April 2024 - LFG-list - mailman.uni-konstanz.de

Syntax now free (of Wiley)
by Stefan Müller 25 Apr '24

25 Apr '24

Dear colleagues, You probably already heard about the new journal /Syntactic Theory & Research (STAR):/ https://www.openlibhums.org/news/693/ The journal went the Glossa-way. The editors left Wiley and took most of the board with them. Some of you may remember my mail to the lists back then, when I announced that I would never hire somebody who published in the then zombie journal Lingua. I consider this strike breaking. People who do this harm their colleagues and their field, the budgets of their universities. Lingua is run by Elsevier, Syntax is run by Wiley. The Wiley case is even clearer. The CEOs of Wiley earn several million Dollars every year. https://hpsg.hu-berlin.de/~stefan/PS/Salary-Wiley-COEs-2019.png This is the database wehre you can check the current figures: https://www.salary.com/personal/executive-salaries/ This is not the profit of the publisher. The salaries of the CEOs are costs of the publisher. In addition Wiley has a profit margin of 40%. They are just stealing our research money, without giving something back. This was also the reason why the Syntax team finally quit. Wiley cut the support for copy editing and type setting. But linguistics needs special support here. What shall I say: I never hired somebody who worked for Lingua. I convinced one person to step down from their newly formed board. I guess I did not hire anybody since nobody applied. So, for future I suggest that you neither work for Elsevier nor for Wiley and submit your papers to scholarly-owned journals like Glossa, Journal of Language Modelling, and STAR, journals of societies like Journal of Linguistics, Language, Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft (accepts English, is OA) ... depending on the topic of your paper. Best wishes Stefan

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Postdoc position, quantitative syntax and corpus linguistics, CLLE (CNRS/Toulouse)
by Juliette Thuilier 24 Apr '24

24 Apr '24

The CLLE laboratory (CNRS/Toulouse) is recruiting a postdoctoral researcher in quantitative syntax and corpus linguistics as part of the ANR project PULCO (site only in French: https://blogs.univ-tlse2.fr/pulco/?doing_wp_cron=1711533206.690910100936889… <https://blogs.univ-tlse2.fr/pulco/?doing_wp_cron=1711533206.690910100936889…> ). This is a full-time position for a period of 18 months. The position is to be filled between September and December 2024. You will find all the necessary information by following the link below on the CNRS website: https://emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/UMR5263-ANNCAM-063/Default.aspx?lang=EN <https://emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/UMR5263-ANNCAM-063/Default.aspx?lang=EN> Contact for further questions: juliette.thuilier(a)univ-tlse2.fr <mailto:juliette.thuilier@univ-tlse2.fr>

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Reminder: LFG f-structure comparison online meeting: Monday 22 April 4pm-6pm (UTC +1) (4pm UK/Ireland)
by Chit Fung LAM (Lawrence) 19 Apr '24

