Talk by Alla Paslawska (Lwiw) in the Semantics Colloquium

by Lennart Fritzsche Comment Closed
We are happy to announce a talk by Alla Paslawska (Lwiw) in the Semantics Colloquium. The talk will take place on campus in IG 4.301. If you wish to participate virtually via Zoom, please contact Lennart Fritzsche for the link.    The talk will be held in German.  Date: December 5, 2024 Time: 4 pm – 6 pm c.t. Title: Wie viele Gesichter hat die Negation? Abstract: Jede der Wissenschaft bekannte Sprache verfügt über morphologische Mittel, die Negation zum Ausdruck bringen können. Dazu werden Partikeln, Affixe, Konjunktionen etc. zugerechnet. Bedeutet das, dass die Negation eine morphologische Kategorie ist? Bei näherem Hinsehen merkt man, dass im Fall der Negation die Morphologie uns oft im Stich lässt. Denn was bedeutet eigentlich niemand? Man denkt wohl nicht an Odysseus, der unter dem Namen „Niemand“ dem Polyphem einen glühenden Pfahl in das einzige Auge gerammt hat. Niemand bedeutet vielmehr jemand, nichts ist etwas etc., d.h. die Antwort nach dem kategorialen Status der Negation ist im Bereich der Semantik zu finden. Trotzdem haben auch die Syntax, Prosodie...
Read More

Talk by Paul Koenig (Frankfurt) in the Semantics Colloquium

by Lennart Fritzsche Comment Closed
We are happy to announce a talk by Paul Koenig (Frankfurt) in the Semantics Colloquium. The talk will take place on campus in IG 4.301. If you wish to participate virtually via Zoom, please contact Lennart Fritzsche for the link.  Date: October 28, 2024 Time: 4 pm – 6 pm c.t. Title: Scale theory in adjective semantics Abstract: Gradable adjectives cause difficulties in the analysis of their semantic and logical form due to different phenomena such as references to comparative classes, dimensional references, units of measurement, factor phrases and norm references. How the constants of the semantic form relevant for graduation are represented in the logical form, taking into account the factors mentioned, is part of the work of Bierwisch (1987), on which the approaches in this paper are based. The main objective is to use a new definition of directed intervals to specify the definitions given in Bierwisch 1987, which are intended to provide a mathematical/logical framework for the representation of the logical form, and to close problems that...
Read More

Talks by Sebastian Walter (Frankfurt) and Lennart Fritzsche (Frankfurt)

by Lennart Fritzsche Comment Closed
We are happy to announce a single-authored talk by Sebastian Walter (Frankfurt) and a talk by him and Lennart Fritzsche (Frankfurt) in the Semantics Colloquium. The talk will take place on campus in IG 4.301. If you wish to participate virtually via Zoom, please contact Lennart Fritzsche for the link.  Date: November 21, 2024 Time: 4 pm – 6 pm c.t.   Talk 1: Sebastian Walter (Frankfurt)  Title: Indirect discourse as mixed quotation: Insights from shifted face emoji (joint work with Stefan Hinterwimmer) Abstract: Indirect discourse (ID) has been claimed to prohibit shifted interpretations of face emoji (Grosz et al. 2023). However, in this talk evidence is presented that face emoji can receive a shifted interpretation in ID utterances. Specifically, it will be shown that they can receive an interpretation from the perspective of the matrix subject, thus adding ID to the list of environments where the interpretation of face emoji is not strongly anchored to the author (cf. Grosz et al., 2021). A similar behavior has been attested for certain deictic expressions...
Read More

Talk by Justine Mertz (Köln) in the Phonology Colloqium

by Tina Bögel Comment Closed
We are happy to announce a talk by Justine Mertz in the Phonology Colloquium. Room: IG 4.301 Date: November 20, 2024 Time: 4 pm – 6 pm ct Title: "Investigating prosodic modulation in French Sign Language (LSF): A kinematic analysis of sign language coarticulation” Abstract: During interaction, speakers often modulate coarticulatory cues to either amplify or reduce perceptual distinctions between competing speech units. Anticipatory coarticulation has been observed in visual-gestural languages as well. However, coarticulatory strategies in sign language remain underexplored. This study offers the first investigation of coarticulation in French Sign Language (LSF) using 3D-Electromagnetic Articulography (EMA) for precise kinematic analysis of sign production. A deaf native signer was recorded (EMA/video) producing phonological sign pairs involving '1'- and/or '3'-handshapes. The kinematic data reveal the presence of coarticulation in varied discourse contexts, at both temporal and spatial levels. Using a dynamical framework (Articulatory Phonology), we interpret these kinematic patterns as systematic overlapping processes rooted in the phonological system....
Read More

Talk by Alexandrine Dunlap (GU/Florida) in the Syntax Colloquium

by Anke Himmelreich Comment Closed
We are happy to announce a talk by Alexandrine Dunlap (GU/Florida) in the Syntax Colloquium. The talks will take place in person. Room IG 4.301 Date: November 18, 2024 Time: 4 pm – 6 pm ct Title: "Operator Agreement in Sentential Negation" Abstract: In this talk I will put forward possible analyses that can account for Gweno’s unique agreeing negation. In Gweno main clause sentential negation, a post-verbal negation particle is inflected for the phi features of the subject. Additionally, Gweno uses an alternate negation strategy for certain clause types, specifically relative clauses and conditionals which encode negation with a post-initial prefix. Given the strict relationship between the negation particle and subject inflection on the verb, I explore the possibility of movement of the entire TP into the specifier of NegP and the role an operator may play in facilitating this pattern....
Read More