Semantics &\; Pragmatics workshop
\nNext summer\, during the 19th International Congress of Linguists (ICL)\, which \;will take place July 22-27\, 2013 in Geneva\, Switzerland\, there will be an \;extensive session on formal semantics &\; pragmatics.
We seek original research papers developing new approaches to formal semantics \;and formal pragmatics: experimental and corpus methods\, field methods\, \;cross-linguistic comparison\, and innovative formal frameworks. We particularly \;encourage submissions that develop dynamic and modal techniques beyond their \;traditional domain\, especially as related to the cluster of six subtopics \;listed below.
URL for submissions (through the ICL website): \;http://www.cil19.org/en/calls-for-papers/call/
Deadline for abstract submission: August 15\, 2012.
Specifications: 500 words (including examples but excluding title and \;references)
Decisions will be communicated in October 2012.
We look forward to an exciting meeting\, one that will be enhanced by the \;presence at the ICL of two keynote speakers whose research exemplifies the type \;of work we seek: Angelika Kratzer and Philippe Schlenker. The multi-day session \;on semantics &\; pragmatics will feature half hour presentations (20 minute talks \;+ 10 minute discussion) and is organized by the founding editors of the journal \;"Semantics &\; Pragmatics"\, David Beaver and Kai von Fintel.
1. Domain Restriction
Natural language quantifiers are subject to contextual domain restriction. \;Issues include whether the restriction occurs via covert material in logical \;form or via some parameter of evaluation\, the precise location of the \;restriction (on a nominal\, on a quantificational operator)\, and the question of \;whether domain restriction of modals and quantifiers and possibly other \;constructions should be seen as special cases of the same general phenomenon.
2. Evidentiality\, modality\, conditionals
The semantics of modals and conditionals have long been subjects of scholarly \;controversy\, but until relatively recently the related intensional phenomenon \;of evidentiality (the grammatical marking of source or strength of evidence for \;a proposition) was largely overlooked by semanticists. We are interested in \;work that develops our understanding of any of these three types of \;construction\, or that explores the similarities and differences between them.
3. Questions and alternatives
While the semantics of questions\, and the pragmatic relationship between \;questions and answers\, has been an ongoing area of study for forty years\, there \;has been a strong renewal of interest in recent years. This interest centers \;around three related areas: (i) the relationship between questions and focus \;marking\, (ii) models of discourse structure in terms of strategies for \;answering questions\, and (iii) the advent of the framework of Inquisitive \;Semantics\, which extends ideas developed in the context of question semantics \;to a wider range of constructions. We seek proposals that develop question \;semantics in any of these directions.
4. Desiderative constructions
Maintaining our general theme of extending dynamic and modal techniques beyond \;their traditional domain\, we are seeking work that sheds light on a wider range \;of constructions\, and a wider range of speech-act types\, than had been achieved \;in a traditional\, classical semantics. One important sub-area is desiderative \;constructions\, broadly speaking those constructions that express desire\, and \;which we take to include imperatives\, optatives\, and desiderative attitudes \;such as "want".
5. Formal approaches to politeness
We understand "politeness" in Brown and Levinson's sense as including not only \;traditional honorific marking\, but also the more general issue of how \;linguistic form reflects the pragmatics of social relationships. A classic \;example\, connecting with Topic 4\, is the many forms of expression (direct or \;indirect) of the expression of commands and requests. Politeness issues have \;also come to the fore both because they appear to demand a dynamic\, strategic \;view of communication\, and because explicit marking of politeness often \;involves information that is conventionalized and yet apparently \;non-truth-conditional\, hence posing a problem for traditional semantic methods.
6. Presupposition and Conventional Implicature
Presupposition and Conventional Implicature are among the drivers of work that \;pushes away from a classical conception of meaning. Of particular note is the \;tendency of both Presuppositions and Conventional Implicatures to exhibit \;"projection"\, which occurs when an inference associated with a construction \;survives even after the construction is embedded within a larger construction \;that would tend to block inferences associated with ordinary truth-conditional \;content. A simple example\, (cf. Topic 5) is the way that deference exhibited by \;a use of a polite form in a clause is maintained even when that clause is \;embedded under negation. We seek papers that explore the question of how \;projective inferences should be explained\, what causes projection in the first \;place\, and what the similarities and differences are between different \;constructions that manifest such behavior.
http://semantics-online.org/icl-sp-cfp.html
\nAbout the International Congress of Linguists:
\nThe International Congress of Linguists (ICL) takes place every five years\, under the governance of the International Permanent Committee of Linguists (CIPL). The last congress took place in Seoul\, year 2008. The Socié\;té\; Suisse de Linguistique (SSL) submitted a proposal for the organization of the 19th congress\, in 2013\, in Ferdinand de Saussure&rsquo\;s city\, one century after his death. Geneva was chosen for the venue\, and the Congress will take place there.
ORGANIZER: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR