Events

Upcoming events

Event Information:

  • Tue
    10
    Dec
    2019

    DiaLing-BantUGent: Double Lecture by Lorenzo Maselli (Pisa) and Hilde Gunnink (Ghent)

    1:00 pmCamelot Room (Blandijnberg 2, 3rd floor)

    Lorenzo Maselli (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa): "The importance of integrated articulatory and acoustic analysis for consonant identification: Some preliminary data from Ethiosemitic and Jukunoid".

    Abstract:
    While it is generally believed that the first step towards the phonological description of a language is the study of minimal pairs and allophonic variation, it is also true that the exact identification of what sounds we deal with in natural languages requires some level of acoustic analysis. There is a variety of spectral phenomena which serve as reliable cues to the phonetic properties of sounds, but a lot of important distinctions are left untouched. A fairly well-known example is that of voicing in English: while VOT is a generally reliable cue for stops, low frequency energy (the so-called “voicing bar”) is a less clear marker for fricatives, although the opposition is arguably just as salient throughout the phonology (Abramson & Whalen 2017). I will take into account some less common from African languages as cases in point. Amharic ejectives are traditionally considered “weak” (i.e. less acoustically salient than, for example, Tigrinya ones; cf. Kingston 1985), but preliminary data from L2 acquisition points in the direction of some categorical restructuring in the absence of clearer articulatory evidence. Likewise, while there is a long-standing notion that functional load plays little phonological role (King 1967), it was recently claimed that “peripheral phonemes” seem to behave in a fairly different way than more common ones (Babel 2017). Even salient oppositions may require different phonological treatment on the basis of, e.g., morphological variation, as is the case for Italian /m/ vs /n/. The exact determination of what sounds take part in an alternation could benefit from more detailed production analysis. An example will be drawn from Win Lau, a poorly described Jukunoid language of Nigeria, where [+back] spread can yield an as yet phonetically undescribed uvular or epiglottal consonant before back vowels. From this angle, closer interaction between articulatory, perceptual and acoustic evidence seems to be desirable, even for field research.

    References
    Abramson, A. S., Whalen, D. H. (2017) “Voice Onset Time (VOT) at 50: Theoretical and Practical Issues in Measuring Voicing Distinctions”, Journal of Phonetics 63, 75–86
    Babel, A. M. (2017) “Aspirates and ejectives in Quechua-influenced Spanish”, Spanish in Context 14, n. 2, 159-185
    King, R. D. (1967) “Functional load and sound change”, Language 43, n. 4, 831-842
    Kingston, J. (1985) “The Phonetics and Phonology of the Timing of Oral and Glottal Events”, PhD dissertation, Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley

     

    Hilde Gunnink (UGent): "Contact between Bantu and Khoisan languages in southern Africa: morphological borrowing in Yeyi".

    Abstract: In southern Africa, there has been long-standing language contact between between Khoisan languages, some of which have been spoken since time immemorial, and Bantu languages, who arrived in the region in the last two millenia. The Bantu language that has been influenced most extensively by Khoisan contact is Yeyi, spoken in northwestern Botswana and northeastern Namibia. This Bantu language has acquired a large number of clicks, crosslinguistically highly uncommon phonemes that only occur natively in Khoisan languages and are therefore a clear indicator of language contact. In this paper, I investigate the extent of Khoisan influence in the morphology of Yeyi, showing that Yeyi has acquired certain bound affixes from neighbouring Khoisan languages. Such morphological borrowing is relatively uncommon in languages, and suggests that contact between Yeyi and Khoisan must have been fairly intensive, and, unlike many other Bantu-Khoisan contact situation in the subcontinent, may have involved a certain degree of proficiency in Khoisan languages on the part of the Yeyi speech community. As such the contact-induced changes attested in Yeyi can be used to shed light on the contact situation in which they arose, and provide a clearer picture of Bantu-Khoisan interactions.

    Show content

 

Past events

Event Information:

  • Wed
    24
    Jun
    2015
    Thu
    25
    Jun
    2015

    Languages as Mechanisms for Interaction: Explorations and Repercussions 2016 Workshop

    Blandijnberg 2: room 120.083

    It is uncontentious that language lies at the core of human interaction. However, the broad significance of this observation is only beginning to receive due recognition. In the past, the emphasis has been on the precise identification of what an individual speaker’s capacity for language amounts to in terms of a grammar, and/or individual cognitive processes. These approaches usually posit a grammar or cognitive architecture with independent modules whose elements are assigned discrete, identifiable meanings, all attributes being defined independently of other cognitive sub-systems. However, the horizon is shifting in a number of ways. Some see grammar as interfacing with a rich inferential system even though the two systems remain independent (e.g. Asher & Lascarides 2003; Carston 2002; Clark 1996; Sperber & Wilson 1986). Others focus on the need for grammars of dialogue (e.g. Ginzburg 2012). Yet others consider language a system of procedures for licensing communicative interaction (e.g. Gregoromichelaki et al. 2011). However, what most of these approaches have in common is a belief in the interdependence of the grammar system and processes of general cognition.

