Tense and Aspect Across Languages
A special issue of Languages (ISSN 2226-471X).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 October 2021) | Viewed by 51844
Special Issue Editors
Interests: cross-linguistic semantics; tense and aspect; indefinites; negation; bi-directional optimality theory
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Variation across languages has always fascinated linguists, but in the past, it has mostly been investigated in form-related subdisciplines (phonology, morphology, syntax). The idea that variation in form has an impact on meaning makes it possible to connect typological insights to universal principles underlying formal semantics (Matthewson & von Fintel 2008) and to analyze patterns of form-meaning relations across languages (de Swart 2010, Legendre et al. 2017). With new methodologies such as parallel corpus research, psycholinguistic experiments and innovative field work, it has become possible to provide solid empirical ground for formal approaches to meaning across languages. Recent insights in the ways languages grammaticalize temporal reference and event structure underscore the need to dive deeper into cross-linguistic variation (Binnick 2010). The current state of the art in the literature motivates the focus of this special issue on the cross-linguistic semantics of tense and aspect. We aim to bring together a series of papers that use innovative empirical methodology to investigate tense and aspect across languages, and to exploit the insights to advance linguistic theory. We welcome contrastive and comparative analyses of languages or language varieties in a synchronic or diachronic perspective. Topics include, but are not restricted to:
- Foundational issues, such as what we can infer from parallel corpora for tense and aspect across languages, how we should address the limitations that parallel corpus research brings along, and how corpora and psycholinguistic experiments complement each other.
- Dimensions of synchronic and diachronic variation, such as what we can learn from the investigation of micro-variation (language varieties/language time slices) for meso- and macro-variation of tense and aspect, as well as language change.
- Case studies on specific tense or aspect categories, in a particular set of languages/language varieties/language slices/language families and their impact on linguistic theory.
- Tense-oriented vs. aspect-oriented languages and how their comparison can advance linguistic theory.
We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400-600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the guest editors ([email protected]; [email protected]) or to Languages editorial office ([email protected]). Abstracts will be reviewed by the guest editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the special issue. Full manuscript will undergo double-blind peer-review.
Tentative completion schedule:
• Abstract submission deadline: 1 June 2021
• Notification of abstract acceptance: 1 July 2021
• Full manuscript deadline: 1 October 2021
Selected References:
Binnick, Robert (ed.)(2010). The Oxford Handbook of Tense and Aspect. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Legendre, Geraldine, Michael Putnam, Henriette de Swart, Erin Zaroukian (eds). (2017). Optimality-Theoretic Syntax, Semantics and Pragmatics. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Matthewson, Lisa & Kai von Fintel (2008). Universals in Semantics, the Linguistic Review 25, 139-201.
De Swart, Henriëtte (2010). Expression and interpretation of negation: an OT typology. Dordrecht: Springer.
Prof. Dr. Henriëtte de Swart
Dr. Bert Le Bruyn
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- Tense and aspect
- cross-linguistic semantics
- linguistic theory
- parallel corpora
- psycholinguistic experiments
- field work
- synchronic variation
- diachronic variation
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