Summer school on `The emergence and cognitive status of language universals', to be held in conjunction with the first edition of the international conference `Langues et langage à la croisée des disciplines/ Language & Languages at the crossroads of Disciplines (LLcD, https://llcd2024.sciencesconf.org/resource/page/id/11)

Host Institution: Sorbonne Université
Website: https://llcd2024.sciencesconf.org/resource/page/id/8

Dates: 12-Sep-2024 - 14-Sep-2024
Location: Paris

Focus: We welcome applications from PhD students and postdoctoral researchers.
Minimum Education Level: MA in linguistics or related fields

Description:
In the functional-typological approach that originated from the work of Joseph Greenberg, language universals are empirically observed cross-linguistic patterns, which emerge as a result of diachronic processes that repeat from one language to another. A variety of neurocognitive mechanisms, manifested at the level of speech production and processing, lead individual speakers to create novel grammatical structures from pre-existing ones. These structures are then selected, propagated and maintained in the language as a result of the dynamics of social interaction between adult speakers, as well as the dynamics of language acquisition (the vertical process of language transmission from one generation of speakers to another). To the extent that the same structures are recurrently created, propagated and maintained in different languages, an overall pattern will emerge.

This evolutionary view, which is generally shared by typologists, is in contrast with the generative framework, where language universals are a result of static inbuilt constraints in a speaker’s mind. The consequences of this view for empirical research on language universals and explanations thereof are, however, still relatively under-explored. What is the exact nature of the neurocognitive mechanisms that lead speakers to recurrently create the same structures in different languages? How do mechanisms of social interaction lead to the propagation of individual structures? What is the role of language acquisition in shaping particular universal patterns? How can we disentangle and accurately model the effects of different mechanisms of creation, propagation and maintainance of particular structures? How can we extract evidence about these effects from the ever growing body of available data on the grammatical structure of different, unrelated languages all over the world?
different, unrelated languages all over the world?

The objective of the school is to bring together specialists working on language universals and related issues from different theoretical perspectives to take stock of the state of the art and outline prospects for future research.

Courses on offer include:

Theresa Biberauer (University of Cambridge)}
Language variation and change: 21st century generative perspectives

John A. Hawkins (University of California Davis & Cambridge University)
Processing Efficiency in Language Universals and in Contact-induced Language Change

Martin Haspelmath (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig)
Universals of grammar and cultural evolution

Linguistic Field(s): Typology

Tuition: 100.0 Euros
Tuition Explanation: The tuition fee covers all lectures, course materials, lunches, and coffee breaks

Financial Aid: Applications accepted until 25-Jun-2024
We may be able to offer financial support to selected participants, based on their personal circumstances. If you wish to apply for this support, please specify that in the application form.

Registration Open until 25-Jun-2024

Apply on the web: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfKwD4dMyuiYQa15q3MtHah8GMCVCwaFPbxJpvjYieB3KpC3g/viewform

Registration Instructions:
To apply, please go to

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfKwD4dMyuiYQa15q3MtHah8GMCVCwaFPbxJpvjYieB3KpC3g/viewform

Deadline for application: June 25th, 2024
Notification of acceptance: June 30th, 2024