------------------------
Visit LL's Multitree project for over 1000 trees dynamically generated
from scholarly hypotheses about language relationships:
          http://multitree.org/