LINGUIST List 14.2998

Mon Nov 3 2003

Calls: Syntax/Belgium; Lexicography/Thailand

Editor for this issue: Marie Klopfenstein <marielinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Guido Vanden Wyngaerd, Indefinites and Weak Quantifiers
2. brian_migliazza, 2nd Asian Lexicography Conference

Conference Announcement: Indefinites and Weak Quantifiers (Brussels,
6-8 January 2005) Organized by The Linguistic Society of Belgium & The
Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium of Arts and Sciences

Topics of the conference

The aim of the conference is to make a contribution to the study of
plural indefinites. This involves, on the one hand, the specific
properties of plural indefinites which distinguish them from singular
indefinites; on the other hand, the expression of indefiniteness by
means of weak quantifiers, also known as indefinite, intersective,
symmetric, existential or cardinal quantifiers (e.g. two, some,
several, many, etc.).

The conference is open to the syntactic, semantic and pragmatic
approaches. Perspectives that account for cross-linguistic variation
are strongly encouraged.

The recent literature on plural indefinites and weak quantifiers
contains a number of hypotheses which deserve closer
investigation. These include the following - among others:

1. The relationship between determination and quantification in the
indefinite domain. Are weak quantifiers determiners? How does the
distinction tie in with the hypothesis that Quantifier Phrases
generate Determiner Phrases (QP --> Q [DET + NP]) (Matthewson 2001)?

2. Bare plurals and their relationship with other indefinites:
a) Given that bare plurals in Germanic languages allow generic
readings, do they really qualify as indefinites? Or should the Romance
generic definites rather be considered to have an indefinite behaviour
(Krifka 1995)?
b) Arguments for or against (i) Carlsonian (Carlson 1977) and
Neocarlsonian (Chierchia 1998) approaches to bare plurals in terms of
names of kinds; (ii) approaches in terms of properties (Dobrovie-Sorin
& Laca 2003) and incorporation (Van Geenhoven 1996, McNally 1998).
c) phenomenon of "excorporation", the scope of the indefinites and
strong existential readings (reference to individuals) and weak
existential readings (reference to properties). What is the influence
of the modifiers (adjectives, relatives) on the reading of
indefinites? Is there a relationship between on the one hand these two
readings of indefinites, and on the other hand referential readings of
weak quantifiers (reference to individuals) and quantificational
readings (reference to quantities) (Fodor and Sag 1982, Szabolcsi
1997)?

3. Ambiguities of the weak quantifiers:
a) Weak (indefinite) readings vs proportional (partitive, strong)
readings. Is the indefinite meaning of weak quantifiers preserved
when they have a proportional or partitive reading (Kleiber 2001)?
b) Referential vs quantificational readings (cf. 2c).
c) Collective readings (quantification over individuals) vs
distributive readings (quantification over events).

4. What is involved in the difference between adjectival quantifiers
(many N) and adverbial quantifiers (beaucoup de N)? What is the
function of Genitive case, be it prepositional or morphological, in
weak quantification?

Abstract submission and deadline

Abstracts should be at most 1 page, and may include an additional page
for references. They should be sent by e-mail in an attachment file
(format Word or RTF) to each of the following three addresses:

vogeleerskynet.be
liliane.tasmowskiua.ac.be
guido.vandenwyngaerdkubrussel.ac.be

or by snail mail to the address

Svetlana Vogeleer
Institut Libre Marie Haps
Rue d'Arlon 11
B-1050 Bruxelles

The abstract file should be anonymous. The author's name(s),
affiliation, contact address, email adress and the title of the paper
should be included in the body of your message. Abstracts will be
reviewed anonymously by the Scientific Committee.

Talks can be given in English or French.
 
The deadline for abstracts submission is April 30th, 2004. Authors
will be notified before July 1st 2004.

Contact address for any additional information: Svetlana Vogeleer
(vogeleerskynet.be)

Venue

The conference will take place in Brussels.
Thursday 6th January 2005: Institut Libre Marie Haps.
Friday 7th January 2005: Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie.
Saturday 8th January 2005: Institut Libre Marie Haps.

Organising Committee

Guido Vanden Wyngaerd (Katholieke Universiteit Brussel)
Svetlana Vogeleer (Institut Libre Marie Haps & Universit� Libre de
Bruxelles)
Liliane Tasmowski (Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie & Universiteit
Antwerpen)
Sanda Reinheimer (Universitatea din Bucuresti)
Marc Dominicy (Universit� Libre de Bruxelles & Vrije Universiteit
Brussel)
Dominique Willems (Universiteit Gent & Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie)
Liesbeth Degand (Universit� Catholique de Louvain)

Scientific Committee

Anne Carlier (Universit� de Valenciennes et de Hainaut-Cambr�sis)
Greg Carlson (University of Rochester)
Gennaro Chierchia (Universit� degli Studi di Milano)
Martine Coene (Universiteit Antwerpen)
Ariel Cohen (Ben Gurion University)
Francis Corblin (Universit� Paris-4 - Sorbonne)
Denis Delfitto (Universit� degli Studi di Verona)
Jenny Doetjes (Universiteit Leiden)
Nelly Flaux (Universit� d'Artois)
Veerle Van Geenhoven (Universiteit Nijmegen)
Lucien Kupferman (Tel Aviv University)
Brenda Laca (Universit� Paris-8)
Fred Landman (Tel Aviv University)
Giuseppe Longobardi (Universit� degli Studi di Trieste)
Louise McNally (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona)
Catherine Schnedecker (Universit� Marc Bloch de Strasbourg)
Henri�tte de Swart (Universiteit Utrecht)

2nd Asian Lexicography Conference 

Date: 24-May-2004 - 26-May-2004
Location: Chiangmai, Thailand
Contact: Brian Migliazza
Contact Email: brian_migliazzasil.org 
Meeting URL: http://www.payap.ac.th/~lingdept/lexconf.htm

Linguistic Sub-field: Lexicography
Call Deadline: 15-FEB-2004

Meeting Description:

This conference will facilitate lexicographic work in Asia, covering
the following general themes -- Lectures by Plenary Speakers, Reports
on Lexicographic Projects and Publications, Practical and Theoretical
Aspects of Lexicography, and Computational Lexicography. 

SECOND ASIAN LEXICOGRAPHY CONFERENCE

24-26 May 2004 (Monday-Wednesday)
Payap University -- Chiangmai, Thailand

Plenary Speaker --
* Dr SUWILAI Premsrirat (Mahidol Univ): Khmu Dictionary and Thesaurus
Venue -
* Payap University (Mae Khao Campus)
Accommodations -
* Hotel near Night Market (Chiangmai)
Contact -
* For further information, please email brian_migliazzasil.org
* Website: http://www.payap.ac.th/~lingdept/lexconf.htm
* Abstracts due by February 15, 2004
* Registration Cost: 2000 Baht (US$ 50.00)

This conference will held right after the 19-21 May 2004 SEALS 14
conference at Thammasat University in Bangkok.

* THEMES
- > Feature Lectures by Plenary Speakers
- > Reports on Lexicographic Projects and Publications
- > Practical and Theoretical Aspects of Lexicography
- > Computational Lexicography