Full Title: Constraining Linearization (DGfS 2024 AG)
Short Title: ConLin

Date: 28-Feb-2024 - 01-Mar-2024
Location: Bochum, Germany
Contact Person: Sascha Alexeyenko
Meeting Email: [email protected]
Web Site: https://sites.google.com/view/dgfs2024-ag8

Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics

Call Deadline: 10-Aug-2023

Meeting Description:

Organizers: Sascha Alexeyenko (University of Göttingen) & Katharina Hartmann (Goethe University Frankfurt)

One of the foundational issues in theoretical and typological linguistics concerns the status of linguistic universals in general and word order universals in particular. Much fruitful typological work since Greenberg (1963) has shown that there are strong word order restrictions which hold for large amounts of cross-linguistic data. Accordingly, a lot of formal linguistic research has been dedicated to the attempts of formulating various word order generalizations in terms of hierarchical relations rather than linear strings and deriving them from other principles of grammar. However, most of this research has targeted so far a number of separate subdomains with little interaction that would bridge between them. This workshop aims at improving that.

Somewhat more specifically, existing work on linearization restrictions has spanned both the verbal/clausal domain and the nominal domain. With respect to the former, it has focused on the linearization of core arguments in relation to the verb, as well as the positions of auxiliaries and particles, in the first place under the umbrella of the work on the “Final- over-Final Condition” (see Biberauer et al. 2014, Sheehan et al. 2017 and references therein). In the nominal domain, relevant research has concentrated on the positions of adnominal elements, i.e. determiners, numerals, and attributive adjectives, in relation to the noun, in particular on the patterns observed in Greenberg's “Universal 20” (see Cinque 2005, Abels & Neeleman 2012, a.o.). Furthermore, linearization constraints applying to modification structures have also been addressed, in particular in the work on the “Head-Final Filter” (see Sheehan 2017, Alexeyenko & Zeijlstra 2021, a.o.).

However, the research approaches in linearization, such as the ones mentioned above, have been developed to a major extent independently of each other. To increase cross- fertilization between such approaches, the aim of this workshop is to bring together researchers working in these different domains, with the ultimate goal of addressing the question to which extent various linearization constraints can be brought to a common core. We are especially interested in contributions that discuss novel empirical facts and/or theoretical approaches to constraints on linearization applying to individual domains and in particular bridging between domains. Questions that we particularly welcome include, but are not restricted to, the following ones:

-- What are the similarities and the differences between the linearization constraints in the verbal/clausal and the nominal domains and what are they conditioned by?
-- Can linearization restrictions that hold for modification structures (HFF) and complementation structures (FOFC) be unified analytically, given some obvious similarities between them?
-- To which extent are some of the observed linearization constraints actually constraints on relinearization, i.e. are restrictions on movement-derived rather than base-generated word orders?
-- Does linearization follow universal principles and are there (superficial?) exceptions to these principles? How should such exceptions be accounted for?
-- At which level of representation do linearization contraints apply and how should the interfaces, e.g. information structure, be modeled in order to capture the array of possibilities?
-- To which extent do different types of languages (tone vs. intonation languages, isolating vs. synthetic languages etc.) show different linearization possibilities?

This workshop will take place within the annual meeting of the German Linguistics Society (DGfS) at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (https://dgfs2024.rub.de).

Invited speakers:
Michelle Sheehan (Newcastle University)
Theresa Biberauer (University of Cambridge)

Call for Papers:

Abstracts should fit one page, including examples and references, with 12 point font and 1 inch margins.
Submission should be made via EasyChair: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=conlinag8.

Notification of acceptance: 10-Sep-2023