35.2854, Calls: SLE Workshop: Unifying the Comparative Analysis of Tonal Systems

Wed Oct 16 00:05:05 UTC 2024

LINGUIST List: Vol-35-2854. Wed Oct 16 2024. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 35.2854, Calls: SLE Workshop: Unifying the Comparative Analysis of Tonal Systems

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Date: 13-Oct-2024
From: Dmitry Gerasimov [dm.gerasimov at gmail.com]
Subject: SLE Workshop: Unifying the Comparative Analysis of Tonal Systems

Full Title: SLE Workshop: Unifying the Comparative Analysis of Tonal
Systems

Date: 26-Aug-2025 - 29-Aug-2025
Location: Bordeaux, France
Contact Person: Valentin Vydrin
Meeting Email: vydrine at gmail.com

Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics; Linguistic Theories;
Phonology; Typology

Call Deadline: 13-Nov-2024

Meeting Description:

The proposed workshop aims to be bring together researchers interested
in the typology of tone and in ensuring better comparability between
descriptions of individual tonal system.

The last few decades have seen significant progress in the study of
tone. The number of thoroughly described tonal systems of individual
languages has increased greatly, and it has become more and more
evident that describing a tonal language without marking tonal
contrasts in the transcription and without establishing a set of tonal
rules is unacceptable. Theoretical insights in tonology have also made
a great headway, spurred by advances in Autosegmental Phonology
(Goldsmith 1976), Lexical Phonology (Pulleyblank 1986) and Optimality
Theory (Prince & Smolensky 1993). Important research areas include
relationship between stress and tone (Hyman 2009; Hyman 2012; van der
Hulst 2012); grammatical tones (Palancar & Léonard 2016; Konoshenko
2017; Rolle 2018); tonogenesis (Ratliff 2015; Yang & Xu 2019; Dockum
2019; Campbell 2021), to name just a few.
At the same time, the typology of tone, pioneered by (Hyman & Schuh
1974) and (Maddieson 1978), remains a relatively weak point in
contemporary tonology. While a number of important results in this
subfield have been achieved and some interesting attemps for
generalization in this field can be mentioned, e.g. (Gordon 2016;
Hyman 2009; Hyman & Leben 2021), typological studies are generally
restricted to particular families and/or areas (Cahill 2011; Kirby
2017; DiCanio & Bennett 2020) a.o.) and cross-linguistic comparison
often revolves around most basic parameters, such as the number and
the types of tones (level or contour). The latter is particularly
evident in major typological databases, such as WALS (Maddieson 2013)
and LAPSyD (there is at present no information on tonal systems in
Grambank).

So, it is not by chance that the editors of a recent special issue on
phonological typology had to state that “the study of tone is largely
absent in this volume, despite its importance in phonology)” (Moran,
Easterday & Grossman 2023: 238). This workshop aims to contribute to
filling this gap.

The main weak point of the current stage of comparative tonology seems
to be the question of equatable categories. Tonology is still lacking
its basic, universally recognized, emic categories. Do we need a
concept of the toneme based on contrastive tonal melodies which can be
different from underlying individual tones? If we do, what are its
properties and defining criteria? Other than the effect of stress on
tone systems, do we need a separate category of (pitch-)accent? (in
this relation, see (Hyman 2009)). If we do, how to define it?

A major trend of the modern typological linguistics is the aggregation
and systematization of the available information in the database
format. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the existing
tonological databases? Which further parameters should be added? What
should be modified?
How to describe the tonal system of a language assuring a typological
comparability?

Is quantitative comparison of tonal systems possible? If it is, which
parameters should be compared? What could be the standards for text
annotation for the comparative quantitative study of tone?

In this workshop, we will specifically invite and seek contributions
which address the following:
 • Equatable concepts in tonology: Cross-linguistically applicable
descriptive concepts and units for tonal systems.
 • Cross-linguistic datasets in the field of tonology.
 • Text annotation standards for tonal and related phenomena.
 • Regularities in evolution of tonal systems.
 • Typologically aware description of individual tonal systems.
 • Typology of tonal processes.
 • Correspondence between tonal, prosodic and segmental units.

Call for Papers:

ABSTRACT SUBMISSION

 - Please send a title and a short abstract (300 words) no later than
November 13th 2024, to vydrine at gmail.com
 - If the workshop proposal is accepted, there will be a general call
for abstract submission according to SLE guidelines:
   length: 500 words
   deadline: January 15th, 2025.

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