Workshop 'Syntax-Phonology Interface from a Cross-linguistic Perspective'

Date:    November 2-3, 2012          

             (with a pre-workshop technology session on Nov. 1)

Venue:  ZAS, Schützenstr. 18, 10117 Berlin                     

Organizer: Seunghun Lee (Central Connecticut State University/ZAS)

[Registration: Participation in the workshop is free, but registration is required. Please send an e-mail with your name and affiliation to lee(at)zas.gwz-berlin.de for registration by Friday, October 26, 2012.]

In this workshop, participants will discuss various proposals on the syntax-phonology interface, from a cross-linguistic perspective. The workshop will bring together junior and senior scholars from North America and Europe to disseminate ideas on cross-linguistic research in this rapidly developing area of research.
Recent theories on syntax-phonology interface such as the Match Theory (Selkirk 2010) have raised questions as to how strongly different modules of the grammar strive to achieve isomorphism between phonological domains and syntactic constituents – a departure from views that have claimed that prosodic structure and syntactic structure are built completely separately. These various theories can be evaluated and compared by examining cross-linguistic data from syntactic structures that have not been closely examined in previous research.
More specifically, this workshop aims to address topics including, but not limited to, the following questions:

  • How can the interaction between phonological domains and syntactic constituents be examined in various syntactic constructions, such as DPs, embedded clauses, infinitival clauses, and conjunction?
  • What kinds of phonetic/phonological evidence can be used for diagnosing the interaction between syntactic constituents and phonological domains?
  • How can similarities and differences observed in cross-linguistic data be used to evaluate different theories of the syntax-phonology interface?

In the pre-workshop technology session, the following question will be addressed:

  • How can software for corpus research aid research on syntax-phonology interface?

Presenters

  • Laura Downing (University of Gothenburg)
  • Emily Elfner (McGill University)
  • Gorka Elordieta (University of the Basque Country)
  • Yelena Fainleib (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
  • Caroline Fery (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt)
  • Ingo Feldhausen (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt/LPP-Paris3) 
  • Shinichiro Ishihara (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt)
  • Frank Kügler (University of Potsdam)
  • Seunghun Lee (Central Connecticut State University/ZAS)
  • Cedric Patin (Université Lille 3)
  • Annie Rialland (LPP - Paris 3)
  • Elizabeth Selkirk (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
  • Hubert Truckenbrodt (ZAS)

This workshop is generously funded by a fellowship from the Volkswagen Foundation and the Andrew Mellon Foundation to Seunghun Lee.