conférences de D. Slobin & N. Hoiting le 01/10/07 (séminaire de l'UMR 7023)

[aroui@tiscali.co.uk]

L'UMR 7023 a le plaisir de vous convier à deux séances extraordinaires 
de son séminaire, le lundi 1er octobre, à l’adresse suivante 
(Attention, adresse inhabituelle) :

CNRS UPS-Pouchet
Laboratoire Structures Formelles du Langage
59, rue Pouchet
75017 Paris
Tél. standard/accueil : 01 40 25 10 25.
Métro : Guy Môquet ou Brochant.

10h00-12h00 :
Dan I. Slobin (University of California, Berkeley) : “Typology and 
Usage : Explorations of Motion Events across Languages”
Résumé:
Motion event descriptions have been a fruitful arena for cognitive and 
functional linguistic approaches concerned with usage.  Talmy’s 
typology of verb-framed and satellite-framed languages has accounted, 
to some extent, for patterns of expression of path and manner in both 
narrative and experimental data.  At the same time, not all usage 
patterns—either within or across the two typological groups—can be 
accounted for on this dichotomy.  The domain of intransitive, human 
motion will be explored on the basis of a systematic sampling of novels 
written in six languages:  English, French, German, Russian, Spanish, 
and Turkish.  The critical interface between typology and usage lies in 
the means of expressing PATH.  For one type of language (e.g., 
English), all paths can be expressed by a common construction type, in 
which path information is provided outside of the verb (“PIN” 
constructions: Path-in-Nonverb).  For another type of language (e.g., 
French), users face a choice between two construction types:  (1) the 
PIN type for paths that are not concerned with geometric features of 
the GROUND (Talmy’s “conformation”), and (2) another type for paths 
that do include such features.  For the second construction type, the 
verb conflates both direction and characteristics of the ground (“PIV” 
constructions: Path-in-Verb).   PIN and PIV construction types have 
different consequences for the encoding of both MANNER and PATH, 
probably differentially influencing speakers’ attention to dimensions 
of motion events.  
Many different sorts of factors influence usage, therefore cognitive 
linguistics cannot provide predictive models.  The goal must be to 
formulate plausible explanations, considering linguistic, 
psycholinguistic, and sociocultural issues; and to seek additional 
factors when an established explanatory framework cannot be completely 
extended to another language or situation.

12h00-14h00 : déjeuner. Possibilité de déjeuner sur place en prévenant 
à l’avance notre secrétaire Mme Marius (01 49 40 73 35, corinne.
marius at univ-paris8.fr)

14h00-16h00 :
Nini Hoiting (Royal Effatha-Guyot Group, Haren, Netherlands) & Dan I. 
Slobin (University of California, Berkeley): “Learning to speak or to 
sign: Issues of modality and linguistic typology”.
Résumé:
In signed languages, both linguistic signs and gestures are executed 
in the same modality.  As a consequence, children acquiring a sign 
language may produce iconic gestures that are close to appropriate 
conventional signs in referential contexts. Nevertheless, the child 
must master the conventional forms of expression of the language, 
including both points and signs.  Particular problems are posed by the 
management of gaze and by communicative requirements to distance signs 
and gestures from referents.  Early sign language acquisition can be 
seen as a gradual movement from gestural indices and icons to 
linguistic forms.  The predominant forms are polycomponential verbs, 
with schematic information about types of entities in combination with 
movements and locations of various sorts.  As a consequence, a deaf 
child learning a natural sign language is learning a language that 
differs typologically from the spoken language of the community.  Sign 
language acquisition has been studied in Europe, East Asia, and the 
Americas, where all of the dominant spoken languages are dependent-
marking.  Sign languages, by contrast, are head-marking, using spatio-
temporal means to mark the argument roles of dependents.  The modality 
of signed languages makes action and motion salient, drawing attention 
to verbs.  Data on early vocabulary development in Sign Language of the 
Netherlands show relatively high proportions of predicates in 
comparison with spoken languages like English.  Both the modality and 
typology of signed languages make it necessary to modify current 
theoretical accounts of the acquisition of such languages.



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