LLcD 2024 Summer School > Course description and scheduleSummer School, 12-14 September 2024The emergence and cognitive status of language universalsAmphithéâtre Georges Molinié, Maison de la Recherche, Sorbonne Université28 Rue Serpente, 75006 ParisIn the functional-typological approach that originated from the work of Joseph Greenberg, language universals are empirically observed cross-linguistic patterns, which emerge as a result of diachronic processes that repeat from one language to another. A variety of neurocognitive mechanisms, manifested at the level of speech production and processing, lead individual speakers to create novel grammatical structures from pre-existing ones. These structures are then selected, propagated and maintained in the language as a result of the dynamics of social interaction between adult speakers, as well as the dynamics of language acquisition (the vertical process of language transmission from one generation of speakers to another). To the extent that the same structures are recurrently created, propagated and maintained in different languages, an overall pattern will emerge. This evolutionary view, which is generally shared by typologists, is in contrast with the generative framework, where language universals are a result of static inbuilt constraints in a speaker’s mind. The consequences of this view for empirical research on language universals and explanations thereof are, however, still relatively under-explored. What is the exact nature of the neurocognitive mechanisms that lead speakers to recurrently create the same structures in different languages? How do mechanisms of social interaction lead to the propagation of individual structures? What is the role of language acquisition in shaping particular universal patterns? How can we disentangle and accurately model the effects of different mechanisms of creation, propagation and maintainance of particular structures? How can we extract evidence about these effects from the ever growing body of available data on the grammatical structure of different, unrelated languages all over the world? different, unrelated languages all over the world? The objective of the school is to bring together specialists working on language universals and related issues from different theoretical perspectives to take stock of the state of the art and outline prospects for future research. CoursesPlease note that, unfortunately, Theresa Biberauer's course on "Language variation and change: 21st-century generative perspectives" had to be cancelled on short notice. This course will be replaced by a course by Sonia Cristofaro (Sorbonne Université).
Sonia Cristofaro (Sorbonne Université) : Explaining language universals in diachronic perspective In language typology, the research paradigm that originated from the work of Joseph Greenberg, language universals are empirically observed distributional patterns where languages recurrently display certain grammatical configurations as opposed to others. Explanations of these patterns are usually synchronically oriented: particular grammatical configurations are preferred over others cross-linguistically because their synchronic properties comply with functional principles of optimization of grammatical structure, such as economy or processing ease.
Course materials John A. Hawkins (University of California Davis & Cambridge University) : Processing Efficiency in Language Universals and in Contact-induced Language Change This course will introduce students to an interdisciplinary research program on language universals and change that I have been pursuing for some years. Its basic premise is that major patterns of variation that we see in the grammars of the world’s languages today have been structured by general principles of efficiency in language use and communication. Evidence for these principles comes from languages permitting structural options from which selections are made in performance, e.g. between competing word orders and between relative clauses with a resumptive pronoun versus a gap. The preferences and patterns of performance within languages are reflected in the fixed conventions and patterns across grammars, leading to a “Performance-Grammar Correspondence Hypothesis”. This work provides a more empirical and grammar-external alternative to the explanation of language universals than the grammar-internal and UG approach of traditional generative linguistics, and it offers a long-standing foundation for the so-called “third factors” of more recent generative theorizing. The course will illustrate three major principles of processing efficiency that are clearly visible within and across languages, Minimize Domains, Minimize Forms and Maximize Online Processing, and give illustrative supporting data, including recent extensions of these principles and their applications in both psycho-linguistics and language typology. The course will also explore how language change occurs from this efficiency perspective. The preferences visible in language use can provide, on the one hand, a “language-internal” motivation for grammatical change, but an increasingly important determinant of change can be seen in language contact and bilingualism and the course will provide an efficiency-based approach to explaining when changes occur in these circumstances and when they do not. This will incorporate both psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic considerations, and a key efficiency principle of Maximize Common Ground in bilingual learning and use will be proposed. A reading packet will be provided for students. The following are foundation papers and chapters:
Course materials
Martin Haspelmath (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig): Universals of grammar and cultural evolution There are three main types of grammatical universals: word order universals, universals of co-expression (or polysemy), and universals of asymmetric grammatical coding. In this course, I will discuss a range of universals of coexpression and of coding (leaving aside word order) and and I will propose explanations in terms of cultural evolution. The latter is a fashionable term for what used to be called “diachrony”, but I will show how the analogy with biological evolution and adaptation provides additional insight. I will argue for the efficiency theory of asymmetric coding that I have been working on over many years, providing a range of examples from different languages. This theory relies on the idea of diachronic change as cultural evolution and adaptation. In addition, I will also highlight the importance of distinguishing between natural-kind concepts (as in generative grammar) and comparative concepts for cultural-evolutionary explanations.
Course materials
ScheduleSeptember 12th, 2024
September 14th, 2024
Please note that classes will take place in Amphithéâtre Georges Molinié, on the ground floor of Maison de la recherche, whereas lunches and coffee breaks will be served in the hall on the second floor.
PracticalitiesRegistration fee Student: 100 Euros Other: 120 Euros This fee covers all lectures, course materials, lunches, and coffee breaks. The School can accommodate up to 60 participants. We welcome applications from PhD students and postdoctoral researchers. To apply, please click here or on `Application for participation to the summer school' under `LLcD 2024 summer school' on the top left of the page.We may be able to offer financial support to selected participants, based on their personal circumstances. Please note that this support only covers the registration fee and does not include travel and accommodation expenses. If you wish to apply for this financial support, please specify that in the application form.
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