    This shift in perspective has given rise to an array of new developments: cross-linguistic studies developing new synchronic and diachronic accounts of linguistic phenomena reflecting dialogue dynamics; computational models of ongoing dialogue dynamics, and formal grammar learning; cross-disciplinary investigations of foundational issues such as the concepts of individuation and identity that reflect language plasticity; articulation of formal  and cognitive constraints on what are possible language processes, the interaction of these with constraints determining effective cross-modular processing in real time, the inter-relation between mechanisms internal to language and other cognitive systems such as for gesture and music, and perception. This workshop seeks to bring together those working within these cross-disciplinary approaches to interaction.

    The updated programme and abstract booklet can be consulted here.

    Abstracts are welcome relating to:
    models of conversational dialogue purporting to model speaker and hearer interaction in jointly developing structures in context;
    accounts of how these interactions allow for clarifications, corrections or negotiations through which such development takes place;
    accounts of language acquisition in which such interactions are assigned central status;
    accounts of how such interactive adaptations consolidate via ongoing use to yield language variation and change;
    accounts of how incremental language processing interfaces with other modalities such as gesture.
    Abstracts should be anonymous and no longer than one page, including references and examples, in 12-point Times New Roman, with margins of at least 2.5 cm. Submissions are limited to a maximum of one individual and one joint abstract per author. The deadline for submission is 29 February, 2016. Abstracts are to be submitted in pdf-format via the EasyChair system at https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=interaction2016.To submit an abstract, you must follow these steps:

    To begin, login at https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=interaction2016
    If you do not have an existing EasyChair account, click on “Sign up for an account”. You will be asked to fill out a simple form to create an account.
    Click ”New Submission” at the top of the page.
    Select the track relevant for your submission and click “Continue”.
    Enter author information in the provided fields. Tick the ”Corresponding Author” box for all authors who wish to receive e-mail correspondences or notifications.
    Enter your title in the “Title” field.
    In the “Abstract” field, please enter a one sentence summary. Do not paste your full abstract into this field.
    Enter at least three keywords.
    Upload your abstract in the “Paper” field. Only .pdf files will be accepted. Do not include your name or affiliation in the abstract/file name!
    Do not tick the “Abstract only” box, or your .pdf will not be uploaded.
    Click “Submit”. You will be taken to a summary page of your submission – this is your confirmation that it has been saved. Abstracts will be reviewed anonymously.
    You may make any necessary updates until the deadline by logging in and clicking on “My Submissions”.
    For more information, please contact interaction2016@easychair.orgCited referencesAsher, N. & A. Lascarides (2003) Logics of Conversation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Carston, R (2002) Thoughts and Utterances: The Pragmatics of Explicit Communication. Oxford: Blackwell.Clark, H. (1996) Using Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Sperber, D. & D. Wilson (1986) Relevance: Communication and Cognition. Cambridge, M.A.: Harvard University Press.Ginzburg, J. (2012) The Interactive Stance: Meaning for Conversation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Gregoromichelaki, E., R. Kempson, M. Purver, G.J. Mills, R. Cann, W. Meyer-Viol & P.G.T. Healey (2011) ‘Incrementality and Intention-Recognition in Utterance Processing.’ Dialogue and Discourse2: 199-233.

    Local organisers:

    Miriam Bouzouita
    Sol Sansiñena Pascual
    Programme committee:

    Miriam Bouzouita
    Hannah Gibson
    Ruth Kempson
    Jieun Kiaer
    Chris Howes

    Accommodation
    Hotels

    Ibis Gent Centrum Opera
    Marriott Hotel Ghent
    Hotel Harmony
    Ghent River Hotel
    Novotel
    Most hotels have corporate rates for guests of the university.

    Charm hotels

    Hotel Gravensteen
    Monasterium Poortackere
    Bed & Breakfasts, guesthouses

    http://www.bedandbreakfast-gent.be/_en/home.php
    http://www.charmio.com/en/region/ghent
    Zebrastraat
    PPP Guesthouse
    NOTE that you will always have to pay a separate ‘city tax’ of €2,50 per night on top of your normal hotel bill.

    Travel information
    Getting to Ghent (from Brussels National Airport or a Brussels train station)Take a train to Ghent St-Pieters station. For information about train timetables, click here.Getting to the conference venue from the train station (St-Pieters): 15 minutes
    Take tram #1 in the direction of Wondelgem/Evergem/Centre from the tram platform (“to city centre”) outside the train station. Get off at Verlorenkost. You are now on the Kortrijksepoortstraat, at the corner turn right onto Sint-Kwintensberg, continue straight till you reach on the left-hand side the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy (Faculteit Letteren en Wijsbegeerte), turn left onto Blandijnberg. Enter through the main entrance and take stairs to the second floor. The presentations will be held in room 120.083 (2nd floor).More information on how to get there: www.delijn.be (in Dutch), or more specifically, http://reisinfo.delijn.be/reisinfo/. Getting around in GhentThere is a good bus and tram network throughout the city (see www.delijn.be). Tickets cost 3 euros from the vending machine. A ticket valid for 10 rides costs 14 euros (1,40 cents per ride). You will find the ticket vending machines outside the station, on the tram platform. Ghent is pretty manageable on foot as well, however. All hotels suggested on this website are in the center of town, as is the conference venue. For a map of the city, click here (or many other websites).

    Show content