35.3042, Confs: 58th Annual Meeting of the SLE Workshop - The Comparative Method: a universal heuristic across time and space

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-35-3042. Thu Oct 31 2024. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 35.3042, Confs: 58th Annual Meeting of the SLE Workshop - The Comparative Method: a universal heuristic across time and space

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Date: 31-Oct-2024
From: Simon Fries [sfries2 at uni-koeln.de]
Subject: 58th Annual Meeting of the SLE Workshop - The Comparative Method: a universal heuristic across time and space


58th Annual Meeting of the SLE Workshop - The Comparative Method: a
universal heuristic across time and space

Date: 26-Aug-2025 - 29-Aug-2025
Location: Université Bordeaux Montaigne, France
Contact: Simon Fries
Contact Email: sfries2 at uni-koeln.de
Meeting URL: https://sites.google.com/view/comparative-method-sle58

Linguistic Field(s): Genetic Classification; Historical Linguistics;
Typology

Meeting Description:

This workshop seeks to unite all scholars interested in language
history who either deal with or wish to better understand the workings
of the comparative method as it applies across various periods,
continents, and language families.

The workshop will be structured into two sections:
1. The exposition and demonstration of the comparative method with the
help of clear case studies, preferably beyond well-known handbook
data.
2. The exposition and discussion of problematic cases or data where
further input is desired from the community, or of suggestions to
systematically and fruitfully augment the existing heuristic inventory
of the comparative method.

We invite interested participants to submit an initial 300-word
abstract by November 13th, 2024, specifying which of the above
sections is concerned. Talks which expose particular difficulties in
applying the comparative method, or which demonstrate the success of
the method where others had deemed it improbable are particularly
welcome.

The comparative method is a set of techniques developed in the 19th
century and refined ever since involving the methodical comparison of
linguistic data and the identification of regularities and systematic
differences. The comparative method allows for the positioning of
linguistic entities in history and the recovery of linguistic
structures of earlier, often unattested stages in the historical
development of a particular language or language family. It has thus
traditionally served as the fundamental tool for uncovering and
describing language history.

However, both the rise of quantitative and statistical methods
reflecting a principally probabilistic word-view and reduced access to
training in the traditional comparative method have led some scholars
to call for fundamentally new methodologies in order to account for
the multifaceted and complex historical development of languages.
Controversies revolving around the comparative method have pertained
to:
• Regularity in sound change, including questions about how sound
change proceeds, how it is actuated and implemented, whether it is
“natural”, where it is located, how it spreads, and what constraints
govern its interaction with other linguistic phenomena.
• Changes in morphology, syntax and the lexicon and to what extent
they follow the same principles as sound change, especially with
regard to the role of analogy, language contact and social selection,
and the extent to which they proceed in a regular fashion.
• The most adequate means to map language change and the relations
between archaic and innovative forms, i.e. whether linguistic
innovation can be represented in a Stammbaum-like manner, in waves, in
networks, or whether these approaches complement each other.

Since its rise in the 19th century, the comparative method has been
fruitfully applied to languages beyond the well-studied Indo-European
and Uralic families and – either consciously or unconsciously – has
shed light on local language histories across continents such as
Africa, East-Asia, Inner Asia, the Pacific, and the Americas.

As new initiatives arise to study language history in alternative or
more varied manners, it seems advisable that experienced practitioners
of the comparative method, would-be practitioners, the curious and
sceptics come together to reflect upon its application and good
scientific practice, and candidly address challenging issues to
energize a venerable knowledge-creating tradition.

Organizers:
Fabian Zuk (CNRS), fabian.d.zuk at gmail.com
Simon Fries (University of Cologne), sfries2 at uni-koeln.de
Svenja Bonmann (University of Cologne), svenja.bonmann at uni-koeln.de

Please visit the conference website for more information.



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