Full Title: Expressives and Other Non-truth-conditional Meaning

Date: 04-Mar-2009 - 06-Mar-2009
Location: University of Osnabrück, Germany
Contact Person: Daniel Gutzmann
Meeting Email: danielgutzmann@gmail.com

Linguistic Field(s): Cognitive Science; Pragmatics; Semantics; Syntax;
Typology

Call Deadline: 31-Aug-2008

Meeting Description:

Workshop on Expressives and Other Kinds of Non-truth-conditional Meaning

31th DGfS annual conference, University of Osnabrück

March 04-06, 2009

Call for Papers

Description:
Expressives and other expressions and constructions that -- although having
conventional rather than conversational meaning -- do not contribute to
truth
conditions and which therefore fall outside the simple picture that the
distinction between semantics and pragmatics is solely drawn by the notion
of
truth, recently gain more and more attention in both semantic and pragmatic
research. The focus of this recent development lies in extending the formal
tools of semantic analysis to cover such non-truth-conditional though
conventional aspects of meaning as well.

Especially expressives and many kinds of non-truth-conditional particles
have
recently attracted a lot of interest. However, there are still many unsolved
questions about both the meaning and the form of expressions that contribute
non-truth-conditional meaning. For instance, it remains unclear how ordinary
truth-conditional content and rather ''use-conditional'' expressions can be
integrated into a single compositional approach. Furthermore, there is the
question what non-truth-conditional expressions do contribute, e.g.,
whether
they contribute felicity conditions on utterances, or whether they affect
the
context of utterance. How do they help to shape the overall form of the
discourse and how do they relate to other pragmatic phenomena like
conversational implicatures, presuppositions, and speech acts? How is their
special semantic status and their particular pragmatic function reflected in
their phonetical, morphological, and syntactic structure?

This workshop provides a forum for researchers of all subfields of
linguistics
and related disciplines like cognitive sciences or philosophy to address
these
closely connected questions. Although the main focus of the workshop lies on
formal approaches to the semantics, pragmatics, and syntax of
non-truth-conditional aspects of meaning, morphological and phonological
research may shed some light on these questions, too. Furthermore,
typological
and experimental approaches may provide empirical evidences that can help to
decide between competing theoretical approaches.

We invite submission of extended, anonymous abstracts. Including references
and
examples, abstracts should not exceed two DIN A4 pages using 1inch/2.5cm
margins
on each side and at least 11pt font size. Authors should attach a separate
ID
page including the title of the talk, their names, affiliations, and email
addresses. There are approximately 16 slots for 20+10min talks, but
depending on
the number of accepted abstracts, there may be room for some 45+15min talks.
Please indicate in your email whether you would be interested in such an
extended presentation. The workshop language is English. Abstracts should be
submitted electronically in PDF format to Daniel Gutzmann
(danielgutzmann@gmail.com) by the deadline listed below.

Important Note:
Please note that the workshop is a proper part of the annual DGfS conference
and
that therefore, all speakers and participants have to register for the
conference. In accordance with the conference guidelines, speakers are only
allowed to give a talk in one of the workshops of the DGfS conference.

Organizers:
Hans Martin-Gärtner (ZAS, Berlin)
Daniel Gutzmann (University of Mainz)

Invited Speaker:
Laurence Horn (Yale)

Important Dates:
Deadline for submission: August 31, 2008
Notification of acceptance: September 15, 2008
Preliminary program: December 15, 2008
DGfS conference: March 04-06, 2009