LINGUIST List 21.3377 Mon Aug 23 2010 Calls: Morphology, Pragmatics, Semantics, African Langs/United Kingdom Editor for this issue: Di Wdzenczny <dilinguistlist.org> LINGUIST is pleased to announce the launch of an exciting new feature: Easy Abstracts! Easy Abs is a free abstract submission and review facility designed to help conference organizers and reviewers accept and process abstracts online. Just go to: http://www.linguistlist.org/confcustom, and begin your conference customization process today! With Easy Abstracts, submission and review will be as easy as 1-2-3! Directory         1.    Clement Appah, Morphopragmatics of Diminutives in African Languages Message 1: Morphopragmatics of Diminutives in African Languages Date: 23-Aug-2010 From: Clement Appah <c.appahlancaster.ac.uk> Subject: Morphopragmatics of Diminutives in African Languages E-mail this message to a friend Full Title: Morphopragmatics of Diminutives in African Languages Date: 03-Jul-2011 - 08-Jul-2011 Location: Manchester, United Kingdom Contact Person: Nana Aba Amfo Meeting Email: morphopragmaticsgmail.com Linguistic Field(s): Morphology; Pragmatics; Semantics Other Specialty: African Languages Call Deadline: 30-Sep-2010 Meeting Description: Diminutives have been studied quite extensively. They are known to have varied range of senses, including small size, affection, approximation, intensification, limitation, female gender, etc. It has even been suggested that diminutives may communicate contradictory meanings such as appreciation and depreciation, intensification and attenuation, etc (Jurafsky 1996). While some researchers insist that diminutives primarily denote smallness and meaning components like affection or evaluation are secondary, others claim that the meanings communicated by diminutives are primarily affective and evaluative. An attempt to provide a satisfactory account of the different and sometimes even contradictory meanings of diminutive forms have led some researchers to consider pragmatic alternatives to the analyses of the different meaning components communicated by a single diminutive form, arguing that the relevant specific reading of a diminutive form can be appropriately determined only within a given context. Recent diminutive research has recognized the need to combine formal and functional approaches in accounting for the functions of diminutives since an adequate understanding of language use is achieved when the interaction between different domains of grammar is studied (Schneider 2003, Dressler and Merlini Barbaresi 1994). In spite of the rich history of diminutive research, not much has been done on the form and communicative import of diminutives in African languages. The minimal diminutive research on African languages has mostly concentrated on Bantu languages, particularly Swahili (Contini-Morava 1995). The panel will thus seek to increase our knowledge of the nature and use of diminutives in African languages and, in so doing, help to provide a fuller picture of the nature of diminutives in the world's languages as well as test the robustness of existing theoretical accounts of the meaning of the diminutive and provide alternatives where these are found to be inadequate. The panel aims to provoke discussion on the forms and communicative significance of the diminutive in a number of African languages, particularly, yet not restricted to languages of the Volta basin. Proceeding on the assumption that the diminutive is a universal category, the panel will on the one hand, seek to explore the forms and origins of the diminutive in respective languages and on the other hand, account for the range of meanings that are often associated with a single diminutive form. Another point of interest is the productiveness (or otherwise) of the diminutive forms and how it reflects on the different meanings communicated by the same diminutive form. 2nd Call For Papers We invite contributions focussed on the form(s), meaning(s) and pragmatic function(s) of diminutive markers in African languages. Contributions may aim at addressing the following questions, indicating clearly the relevance of the work for pragmatics - What is/are the form(s) of the diminutive in the respective language? - How are the various forms of the diminutive formally related? - What is/are the meaning(s) of the diminutive? - How are the various meanings of the diminutive related? - What is/are the pragmatic function(s) of the diminutive form(s)? - Where a language has no diminutive morpheme, how is/are diminution and/or related meaning components expressed? Abstracts (not exceeding 500 words) should be sent as an email attachment to: Nana Aba Appiah Amfo Clement Kwamina Insaidoo Appah Email: morphopragmaticsgmail.com Additional information: Please note that: - if accepted, abstracts will have to be submitted via IPrA conference site before 29 October 2010, following the instructions available at http://ipra.ua.ac.be/main.aspx?c=.CONFERENCE12&n=1403 - submitting the abstracts in accordance with the general guidelines is the individual responsibility of contributor(s) - IPrA membership is required for the submission of abstract and for participation in the conference - it is not acceptable to have more than one contribution with the same person as first or single author. Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue Page Updated: 23-Aug-2010       About LINGUIST    |   Contact Us       While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.