Optionality and non-optionality of syntactic movement
(DGfS 2022)
Meeting Description:
Syntactic movement rules, as other syntactic rules, are often obligatory, but sometimes there seems to be optionality, that is, the movement rule can apply but it doesn’t have to. Optionality is a problem for all generative syntactic theories as it is not clear how an otherwise deterministic grammar can have two possible outputs. One possibility is to say that what we perceive as optionality is actually pseudo-optionality, for example based on underlying structural differences. Another possibility is that optionality is hardwired into the syntactic component, for example by means of optional feature insertion, optional rule application, or optionality of movement constraints (e.g. island constraints). Even if optionality can be seen as a uniform phenomenon, the question still remains of how optionality can be implemented in different syntactic theories. The aim of this workshop is to bring together theoretical and empirical work on optionality of movement.
Invited Speakers:
- Gereon Müller (Leipzig University)
- Elena Titov (UCL)
Organizers (dgfs.2022.movement@gmail.com):
- Anke Himmelreich (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt)
- Johannes Mursell (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt)
Important Deadlines:
Deadline for abstract submission: September 01, 2021
Notification: September 15, 2021
Workshop: February 23-25, 2022 in Tübingen as part of the DGfS 2022 (takes place as an online conference via Zoom, links will be sent to registered participants)
Important Links:
Booklet