LINGUIST List 12.1745

Thu Jul 5 2001

Calls: Optimality Theory, Multilingualism/Lang Change

Editor for this issue: Jody Huellmantel <jodylinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Mafuyu Kitahara, Meikai Optimality Theory Workshop (MOT)
2. Esther Rinke, Multilingualism as a Cause and Consequence of Language Change

Call for poster-session abstracts
 Submission deadline: July 30

 Meikai Optimality Theory Workshop (MOT)
 August 30, 2001
 Meikai University, Urayasu, Japan


This workshop is intended as an opportunity for researchers to
discuss the current issues in and around Optimality Theory. 
Presenters include Paul Smolensky and Geraldine Legendre from 
Johns Hopkins University and Junko Ito and Armin Mester from UC
Santa Cruz. A poster session is planned to provide an 
opportunity for students and faculty to participate in this 
workshop.

Poster presentations dealing with any topics related to 
Optimality Theory are welcome. The lectures will cover only 
limited areas in linguistics and cognitive science, such as 
phonology, syntax, sociolinguistics, and diachronic linguistics
due to practical reasons. We hope the poster session will 
supplement the lectures for our deeper and broader understanding
of the issues in and around OT. Thus, presentations about 
constraint-based grammars other than OT, comparisons among 
rule-based grammars and OT, problematic aspects of OT, and 
grounding of OT on human cognitive architecture are all welcome
for the poster session. We also welcome some specific topics 
within the OT framework.

We wish we can accept all the submissions. However, due to 
the space limitation, there is a possibility that we ask you
to withdraw your poster presentation. 

Please provide us with a title which clearly indicates the 
paper's topic and scope, your name and affiliation, and, a brief
(max 200 words in English) summary of the content of the talk 
BEFORE July 30. We encourage an e-mail submission to the MOT 
Organizing Committee at:

mot2001dhs.kyutech.ac.jp

You may also send copies of the summary to:

Haruka Fukazawa
Kyushu Institute of Technology, DHS,
1-1 Sensui-Cho, Tobata-Ku, Kitakyushu, 
804-8550, Japan

For more detailed information about the workshop, including the 
program, directions to Meikai University, and local hotels, 
please take a look at:

http://www.yo.rim.or.jp/~mkitahar/MOT/mot-E.html

Send any comments or questions to the organizing committee at:

mot2001dhs.kyutech.ac.jp

- ------------------------------------------------------------
MOT Organizing committee: Haruka Fukazawa, Mafuyu Kitahara, 
 Juneko Matsui, Shin-ichi Tanaka, 
 Noriko Yamane

Call for papers

WORKSHOP ON MULTILINGUALISM AS A CAUSE AND CONSEQUENCE OF LANGUAGE CHANGE
To be held as part of the 24th Meeting of the German Linguistic Association
(DGfS), Mannheim, Germany, February 27-March 1, 2002

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
In the last years the cause of language change has no longer been attributed
to internal causes (i.e. the failure of correct learning due to some change
in the evidence available to the learner) but to external factors (i.e.
change induced through second-language acquisition in a contact situation
(cf. Kroch & Taylor 1997)).

Longobardi (2001) states that "a priori the ideal restrictive theory of
language change should probably claim that diachronic change does not
exist". He proposes the so-called Inertia Theory: syntactic change should
not arise unless caused by other types of change (phonological changes and
semantic changes as well as the disappearance/appearance of whole lexical
items), which should in turn be traced back to external factors. Syntactic
change may also be a consequence of other syntactic changes, given a
plausible theory of UG and language acquisition.
This workshop will address the issue of primitive changes responsible for
syntactic change: whether these can be traced back to interfaces with syntax
or to some plausible external justifications of a sociolinguistic nature.
The questions that arise from such a model of syntactic change are e.g.:
(a) To what extent is lexical, semantic and/or phonological variation a
necessary condition for syntactic change?
(b) What role does multilingualism play in syntactic change?
(c) How can a theoretical model justify grammatic variation?
(d) To what extent are external factors relevant for syntactic change?
This workshop is of interest to historical linguists, typologists, and
syntacticians of any theoretical framework.

Organisers:
Gisella Ferraresi /Esther Rinke: Universit�t Hamburg, SFB
'Mehrsprachigkeit', Max-Brauer-Allee 60, D-22765 Hamburg,
email: ferraresiuni-hamburg.de, erinkeuni-hamburg.de

SUBMISSION
Deadline for submission of abstracts is August 20th.

One-page abstracts should be submitted via one of the following e-mail
adresses: ferraresiuni-hamburg.de, erinkeuni-hamburg.de
Alternatively, you can send a printed abstract to via snail-mail to the
postal adress above.

Talks should preferably be given in English. The time slots available are
one hour or half an hour (including discussion).
For further information, please contact the organisers. Information about
the DGfS and about the Mannheim conference will be found under:
http://www.dgfs-home.de/