19 Apr '24

Hello all, This is a reminder that our next LFG f-structure comparison meeting will be held online on *Monday 22 April 4pm-6pm (UTC +1)*. We will be continuing the discussion of f-structures for the following sentences for a variety of languages: 10. My neighbor was given an old tractor by the farmer. 11. The tree was cut down yesterday. 12. The tree had been cut down. 13. The tractor starts with a shudder. 14. The tractor appeared. 15. The boy knows the tractor is red. *Zoom Meeting* *https://tcd-ie.zoom.us/j/92690283651?pwd=VXdOWjczaWtUYXM3cklvZC8rVlFuZz09 <https://tcd-ie.zoom.us/j/92690283651?pwd=VXdOWjczaWtUYXM3cklvZC8rVlFuZz09>* *Meeting ID: 926 9028 3651Passcode: 801772* >From Beginners to Experts, all are Welcome! We look forward to seeing you online on Monday 22 April. - Mary Dalrymple, Lawrence (Chit-Fung) Lam, and Elaine Ui Dhonnchadha Please refer to the message below for further details about the f-structure comparison meetings. Thank you! --------------------------------------- As we announced in an earlier message, Chit-Fung Lam (Lawrence), Elaine Ui Dhonnchadha, and I are planning to revive the f-structure comparison sessions that were held in the regular meetings of the ParGram consortium ( https://pargram.w.uib.no/). These meetings will be held on-line, and anyone who is developing a grammar using the XLE grammar development platform (https://ling.sprachwiss.uni-konstanz.de/pages/xle/) is welcome to attend. We would also welcome participation by anyone using the Grammar Writer's Workbench ( https://parc-public.pages-external.parc.com/xle/isl/groups/nltt/medley/). In these meetings, we will discuss and compare f-structures for a parallel set of translationally equivalent sentences. We will use the Pargram treebank sentences as a starting point. The Pargram treebank is available at the following link (scroll to the end of the page): https://clarino.uib.no/iness/treebanks?collection=ParGram&reset-all=true We will discuss the f-structures for the current sentences (we may not have time for a discussion of all of them ? and it is fine to attend the meeting even if your grammar does not parse all of these). All participants will translate these sentences into the language they are working on, and produce and print out the f-structures to PDF. There is no need to print out c-structures. We have created a Google Drive directory for the f-structures, which currently contains f-structures for English, Irish, Mandarin, Norwegian, Polish and Welsh. In advance of the meeting, meeting participants should plan to deposit their f-structures there for as many of the sentences as you can parse. Please contact one of us if you would like to have access to this repository. Please try to model your f-structures on the analyses in the treebank to the extent possible. In the Pargram consortium, the idea is that differences in f-structures for translational equivalents should reflect syntactic differences between the languages -- there should be no arbitrary differences to do with spelling of feature names or other linguistically irrelevant details. If you have any questions, or if you would like to be added to the list of people with access to the f-structure repository, please send email to one of us. We are looking forward to discussing your f-structures! - Mary Dalrymple, Lawrence (Chit-Fung) Lam, and Elaine Ui Dhonnchadha

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LFG f-structure comparison online meeting (ParGram): Monday 22 April 4pm-6pm (UTC +1) (4pm UK/Ireland)
by Chit Fung LAM (Lawrence) 09 Apr '24

09 Apr '24

Hello all, Our next LFG f-structure comparison meeting will be held online on *Monday 22 April 4pm-6pm (UTC +1)*. We will be continuing the discussion of f-structures for the following sentences for a variety of languages: 10. My neighbor was given an old tractor by the farmer. 11. The tree was cut down yesterday. 12. The tree had been cut down. 13. The tractor starts with a shudder. 14. The tractor appeared. 15. The boy knows the tractor is red. *Zoom Meeting* *https://tcd-ie.zoom.us/j/92690283651?pwd=VXdOWjczaWtUYXM3cklvZC8rVlFuZz09 <https://tcd-ie.zoom.us/j/92690283651?pwd=VXdOWjczaWtUYXM3cklvZC8rVlFuZz09>* *Meeting ID: 926 9028 3651Passcode: 801772* >From Beginners to Experts, all are Welcome! We look forward to seeing you online on Monday 22 April. - Mary Dalrymple, Lawrence (Chit-Fung) Lam, and Elaine Ui Dhonnchadha Please refer to the message below for further details about the f-structure comparison meetings. Thank you! --------------------------------------- As we announced in an earlier message, Chit-Fung Lam (Lawrence), Elaine Ui Dhonnchadha, and I are planning to revive the f-structure comparison sessions that were held in the regular meetings of the ParGram consortium ( https://pargram.w.uib.no/). These meetings will be held on-line, and anyone who is developing a grammar using the XLE grammar development platform (https://ling.sprachwiss.uni-konstanz.de/pages/xle/) is welcome to attend. We would also welcome participation by anyone using the Grammar Writer's Workbench ( https://parc-public.pages-external.parc.com/xle/isl/groups/nltt/medley/). In these meetings, we will discuss and compare f-structures for a parallel set of translationally equivalent sentences. We will use the Pargram treebank sentences as a starting point. The Pargram treebank is available at the following link (scroll to the end of the page): https://clarino.uib.no/iness/treebanks?collection=ParGram&reset-all=true We will discuss the f-structures for the current sentences (we may not have time for a discussion of all of them ? and it is fine to attend the meeting even if your grammar does not parse all of these). All participants will translate these sentences into the language they are working on, and produce and print out the f-structures to PDF. There is no need to print out c-structures. We have created a Google Drive directory for the f-structures, which currently contains f-structures for English, Irish, Mandarin, Norwegian, Polish and Welsh. In advance of the meeting, meeting participants should plan to deposit their f-structures there for as many of the sentences as you can parse. Please contact one of us if you would like to have access to this repository. Please try to model your f-structures on the analyses in the treebank to the extent possible. In the Pargram consortium, the idea is that differences in f-structures for translational equivalents should reflect syntactic differences between the languages -- there should be no arbitrary differences to do with spelling of feature names or other linguistically irrelevant details. If you have any questions, or if you would like to be added to the list of people with access to the f-structure repository, please send email to one of us. We are looking forward to discussing your f-structures! - Mary Dalrymple, Lawrence (Chit-Fung) Lam, and Elaine Ui Dhonnchadha

