Date: 04-Dec-2020 – 05-Dec-2020
Location: PARIS, France
Web Site: http://motionevents.sciencesconf.org/
Call Deadline: 25-May-2020
Meeting Description:
The expression of motion events is a multifaceted phenomenon that lies at the confluence of morphology, lexical semantics, syntax, discourse and pragmatics. Recent research has probed into its composite nature, revealing how it is underpinned by language-specific constellations of interacting factors (Beavers, Levin et al. 2010). The aim of this conference is to further explore these factors, with particular emphasis on the role of the verb and crosslinguistic comparison, while encouraging different approaches (Levin 1993, Aurnague 2011, Stosic 2019) to share their views on the matter. Possible topics are given below:
– Lexical semantics: what are possible motion predicates? Is there a strict path/manner complementarity constraint at work realized in two distinct lexical classes (Levin & R. Hovav 2010, Levin 2011), or is it preferable to adopt a finer-grained conception of manner, by isolating certain features or parameters (like force, speed, etc.) which can make “change of placement” (i.e., manner of motion) verbs become “change of basic locative relation” (i.e., direction motion) verbs? (Aurnague 2011, Stosic 2019, Sarda 2019)? Consequently, what exactly is manner? What is a possible verb of manner of motion? Are there constraints on the type of manner parameters and their combination? Are there distinct verb types across languages?
– The distributed expression of motion: how do different morphosyntactic tools, syntax and pragmatic factors conspire to yield a motion interpretation? To what extent does the morphological potential of a language interact with the locus of semantic component of motion (cf. Sinha & Kuteva 1995)? How can we compare languages with rich and poor morphological possibilities with respect to the expression of motion? What impact does the compactness facilitated by a rich morphology have on the cognitive representation of motion? How does such an approach interact with Talmy (1972, 1985, 2000)’s typological division between Verb-framed and Satellite-framed languages? Are there languages that use discourse and pragmatic strategies to encode motion components beyond the morphosyntactic domain?
– Diachrony and linguistic change: how do path verbs or manner verbs emerge? Are there cases where verbs having a path component develop a manner component through the course of time, instead of the opposite? It would be interesting to examine languages that changed from a Verb-framed to a Satellite-framed pattern of motion expression (or vice versa).
– The goal /source asymmetry or goal bias (Ikegami 1987, Stefanowitsch & Rohde 200,) is a phenomenon both linguistically and cognitively well observed. In a wide range of languages, there is a preference for goal over source expression (Verkerk 2017). Beyond this general trend, further descriptions are needed to clarify (especially in verb-framed languages where the path is encoded by verbs) the combinatory constraints between the semantics of verbs and prepositional phrases, and how it is reflected in the different statuses that locative PPs can receive (Aurnague 2015, Sarda 2019)?
Partners: Université Sorbonne Nouvelle (Eric Corre, Charlotte Danino, Leslie Tahan,), LATTICE (Laure Sarda, Benjamin Fagard), INALCO (Huy Linh-Dao), Université Framche Comté-Besançon (Thành Do-Hurinville).
Keynote speakers: Beth Levin (Univ. Stanford), Johanna Barðdal (Univ. Gent), Dejan Stosic (Univ Toulouse), Michel Aurnague (Univ Toulouse).
Call for Papers:
We welcome proposals for talks on any of the topics related to motion events that are described above.
Poster Sessions: A session where the participants are allowed 3 min each to present their posters is included in the schedule.
Abstract Submission:
Abstracts should be anonymous and sent via sciencesconf.org before May 25, 2020
They should correspond to the themes of the conference, be 350-500 word-long (plus references), in English, and specify the methodology and results of the study.