LINGUIST List 13.2745

Wed Oct 23 2002

Calls: Lang Acquisition/Nilo-Saharan Ling

Editor for this issue: Karolina Owczarzak <karolinalinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Workshop on Input Data and UG, Lang Acquisition at LSA Institute, Michigan
2. nilo-saharan9, Nilo-Saharan Ling Colloquium, Khartoum, Sudan

UG Principles and Input Data:
How do we get Plato's Heaven into Skinner's Box?

A workshop to be held August 1-2 at the 2003 LSA Linguistic Institute
Michigan State University

Invited Speakers

Anthony Kroch, University of Pennsylvania
Charles Yang, Yale University


The fundamental question of this workshop is: how does a child less
than 3 years old capture the major abstract principles of his grammar?
There have been two distinct answers to this question. The first
answer is that the child does not capture the abstract principles,
since they are 'inborn' and the child somehow knows how to apply
them. If this is so, it remains unclear how the actual input phrases
(often said to be 'impoverished') eventually provoke the exact
selection of abstract characteristics that are appropriate for the
language that is being learned. The second answer is that the child is
not guided by abstract principles. Children's earliest utterances are
instantiations of item based schemas or constructions. If so, it
remains unclear how and when the child starts to deal with new
sentences that obey the principles he was claimed to ignore.

We invite anonymous abstracts for papers that focus on the interaction
of input and abstract principles in language acquisition.

Abstract guidelines:

Abstracts should be no more than 2 pages including figures and 
references, 12 point font with 1" margins.
At most one individual and one joint abstract per author will be considered.
E-mail submission of abstracts is required.
Acceptable formats are MS Word or PDF.
Please include your name, affiliation, title of the paper and postal 
address in the body of the message.

Send abstracts to: inputcogsci.msu.edu

Deadline for receipt of abstracts:
January 31, 2003

Talks will be 30 minutes plus 15 minutes for questions.

For more information, please visit the Workshop website
http://www.cogsci.msu.edu/workshops/input or send mail to
inputcogsci.msu.edu

For more information about the LSA Linguistic Institute plese visit
the Institute website http://lsa2003.lin.msu.edu

Workshop Organizers:

Cristina Schmitt (Michigan State University)
Jacqueline van Kampen (UiL, OTS, Utrecht University)
Alan Munn (Michigan State University)

- 
UG Principles and Input Data:
How Do We Get Plato's Heaven Into Skinner's Box?
August 1-2 at the LSA Linguistic Institute
Michigan State University
inputcogsci.msu.edu	
Website: <http://www.cogsci.msu.edu/workshops/input>;

9th Nilo-Saharan Linguistic Colloquium

Short Title: 9th Nilo-Saharan
Location: Khartoum, Sudan
Date: 16-Feb-2004 - 19-Feb-2004
Call Deadline: 15-Aug-2003
Contact Person: Al Amin Abu Manga
Meeting Email: nilo-saharan9softhome.com
Linguistic Subfield(s): General Linguistics
Language Family: Nilo-Saharan


Meeting Description: 

Papers are welcome on all aspects of Nilo-Saharan languages,
linguistics, and literature. In addition, we would like to have one
session devoted to discussing the areas of Nilo-Saharan studies that
need the most urgent work and also the best way to publish lexicons in
the various underdocumented languages in this family.

				
Chairman of the Steering Committee: Prof. Al Amin Abu Manga
(Abumanga2000yahoo.com) 
Convener of the Conference: Dr. Leoma Gilley
(Leoma_Gilleykastanet.org)


First Announcement and Call for Papers

It is our pleasure to invite you to the 9th Nilo-Saharan Linguistics
Colloquium, hosted by the Institute of African and Asian Studies,
University of Khartoum (Sudan).

Papers are welcome on all aspects of Nilo-Saharan languages,
linguistics, and literature. In addition, we would like to have one
session devoted to discussing the areas of Nilo-Saharan studies that
need the most urgent work and also the best way to publish lexicons in
the various underdocumented languages in this family.

Another suggestion has been made that an international support club be
initiated to assist native speakers of Nilo-Saharan languages to
pursue advanced studies in linguistics and also to publish materials
so that they are available to the wider linguistic community. If there
are other issues that you would like to see discussed, please contact
us.

By hosting this colloquium in the country where many Nilo-Saharan
speakers live, we hope that many local scholars will be able to
attend. We also hope that scholars from nearby African countries will
also be encouraged to join us. We look forward to offering Sudanese
hospitality to our many guests from around the world.

Please share this information with interested colleagues and students
at your institution.

Registration and further information:
Arrival: February 14 and Registration and opening ceremonies: February
15, 2004

Website: under construction.

Contact:
email: nilo-saharan9softhome.net

Regular mail:
Institute of African and Asian Studies
University of Khartoum
P.O. Box 321
Khartoum, Sudan 

FAX 249-11-777044