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Summer school ExpGram2024 June 3-8
by Anne Abeillé 08 Apr '24

08 Apr '24

> The labex Empirical foundations of Linguistics (EFL) is organizing its 3rd summer school on the idyllic Porquerolles island (France) >>>>> >>>>> Experimental Grammar 2024 >>>>> expgram2024.sciencesconf.org >>>>> >>>>> <https://expgram2024.sciencesconf.org/>Experimental Grammar 2024 <https://expgram2024.sciencesconf.org/> >>>>> expgram2024.sciencesconf.org <https://expgram2024.sciencesconf.org/> <https://expgram2024.sciencesconf.org/> >>>>> >>>>> Registration closes on April 15th >> Student rate : 250 euros (housing and meals included) >>> >> The selected courses for this school will present new methodologies for experimental studies, quantitative studies using large corpora, as well as new approaches in morphology, syntax, semantics and language acquisition. The availability of large corpora, some of them annotated, for a large variety of languages, has been beneficial for corpus-based grammar. Most linguistic theories agree on the necessity of testing their hypotheses with experimental methods (controlled acceptability judgements, reading times, eye movement, EEG…) on comprehension and production tasks. It is also important to compare human processing and the performances achieved by large language models (LLM). >> >> Given the small size of the school, participants will be accommodated in the same place, enabling them to have intensive discussions with the instructors and other participants throughout the week, to prepare collective projects, etc. In addition to courses, ExpGram2024 will give PhD students the opportunity to present their work during a special session, which will allow them to receive valuable feedback on their project. >> >> Outside class hours, participants will take advantage of the idyllic landscapes for swimming, snorkeling or diving in the shallow turquoise waters, cycling along island’s 60km of beautiful trails and paths, or simply walking through the forest to take in the unparalleled scents of maritime pines, lavenders, eucalyptus, etc. >> >> At the end of each day, participants will celebrate life and linguistics over a glass or two, watching the sunset at the beach. >> >

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Moscow LFG Meeting (April 6): programme
by Oleg Belyaev 01 Apr '24

