Call for abstracts

We invite submissions that contribute formal research on the semantics of under-researched languages. Submissions should ideally combine original data with formal linguistic analysis.

Abstracts must be anonymized and written in English. Each abstract must not exceed two A4 size pages in length, 2cm margins on all sides, single-spaced, 11pt font  and  submitted as a single PDF file. Authors may submit a maximum of two (single or co-authored) abstracts. We particularly encourage submissions from graduate students and junior researchers. 

Extended submission deadline: 11 February 2024 at 23.59pm GMT 

Submission link: https://easyabs.linguistlist.org/conference/TripleA11

The ABC workshop adresses the question of the distribution and interpretation of tense in temporal adverbial clauses (henceforth TACs) and, in particular, in so-called before- and after-clauses.

While it would seem that after-clauses typically serve to express subsequence of the eventuality described in the main clause relative to that of the after-clause, it has long been shown that before-clauses do not simply express the converse relation (Anscombe 1964, Heinämäki 1978), since  before-clauses tend to be non-veridical and trigger specific pragmatic inferences. 

In languages that display temporal connectives such as before and after, core questions such as quantificational force or constraints on the relative ordering  of the described eventualities in the main vs. adjunct clause  have been made largely dependent on the semantics of the connectives (Beaver & Condoravdi 2003, Condoravdi 2010), but cross-linguistic inquiries show that languages display other and more complex strategies for ordering events since, in particular, languages can lack temporal connectives such as before and after altogether (Bohnemeyer 1988, Tohnhauser 2015, Kubota, Lee, Smironova and Tonhauser-2009, Ogihara 2022, a.o.).

Such cross-linguistic variation raises  the question of the extent to which TACs are comparable across languages with respect to their semantics and the pragmatic inferences they trigger, and of how to compositionally account for the temporal interpretation of TACs while predicting the range of possible variation in their morphosyntax  and in  the distribution and interpretation of subordinate tense across languages.

We welcome contributions on topics such as, but not limited to:

• Cross-linguistic variation in the semantics/syntax-semantics mapping  of AB clauses, and temporal clauses more generally

• The semantics of temporal connectives

• Evidence for the meaning/presence  of tense morphemes from temporal adverbial clauses (in particular, in so-called tenseless languages)

• Sequence of tense phenomena in temporal adverbial clauses (vs. complement or other types of subordinate clauses) —in particular, in languages that lack either overt (subordinate) tense, and/or temporal connectives.

• (Non-)veridicality of before- and after-clauses and pragmatic reasoning : what role do implicatures play in the interpretation of before-clauses? 

We invite submissions that contribute formal research on the semantics and syntax/semantics mapping of temporal adjunct clauses. Submissions should combine original data with formal linguistic analysis, and  ideally contribute novel empirical generalisations from lesser studied temporal systems and/or novel formal approches.

Abstracts must be anonymized and written in English. Each abstract must not exceed two A4 size pages in length, 2cm margins on all sides, single-spaced, 11pt font  and  submitted as a single PDF file. Authors may submit a maximum of two (single or co-authored) abstracts. We particularly encourage submissions from graduate students and junior researchers. 

Extended submission deadline: 11 February 2024 at 23.59pm GMT 

Submission link: https://easyabs.linguistlist.org/conference/ABC

Organizing committee: Hamida Demirdache, Marta Donazzan, Aurore Gonzalez, Walid Hafsi, Oana Lungu, Jérémy Pasquereau, Isabelle Roy

Contact: tripleaeleven.abc@gmail.com