33.932, Calls: Germanic; Historical Linguistics, Syntax, Text/Corpus Linguistics/Germany

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-33-932. Thu Mar 10 2022. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 33.932, Calls: Germanic; Historical Linguistics, Syntax, Text/Corpus Linguistics/Germany

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Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2022 19:02:27
From: Muriel Norde [muriel.norde at hu-berlin.de]
Subject: Expressions of Modality in Germanic: Competition and Change

 
Full Title: Expressions of Modality in Germanic: Competition and change 

Date: 15-Sep-2022 - 15-Sep-2022
Location: Berlin, Germany 
Contact Person: Phil Beier
Meeting Email: phil.beier at hu-berlin.de
Web Site: https://hu.berlin/modality22 

Linguistic Field(s): Historical Linguistics; Syntax; Text/Corpus Linguistics 

Language Family(ies): Germanic 

Call Deadline: 15-Apr-2022 

Meeting Description:

This workshop is concerned with (changes in) expressions of modality in the
histories of the Germanic languages. Modality can be broadly defined as “a
linguistic category referring to the factual status of a proposition” (Narrog
2012: 6) which, according to Gregersen (2020: 54), “may be broad enough to
cover both the domain of possibility and necessity and a number of subjective
notions often considered modal, such as the speaker’s hope or wish that the
proposition is true.” These communicative goals can be achieved by a variety
of expressions, that are often in competition with each other: mood
(subjunctive or imperative), modal auxiliaries, or modal adverbs such as
Swedish kanske 'maybe', that developed out of a modal auxiliary and a main
verb meaning 'to happen' or 'to be'.
Earlier research (Diderichsen 1941, Ståhle 1958, Bjerrum 1966 & 1967) suggests
that the choice between various expressions of modality depends on a number of
contextual factors, such as subject type (human, animate, inanimate), person,
or negation. In addition, textual function (e.g. direct or indirect
instruction) may play a role (Beier et al. submitted), as may genre or
register (Fritz 1997, Andersson 2007, Obe 2013, Westergaard 2020). This
competition is associated with changes in distribution (e.g. between the
obsolescent subjunctive and modal auxiliaries), but change is not restricted
to competition. In the course of time, new modal auxiliaries (Krug 2000) or
modal adverbs (Beijering & Norde 2019) emerge, modal auxiliaries change in
form and / or meaning (Gregersen 2012), and so on. In order to gain a better
understanding of modal expressions in older Germanic languages, of how they
compete and how they change, we welcome corpus-based studies that can be
either semasiological (e.g. focusing on a specific modal or group of modals)
or onomasiological (e.g. focusing on different expressions of a specific
meaning) in nature, based on a single language or a comparison of two
languages or more. Research questions include, but are by no means restricted
to the following:
- How do modal auxiliaries or adverbs grammaticalise and how do they change?
- Is there a relation between loss of the subjunctive and emergence and / or
increasing frequency of modal auxiliaries?
- Which (contextual, functional or (meta-)textual) factors determine the
choice between competing expressions?
- More specifically, is there a relation between register and (changes in)
modal expressions?
- What is the role of language contact, such as the impact of Latin on early
written vernaculars?
- What are differences and similarities between changes in modal expressions
across the Germanic languages?

The workshop is organised by Muriel Norde (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin),
Phil Beier (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Kevin Müller (Universität Zürich)
and Rie Obe (Osaka University), as part of the Collaborative Research Centre
«Register», funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft / German Research
Foundation (SFB 1412; 416591334).


Call for Papers:

If you are interested in presenting your work at our workshop, please send an
abstract of 300-500 words (excluding references) to phil.beier at hu-berlin.de by
April 15, 2022. Notification of acceptance will be given by Mid-May.




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