01 Apr '24

Dear colleagues, we have finalized the program of the inaugural Moscow LFG Meeting[1], which will take place on Saturday, April 6. All the talks will be given in English. For the Zoom link, please message the organizing committee at moscow.lfg.meeting(a)gmail.com[2]. We'll be pleased if you are able to attend! All presenters, especially the students, are eager for feedback. (We know that it's Easter holidays in many countries, but unfortunately we couldn't shift the date to any other times, as April and May are quite busy this year over here.) 13:00–13:15 *UTC+3* Opening Remarks 13:15–14:15 Oleg Belyaev (Lomonosov MSU / Institute of Linguistics RAS). *Constraints on spanning in LrFG* LrFG – a new non-transformational realization-based framework that combines LFG with DM assumptions by eliminating morphology as a separate module – uses spanning to allow cumulative exponence of several lexical heads by one vocabulary item. This is useful for capturing such phenomena as irregular forms and portmanteaux. However, cross- linguistically, spanning seems to be restricted. In this talk, I will discuss how this could be done in LrFG based on phenomena such as Romance preposition contraction and suspended affixation. 14:15–15:00 UTC+3 Danil Alekseev (Lomonosov MSU). *Ossetic complex predicates: an LrFG analysis* In Ossetic, like in other Iranian languages, the majority of verbal meanings are expressed by complex predicates consisting of a light verb and a nonverbal component. The NVC and the verb exhibit a great degree of unity, including sharing a single lexical stress. They can, however, be broken up by a 2nd position clitic cluster, while still having a single stress. In my talk I develop an LrFG analysis of this phenomenon, while also touching on other aspects of the syntax and prosody of Ossetic complex predictes. 15:00–15:45 UTC+3 Anna Osipova (Lomonosov MSU / Institute of Linguistics RAS). *Tatyshly Udmurt possessive noun phrases: an LFG approach* In my talk, I would like to present my attempt at LFG analysis of some phenomena related to possessive noun phrases in the Tatyshly dialect of Udmurt (Uralic, spoken in Bashkortostan, Russia), based on my own field data and some other relevant research. In Udmurt, there are two different constructions that may encode possessivity in a broad sense: the double-marking construction, used for “core” possessive relations such as kinship, part-whole, and ownership, and juxtaposition, which encodes non-referent attributive relations, e.g., material or predestination. In my analysis of double-marking possessives, I argue, based on some aspects of their distribution, that they are DPs and propose the f-structure rules that consider the general structure of the construction, possessor case variation, and some related binding phenomena. If time permits, I will also briefly present the analysis of Tatyshly Udmurt nominal juxtaposition. It will be shown that in the dialect there are diverse classes of juxtaposed modifiers, which stem from the differences in their syntactic behavior. Some juxtaposed modifiers are better analyzed as non-projective heads, as they seem to incorporate into the head noun, whereas the others may govern their own projections. 15:45–16:00 UTC+3 Coffee break 16:00–16:45 UTC+3 Milena Guseva (Lomonosov MSU). *Analyzing numeral and nominal classifiers cross- linguistically* The analysis of classifier systems, a phenomenon halfway between syntax and semantics, is a difficult task for a researcher working within LFG. Although lexical functional grammar has been applied to classifier languages for quite a long time, the topic remains largely unexplored. For example, the first works devoted to the study of Chinese within LFG have been known since 1985, but a complete and comprehensive analysis of Chinese classifiers was proposed only in 2012. * How substantial is the difference between the Chinese numeral classifiers and Mayan nominal classifiers? * Does this unusual grammatical phenomenon manifest itself more syntactically or semantically? * Is it even possible to build a unified analysis of classifiers that would be relevant for most classifier languages? I will try to answer these difficult and non-trivial questions in my talk at the conference. 16:45–17:30 UTC+3 Vadim Dyachkov (LLACAN CNRS / Institute of Linguistics RAS). *Passives without by- phrases: decomposing middle voice in Natioro* My talk deals with the properties of middle voice in Natioro, an underdescribed Gur language spoken in Burkina Faso. In Natioro, middle voice forms (whose exponent is the lengthened vowel of the perfective stem) exhibit properties similar to those of passive constructions. Like most middle voice forms in other languages of the world, Natioro middle forms also can have anticausative, detransitive, but not reflexive and reciprocal, meanings. Standard tests applied to detect the presence of the agent (agent control, licensing of instrumental adjuncts, possibility to passivize causatives) show that it is indeed present in the semantic structure. However, the agent can never be expressed overtly, and there is no construction corresponding to English by-phrases. Moreover, I show that some of the standard tests cannot be interpreted directly – for instance, the ability to license instrumentals depends entirely on the presence vs. underspecification of the agent in the structure of a given predicate, and control clauses should be analyzed as binding structures. I propose that the agent that can be conceptualized as PRO is (sometimes) present in the f-structure but not in the c-structure of a predicate and discuss some alternatives to the commonly accepted smuggling approach proposed by many authors to derive passives.

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LFG-list April 2024