Call for papers

This workshop ('Arbeitsgruppe') will be held at the 37^th Annual Meeting of the German Linguistics Society (DGfS) in Leipzig, Germany (March 4-6, 2015), DGfS website: http://conference.uni-leipzig.de/dgfs2015/index.php?id=7

Call for Papers

Typological research indicates that many languages share specific patterns regarding their phoneme inventories, syllable structures, phonotactics and prosodic systems. A recurrent topic in acquisition research is the question of whether typologically well-attested patterns reflect universal biases on phonological acquisition and/or speech processing. This workshop aims at discussing the nature of these biases and to what extent they influence phonological acquisition and processing of L1 and L2 in children and adults.

There seems to be a strong consensus among researchers that phonological acquisition is guided by universal biases. Yet, the specific nature of these biases is unclear: are they functional or analytical, domain-general or domain-specific? What is it that makes some patterns, often called natural patterns, more easily accessible and learnable than others: Are they are innate or are they triggered by experience with language? In addition, it is debated whether there are time limits on the operating periods of biases (possibly reflecting difficulties in L2 phonological acquisition, i.e., a critical period), or whether they also influence L2 phonological acquisition. If they influence the L2, what happens when the L1 phonological system is in conflict with the L2? In addition, the question arises to what extent universal biases might be at work even during speech processing after acquisition is completed. These classical questions have recently received new attention and benefit from the revival of artificial language paradigms, which enable us to investigate language acquisition and processing likewise.

The goal of the workshop is to discuss effects of biases on L1 and early L2 phonological acquisition and their relation to age of acquisition from theoretical and empirical perspective. We aim to contribute to the current debate by assembling new insights to get a more concrete comprehension of the nature of universal biases.

We invite contributions investigating monolingual and bilingual (L2) infant, child and adult phonological acquisition of segmental and suprasegmental structures in natural and artificial language learning. Contributions that may build a bridge between empirical findings and linguistic theory are particularly welcome.

Keynote speakers

Sharon Peperkamp (CNRS, Institut d'Etudes de la Cognition, Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris)

Elliott Moreton (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

Abstract submission guidelines

Abstracts should be submitted for 30-minute slots (including discussion).

Format: 1 page (TimesNewRoman, 12pt, 1 inch margins, including references and figures etc.). Please submit two pdf files containing your abstract via email (to: nboll@uni-potsdam.de): one file should include name(s) of author(s), affiliation(s), e-mail address(es), title of talk; another one should be anonymous. Abstracts and presentations must be in English. Your name should occur in the file name.

Important dates

Abstract deadline: 31 August, 2014 --- this is the extended deadline! ---

Notification of abstract acceptance: mid September, 2014

Conference dates: 4-6 March, 2015

Looking forward to your participation!

Organizing Committee

Dinah Baer-Henney (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, University of Potsdam)

Natalie Boll-Avetisyan (University of Potsdam)