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LINGUIST List 17.1997

Fri Jul 07 2006

Calls: Multilingualism;General Ling/Netherlands

Editor for this issue: Jeremy Taylor <jeremylinguistlist.org>

As a matter of policy, LINGUIST discourages the use of abbreviations or acronyms in conference announcements unless they are explained in the text. To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.html.
Directory
        1.    Charlotte Gooskens, The Intelligibility of Closely Related Languages
Message 1: The Intelligibility of Closely Related Languages
Date: 06-Jul-2006
From: Charlotte Gooskens <c.s.gooskensrug.nl>
Subject: The Intelligibility of Closely Related Languages



Full Title: The Intelligibility of Closely Related Languages

Date: 02-Apr-2007 - 03-Apr-2007
Location: Groningen, Netherlands
Contact Person: Charlotte Gooskens
Meeting Email: < click here to access email >
Web Site: http://www.let.rug.nl/~gooskens/intelligibility

Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics

Call Deadline: 01-Oct-2002

Meeting Description:

The theme of this workshop is the intelligibility of closely related languages. Focus will be on the relevance of different linguistic factors. The workshop takes place at the launch of the research program Linguistic determinants of mutual intelligibility in Scandinavia, which is funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). The workshop intends to bring together researchers studying intelligibility from the perspective of second language acquisition, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, phonetics and dialectometry to get an overview of the experience acquired with different methods and to exchange ideas on fruitful avenues for future research. Questions to be addressed are the following:

How can intelligibility between closely related languages be measured?

Which linguistic factors determine intelligibility?

How can these linguistic factors be measured quantitatively?



Background

Most individuals have to invest considerable time and effort to master a language other than their mother tongue. However, some genetically related languages are so similar in terms of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation that speakers of one language can to a certain extent understand the other language without prior instructions. Speakers of such languages are able to communicate without a lingua franca or without one speaker using the language of the other. This type of interaction, which is referred to with terms such as 'semicommunication' (Haugen 1966) or 'receptive multilingualism' (Braunmüller and Zeevaert 2001), has many advantages, in any case on the production side. People usually find it easier to express themselves in their mother tongue than in a later acquired second or foreign language. Research into receptive multilingualism has a long tradition and different methods have been applied for measuring the degree of intelligibility. However, the study of linguistic factors that determine the level of understanding has received little attention. What, for example, is the relative contribution of consonantal differences versus vocalic differences? Are insertions of consonants more disruptive than deletions? Do lay people have clear intuition of the plausibility of various sound correspondences? What is the effect on intelligibility of prosodic differences?

Workshop format

The workshop will begin on Monday before lunch and end in the late afternoon on Tuesday. The number of papers will be limited in order to leave plenty of time for discussion. On Monday evening there will be a conference dinner.



Important dates

Submission of abstracts: 1 October 2006

Notification: 15 November 2006

Final programme: 1 February 2007

Workshop dates: 2 and 3 April 2007



Workshop organizers

Renée van Bezooijen (Radboud University Nijmegen)

Gerard Doetjes (University of Hamburg)

Charlotte Gooskens (University of Groningen)

Sebastian Kürschner (University of Freiburg)

Jens Moberg (University of Groningen)

Anja Schüppert (University of Groningen)


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