LINGUIST List 15.2024

Thu Jul 8 2004

Calls: Syntax/Switzerland; Phonology/Switzerland

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

Directory

1. ur.shlonsky, Syntax of Semitic Languages
2. ur.shlonsky, Synchrony Meets Diachrony In Phonology

Syntax of Semitic Languages 

Date: 30-Mar-2005 - 30-Mar-2005
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Contact: Ur Shlonsky
Contact Email: ur.shlonskylettres.unige.ch 
Meeting URL: http://www.unige.ch/glow05 

Linguistic Sub-field: Syntax 
Call Deadline: 01-Nov-2004 

This is a session of the following conference: Generative Linguistics
in the Old World

Meeting Description:

Pre-Glow workshop on Semitic Syntax. Invited speaker: Joseph Aoun
(USC)

Abstracts are invited for 40 minute talks. Abstracts should be
anonymous, at most two pages long (+a third page with references only)
with a maximum of 50 lines a page. They must be sent electronically
ONLY, in PDF to glow05lettres.unige.ch with the subject heading:
Semitic syntax workshop submission.

The name, affiliation, postal and e-mail address of the speaker(s)
should appear in a prominent position in the email message
itself. Upon acceptance, authors will be asked to submit a named,
camera ready abstract.

Deadline for submission November 1, 2004 (one month earlier than
previous years!)

Synchrony Meets Diachrony In Phonology 

Date: 30-Mar-2005 - 30-Mar-2005
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Contact: Marc van Oostendorp
Contact Email: marc.van.oostendorpmeertens.knaw.nl 
Meeting URL: http://www.unige.ch/glow05 

Linguistic Sub-field: Phonology 
Call Deadline: 01-Nov-2004 

This is a session of the following conference: Generative Linguistics
in the Old World

Meeting Description:

Pre-Glow phonology workshop entitled: ''Synchrony Meets Diachrony In
Phonology''.

Abstracts are invited for 40-minute talks. Abstracts should be no
longer than 2 pages long (+ a third page with references only). They
should be sent as virus-free electronic attachments in PDF format to
glow05lettres.unige.ch and should arrive no later than Nov 1, 2004
(one month earlier than previous years.) The subject line of the
message should read ''Phonology workshop abstract submission'' and the
body of the message should include author name(s), e-mail and postal
addresses.

Synchrony Meets Diachrony In Phonology

The separation which Ferdinand de Saussure introduced between
synchronic and diachronic explanations has had a strong impact on
twentieth century phonological theory.

Within generative grammar, it has long been assumed that all
sound-related regularities within a language should be accounted for
within the synchronic grammar. This has at times given rise to
analyses which seem ironically, to be a better approximation of a
historical account of the changes the language had undergone than of
the knowledge a native speaker would have been able to acquire.

Recent years have witnessed a revised interest both in phonological
theories which aim to give phonological explanations which are
'grounded' in the phonetics and cognitive factors, as well as of
theories which are, on the contrary, 'substance-free'.

Both types of theory place some of the burden of explanation for
synchronic phenomena on diachrony. Grounded theories explain phenomena
which are unnatural and opaque, while `substance-free' phonologists
deal with relative markedness by relating it to diachronic factors.

These views of synchronic phonology have opposite implications for the
study of diachrony: for the former, they provide an explanation for
unnatural behaviour, whereas for the latter, they explain phonological
naturalness.

What is the evidence for one position over the other? How much
evidence does a language learner have about the diachrony of the
language? And how relevant are theories of grammar for the study of
language change and vice versa? These are some of the questions we
wish to study in this workshop.

It has often been observed that the nineteenth century was the century
of diachronic linguistics and the twentieth century that of synchronic
linguistics, and that this difference was due to de Saussure. In the
workshop, we will bring together international specialists to find out
how the Saussurian heritage is relevant to generative phonologists in
the twenty-first century.