Full Title: On the Nouniness of Propositional Arguments
Short Title: dgfs2021
Date: 24-Feb-2021 – 26-Feb-2021
Location: Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
Contact Person: Jutta M. Hartmann
Meeting Email: < click here to access email >
Web Site: https://dgfs2021.uni-freiburg.de
Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics; Historical Linguistics; Linguistic Theories; Semantics; Syntax
Call Deadline: 15-Sep-2020
Meeting Description:
Organizers: Katrin Axel-Tober, Lutz Gunkel, Jutta M. Hartmann, Anke Holler
Workshop at the 43rd Annual Conference of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft (DGfS), Freiburg i. B., Germany (https://dgfs2021.uni-freiburg.de)
The linguistic properties of propositional arguments—broadly understood as arguments expressing events, propositions, situations, usually realized as finite, non-finite or gerundival structures—have been subject to extensive research from different perspectives. Recent research in the syntax and semantics of such clauses has concentrated on the question of whether or not (finite) clauses are all underlyingly nominal in contrast to earlier research where that-type clauses have been argued to exhibit a low degree of “nouniness” (Ross 1973) and only a subclass of clauses has been considered nominal (e.g. factives or extraposed clauses). Those arguing for a nominal analysis either assume that clauses are complements to nominal heads or based on relative clauses. From a semantic perspective, clauses have been considered to be propositions or properties of individuals (see a.o. Kratzer 2006, Moulton 2015), which partially corresponds to a relative-clause analyses. At present these proposals have been prominently argued for in the theoretical literature, but they still require a broader investigation.
The aim of this workshop thus is to bring together researchers from a variety of backgrounds that consider to what extent different kinds of propositional arguments can be analysed as underlyingly nominal, and/or properties of individuals, including the question of the correspondence between the presence of a nominal projection and its interpretation. We invite original papers, who address the topic fo the workshop, especially considering the following issues:
(i) What is the status of non-canonical types of propositional arguments such as non-finite clauses, different types of correlate structures, interrogative clauses, etc.? Do they differ with respect to nouniness from other types of clauses?
(ii) How did different types of propositional arguments evolve? How does the historical development influence the status of different types of propositional arguments?
(iii) What kind of cross-linguistic or typological variation do we find in the expression of propositional arguments?
Contributions based on new empirical evidence (e.g. experimental work, corpus studies, field work) are particularly welcome.
Invited Speakers:
– Caroline Heycock, University of Edinburgh
– t.b.a.
Call for Papers:
DEADLINE EXTENSION: SEPTEMBER 15, 2020
We invite abstracts for 30min or 60mins talks (including 10mins/15mins of discussion). Abstracts should be anonymous and should not exceed 2 pages in length (single spaced, 12pt font, 2.5cm margins; including examples, figures, references). Please submit your abstracts to https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=nouniness2021 by September 15, 2020 and provide the preferred length for your talk. Submissions are limited to two per author, with at most one paper being single-authored. Note that accepted authors of accepted papers will be required to send a 1-page abstract by October 15, 2020.
The workshop is part of the 43. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft (43rd Annual Meeting of the German Linguistic Society). Please note that the DGfS regulations specify that speakers can only present in one workshop.
Travel grants:
A limited number of travel grants of up to 500 Euro are available for accepted contributions by DGfS members with low/without income.