LINGUIST List 14.624
Tue Mar 4 2003
Calls: Modality, Austria/Bare Structures, Morocco
Editor for this issue: Marie Klopfenstein <marielinguistlist.org>
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Directory
kaufmann, Conditional and Unconditional Modality
atourabi, Bare Structures and Functional Projections
Message 1: Conditional and Unconditional Modality
Date: Mon, 03 Mar 2003 13:35:09 +0000
From: kaufmann <kaufmannnorthwestern.edu>
Subject: Conditional and Unconditional Modality
Workshop on Conditional and Unconditional Modality
Location: Vienna, Austria
Date: 25-AUG-03 - 29-AUG-03
Web Site: http://www-linguistics.stanford.edu/sigmod/ESSLLI03/
Contact Person: Frank Veltman
Meeting Email: veltmanhum.uva.nl
Linguistic Subfield(s): Pragmatics, Semantics, Typology
This is a session of the following conference:
15th European Summer School in Logic, Language and Information
Meeting Description:
This workshop will be held as part of the 15th European Summer School
in Logic, Language and Information (ESSLLI), August 18-29, 2003,
Vienna, Austria.
Reminder and last call for papers:
ESSLLI Workshop on
Conditional and Unconditional Modality
http://www-linguistics.stanford.edu/sigmod/ESSLLI03/
===================================================
Deadline for submissions: Friday, March 07, 2003
===================================================
Workshop Aims:
- To exchange ideas between researchers in different
linguistic schools
- To bridge the gap between ''l'art pour l'art'' logic
and empirical analysis
Topics of Interest:
- Extensions and refinements of standard formal tools
- Semantic analysis of modal expressions,
evidentials, and conditionals
- Empirical studies on the interaction of modal and
temporal and modal expressions
- Context-dependence and dynamic effects of modal and
evidential assertions
Format: 45 min presentations,
including 10-15 min discussion
Submission: Short papers (1600-3200 words)
in hardcopy to
Prof. dr. Frank Veltman
Department of Philosophy
University of Amsterdam
Nieuwe Doelenstraat 15
1012 CP Amsterdam
The Netherlands
or electronically to
veltmanhum.uva.nl
Organizers:
Cleo Condoravdi, PARC and Stanford University
Stefan Kaufmann, Northwestern University
Jan Nuyts, University of Antwerp
Frank Veltman, University of Amsterdam
Message 2: Bare Structures and Functional Projections
Date: Tue, 04 Mar 2003 10:44:58 +0000
From: atourabi <atourabihotmail.com>
Subject: Bare Structures and Functional Projections
Bare Structures and Functional Projections
Short Title: Bare Structures
Location: Rabat, Morocco
Date: 26-May-2003 - 28-May-2003
Call Deadline: 15-Mar-2003
Web Site: http://www.iera.ac.ma
Contact Person: Abderrezzak Tourabi
Meeting Email: atourabihotmail.com
Linguistic Subfield(s): General Linguistics
Meeting Description:
The Institute for the Study and Research on Arabization and the
Linguistic Society of Morocco are organizing, from May 26 to 28, 2003,
The Sixth Moroccan Linguistic Meeting. The main session will be
devoted to the theme: "Bare Structures and Functional
Projections". The parasesssion will deal with "Writing with Arabic
Script: stakes and challenges". The Meeting will be followed by a
Linguistic Institute from May 29 to 30. The invited speakers and
lecturers will be announced in the programme.
Bare Structures and Functional Projections
The issue of bare structures occupies an important place in the
ongoing debate on phrase structure theory and the design of
grammar. In syntactic theory, bare structures raise the problem of
determining the ingredients of phrase structures, their nature and
their internal structure. Within the Minimalist Program, the issue is
addressed under more natural assumptions, such as the inclusiveness
condition. In this connection, the computational system accesses only
the elements already present in the lexical items, and hence phrase
structures are formed with no recourse to labels or bar-levels defined
by X'-Theory.
Concerning the issue of functional projections, many comparative
studies have shown that while some languages project functional
categories, which are specified for certain morphological features,
others lacking these features don't project the
corresponding functional category. For example, Tense, in some
languages, may be morphologically realized, but in others may not,
though the structure has a temporal interpretation. Noun phrases
appear with an (in)definite article, and then project D�, or
may appear as bare NPs deprived of the article and D�. The
distribution of such structures and categories poses the problem of
their (universal) representation, computation and interpretation,
within the same language, or across languages. Semantic aspects
concern in particular meaning specifications of NPs, VPs and IPs, the
absence or occurrence of functional projections and operators, such as
Tense, Aspect, Determiners, etc.
At the morpho-phonological level, bare structures also raise many
questions of great importance, such as: what is the mechanism of
representing underspecified phonological elements? Are bare positions
or empty morphemes legitimate in the representation of words? In
connection with the representational question, some phonological
approaches use prosodic templates with empty positions, but others
allow only bare prosodic templates.
At the lexical level, one important question which calls for a
principled explanation is the following: what kind of lexical objects
enter the computational system? Are they roots, or underspecified
stems, or fully inflected words? Does the lexicon license empty
categories, which are interpreted or canceled in the course of
computation?
These questions and others are not purely theoretical. They equally
raise the problem of empirical adequacy and parameterization across
languages, on the basis of features endowed with morpho-phonological
content, or with just an abstract content. The progress in addressing
these issues has to go along with the progress in achieving the
computational reality of grammatical systems.
Writing with Arabic Script: stakes and challenges
Alphabetic systems are restricted in number, genealogy and
representative adequacy. However, these systems have developed upon
time and generated new characteristics so as to be appropriate to the
written language. Also, specific alphabets have been varied and
enriched since they have been used to write other languages from
different families. This choice is rarely due to technical reasons; it
has essentially cultural, political and economic considerations.
The Arabic alphabet, with its orthographic, symbolic, and esthetic
properties has a phonetic content that makes it highly readable. It
has been used to write a wide range of languages, and there are plans
to expand it to write others, and even all languages. This matter
requires a new composition of its diacritics, and an evolution of the
bases of its forms and functions.
The progress of Arabic scripts through history, civilization and
geography has not been devoid of obstacles and challenges in different
forms. Today, the Arabic alphabet is present in international
information nets. It spreads and transmits information across
countries and continents. This requires an examination of its esthetic
characteristics, its adequacy, and its enrichment or flexibility to
ensure more efficiency.
Among the questions that can be addressed in this parasession are the
following:
- Systematic properties of the Arabic scripts, and their calligraphic,
esthetic and pedagogic features, in comparison with other writing
systems;
- Evaluation of the Arabic alphabets experiences during
its historical development, and the discussion of the problems
concerning its international diffusion;
- Technical, cultural, political, and economic challenges for the
Arabic alphabet;
- Elaboration of an International Phonetic Alphabet using Arabic
scripts;
- Computation of new Arabic writing systems and their spreading in
modern information nets.
Participation requests, together with an abstract (in three copies and
a disc), can be sent, within three weeks, to one of the following
postal or electronic addresses:
-Institute for the Study and Research on Arabization
B.P. 6216, Rabat-Institutes, Agdal Morocco
E-mail: ittissaaliera.ac.ma
-Linguistic Society of Morocco
B.P. 6373, Rabat-Institutes, Agdal Morocco
E-mail: slm.newsifrance.com