Full Title: Ontology as Structured by the Interfaces with Semantics 5
Short Title: OASIS 5
Theme: Nominals in non-referential use

Date: 03-Dec-2025 - 05-Dec-2025
Location: Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Contact Person: Daniel Lassiter
Meeting Email: [email protected]
Web Site: https://oasis-5.webflow.io/cfp

Linguistic Field(s): Cognitive Science; Pragmatics; Psycholinguistics; Semantics; Syntax

Call Deadline: 15-Aug-2025

OASIS 5 (Ontology As Structured by the Interfaces with Semantics 5) will take place at the University of Edinburgh in the UK, December 3-5, 2025.

The OASIS conference series aims to promote conversation across different disciplines that interface with semantics, using ontological questions as shared reference points. The broad questions in the background are these:
- What basic ontological building blocks do we use to talk and think about the world?
- How do these building blocks get combined?
- How do grammatical and cognitive phenomena motivate the answers to the first two questions?
For more information, see the OASIS credo.

Invited Speakers:
Fabienne Martin, Universiteit Utrecht
Tadeg Quillien, University of Edinburgh
Roberto Zamparelli, Università di Trento

Satellite workshop: Nominals in non-referential use (December 3)

In this session we are looking to explore the syntax and semantics of nominal projections, particularly in non-referential and/or non-argumental uses. First, there is the question of ontology. How rich a semantic ontology do we need to capture the various meanings of nominal expressions that have been categorized as non-referential in some sense? Do we need individual concepts, properties, kinds, tropes, etc ? How should we best analyse the attributive use of nominals? Do all weak definites refer? Second, and relatedly, do we have good diagnostics for distinguishing between these different types of meaning? To take one example, there is disagreement over whether the subject of a copular clause like "The best candidate is Hannah" denotes a property or an individual concept. Arregi et al. 2021 give empirical arguments for the latter, but it is not clear whether these would allow a similar question to be answered concerning the status of the same nominal if the sentence is reversed ("Hannah is the best candidate"). In such an example, is "the best candidate" ambiguous between denoting a property and an individual concept? How could we decide? Third, what is the mapping between the syntax and the semantics? Does our semantic ontology map in a predictable way onto different projections within nominal phrases (and vice versa)? What is the internal structure of nominals as predicates, individual concepts, concealed questions, V-N light verb constructions, etc? Is there a relation between the syntax of definite predicates and weak definites in other uses?

We welcome submissions on any of these topics for the satellite workshop; we are particularly interested in work that explores these questions in lesser-studied languages.

Reference:
Arregi, K., Francez, I. and Martinović, M., 2021. Three arguments for an individual concept analysis of specificational sentences. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, 39, pp.687-708.

First Cal for Papers:

Abstract Submission:
Abstracts are due on August 15, 2025. Submission will be via the conference OpenReview page.
If you are submitting for the satellite workshop, please indicate this by including “[for satellite workshop]” under the title of your abstract.
Abstracts must be anonymous, in pdf format, 2 A4 pages, in a font size no less than 12pt. You may submit at most two abstracts but can be single author on only one.
Linguists and others submitting very technical research: It is absolutely necessary that you do what you can to make your abstract accessible to an interdisciplinary audience. This doesn't mean eschewing all formalism, but do pitch your abstract so that a non-technical reader can get something interesting out of it.

Important Dates:
August 15, 2025: Abstract deadline
September 15, 2025: Notification
December 3, 2025: Satellite workshop
December 4-5, 2025: Main conference
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Website:
https://oasis.cnrs.fr/meetings/oasis-5

Contact:
[email protected]