LINGUIST List 8.21

Thu Jan 16 1997

Calls: Chinese NPs, Lgs of Far East...

Editor for this issue: T. Daniel Seely <seelylinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. CTHPAN, Workshop on Chinese Noun Phrases at Ithaca, NY, USA
2. Vadim B. Kasevich, Langs of Far East, South-east Asian, West Africa

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 Chinese Linguistics Workshop

 Interface Strategies in Chinese: Syntax and Semantics

 of Noun Phrases

 Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

 July 12-13, 1997

The workshop will be one constituent of the 1997 Chinese Linguistics
Summer Institute in conjunction with the LSA Linguistic Institute to
be held at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. The workshop will take
place on Saturday July 12 and Sunday (morning) July 13, 1997.

Abstracts are now invited for 20-minute talks at the workshop. Topics
include representation and interpretation of interface properties of
Chinese (Mandarin and other dialects) noun phrases. The deadline for
abstract submission is March 15, 1997. Abstract must be single-spaced,
single-sided, font 12-point, and camera-ready, on A4 or 8 1/2" letter
size paper. At least 1.25 inches should be kept on the left margin.
Please send five copies of abstract, one with author's name and
affiliation, four without, and a separate index card specifying the
author's name, abstract title, affiliation, mailing and e-mail addresses,
and telephone and fax numbers. The result of abstract selection will be
announced near the end of April 1997.

Abstracts and inquiries should be sent to:

WANG Lidi
Department of English
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong
Tel: (852)2609-7022
Fax: (852)2603-5270
E-mail: s941963mailserv.cuhk.edu.hk

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 CALL FOR PAPERS

 THE 4TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE LANGUAGES OF FAR EAST,
 SOUTH-EAST ASIA AND WEST AFRICA

 Those who are going to attend the 4th International conference
_The languages of Far East, Southeast Asia and West Africa_ ( Moscow,
Sept, 17-20, 1997) are informed that both papers (3 single-spaced
camera-ready pages, A4) and conference fee are expected to reach
Moscow by April 15. If email submission is chosen, please use the
following address:
 kasevichvbk.usr.pu.ru
Paper mail submissions should be sent at the address as follows:
 Dr. Mark I. Kaplun, Executive Secretary
11, Mohovaya ul., 103009, Institute for Asian and African Studies,
Moscow, Russia
 Phone: (7-095) 203-2725; fax: (7-095) 203-3647.
 Conference fee (USD 50) should be sent by International Money Order to:
Savings Bank of the Russian Federation, Donskoe Branch, N 7813,
Account N 081000008, ISAA of Moscow State University, N 3800170500023,
registration fee for the 4th Intern. Conference "The languages of Far
East, Southeast Asia and West Africa". See you in Moscow! Attached
below is a questionnaire for the prospective participants in the
Conference.
 QUESTIONNAIRE
 for the participants in the 4th International Conference "LANGUAGES
 OF FAR EAST, SOUTHEAST ASIA AND WEST AFRICA: Grammar and Lexicon"
 (Moscow, September, 1997)

 Dear Colleagues,

 In preparing your papers for the Conference you are kindly
requested to answer (some of) the questions listed below. It is the
organizers' hope that the questions may be helpful for creating
favorable preconditions for a fruitful discussion at the Conference.
Some of the questions posited below seem to reflect the Russian
linguistic tradition while some are believed to highlight issues
currently discussed by fellow-linguists worldwide. It is presupposed
that the study of the Fareastern, Southeast Asian, and West African
languages will greatly promote our understanding of Language as such.


 1. What criteria are to be used to claim that a particular unit or
category of the language belongs to its grammar rather than to its
lexicon? Is there any systematic correlation between the obligatory
expression of a certain meaning and its being grammatical? Are there
meanings that surface in all the human languages?
 2. In describing a language, what type of metalanguage should one
use to make the rules of grammar and of the lexicon compatible?
 3. Given the chosen criteria for discriminating between
grammatical and lexical (autosemantic) units and categories, could one
admit that there exist, besides, units of an intermediate type (partly
grammaticalized, etc.)? And if so, how to specify the chosen criteria
in order to account for these intermediate-type elements?
 4. Is there any systematic correlation between surface (formal)
features and semantic ones in describing major categories (parts of
speech) and word-subclasses?
 5. If in the language you choose to analyze, processes of
grammaticalization are admitted, what major categories are typically
involved in such processes? What is the typical outcome of the
processes (e.g. verbs turn into prepositions etc.)?
 6. Does the language you are a student of make use of serial
constructions? If it does, what particular types (core serial
constructions, etc.) are found to be present? What kind of analysis of
such constructions (in terms of complex verb-heads etc.) do you
prefer? What are the basic functions of the verb serialization, viz.
(i) "additional" actants are introduced (e.g. 'buy + give' "instead"
of 'buy smth for smb'); (ii) the verbs are used to show the spatial
orientation; (iii) the "additional" verbs play the role of TAM markers
(e.g. 'buy + put" in the function of perfective aspect): (iv) the
string of verbs is used just to show the real complexity of the
situation thus described (e.g. 'go + take + come back' in the sense of
'fetch'); (v) ..?
 7. Do you believe that lexical rules (those for word-combination
etc.) could be described as thoroughly and as rigorously as rules of
grammar?
 8. What formal devices are preferred in the language(s) you are
going to report on: affixation, auxiliary words, particles, word
order, etc.? If you make a distinction between auxiliary words and
particles, what are the criteria underlying such a differentiation?
 9. In the language of your choice, is it possible for an element
traditionally referred to as an affix to apply to phrases (word
groups, cf. Eng. my father's hat, the King of England's hat, the man I
saw yesterday's hat)?
 10. In "your" language, are there any prosodic features (accent,
tone, intonation) that are used for grammatical purposes? What is the
preferred domain (grammar or lexicon) for using such features?
 11. Does the language of your choice use any formal means
indicating coreference, switch-reference, turn-taking?
 12. In the language you are a student of, are there rules for
dropping pronouns and/or other NPs or VPs?
 13. In "your" language(s), what kind of information does not
surface (never or in specified contexts)? (For instance, the
information about plurality is never overtly expressed; it is not
expressed in cases where a numeral is present; it is obligatorily
expressed in both noun-form and verb-form; topic is marked when "new",
but left unmarked if "given", etc.)