FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS: "OPTIMAL APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE CHANGE"

Passing this along as well on the 45th Annual Conference of the
International Linguistic Association... Bob P. should really look into this
one :-)))

 FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS: "OPTIMAL APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE CHANGE"
(Also cross-posted to OPTIMAL and LINGUIST; apologies if you receive
multiple copies of this message.)
Since,
Jay B.
>A special session to be held at the 45th Annual Conference of the
>International Linguistic Association
>
>April 7-9, 2000, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
>
>The 45th ILA conference has as its major theme Language
Contact/Language Change, and abstracts are solicited for a
session on the application of Optimality Theory to language
change.
>
>Background:
>Beginning shortly after the circulation of the earliest manuscripts
in Optimality Theory (Prince and Smolensky 1993, McCarthy and
Prince 1993), various researchers began to investigate the application
of OT to language change. Historical issues investigated in English,
Slavic, a number of Romance languages and others have included
the development of syllable structure, metrical structure, syncope
and epenthesis, simplification of consonant clusters, changes in
vowel and consonant length, diphthongization, Finnish leveling,
and many others, including syntactic changes. Approaches have
appealed to a variety of theoretical mechanisms, including lexicon
optimization, re-ranking or partial ranking of constraints on
markedness, faithfulness, alignment, sonority and others.
Additionally, the role of perception and reinterpretation by
the listener has been addressed in some of these works,
as has the relationship between historical change and the
first language acquisition of constraint rankings in the grammar
of children and speakers of newer generations.
>
>Existing historical OT analyses, though they frequently
rely heavily on traditional argumentation to sustain them,
are often innovative and have often allowed for the establishment
of a relation between the changes discussed in these works
that could not or had not satisfactorily been seen as interrelated
previously. Additionally, the application of Optimality Theory to
the explanation of historical sound change arguably provides
us with a firmer base for understanding the given phenomena
analyzed, and suggests that this is an area for further fruitful
investigation. Further, results from these studies also are
beginning to inform synchronic OT analyses and help to
shape our understanding of language more generally.
>
>However, to date there has been no gathering dedicated
to bringing researchers in this area together to share their
work and discuss it as primary issue, rather than as part
of a larger more general meeting. This session solicits
abstracts related to the analysis of some issue related
to historical linguistics and/or to the application of OT
to language change from a more general perspective.
>
>Submission Requirements:
>The 45th ILA conference will have as its major theme
Language Contact/Language Change. While papers on
that theme are especially welcomed, abstracts on any
subject in theoretical and applied linguistics are also
solicited.  Invited speakers: Lila Gleitman, University
of Pennsylvania and Lesley Milroy and Sarah Thomason,
both of the University of Michigan.  Local host: Father
Solomon Sara.
>
>Single-spaced abstracts, bearing the title of the paper
(but no author), of not more than 425 words should clearly
state the problems or research questions addressed, and
should give some indication of results or conclusions.
Send via e-mail to the Session organizer (see below).
Simultaneously, send via airmail 3 camera-ready hard
copies of the abstract, plus a 3x5 card bearing name,
title of paper, addresses, affiliation, and audio-visual
equipment needed. (Anonymity will be preserved when
abstracts are forwarded to the judges.) Presentations
will be 20 minutes (plus discussion).  Submissions
on diskette will not be accepted.
>
>Deadline for submission of abstracts for the special
session on OT: January 7, 2000.
>
>Any questions regarding the conference itself may
be addressed to either the Conference Chair, Ruth
 Brend (rbrend@umich.edu) or the Conference Secretary
Johanna Woltjer (ilaconf.woltjer@gte.net).  Abstracts
designed for this panel will be judged by the general
conference committee, who will send direct notification
regarding acceptance.
>
>Send e-mail and hard copies of abstracts and 3x5
information card to:
>
>D. Eric Holt
>Organizer, ILA session on OT and language change
>Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese &
>Program in Linguistics
>University of South Carolina
>Columbia, SC 29208
>holt@sc.edu
>
>[Please send abstracts in one of the following formats,
listed in descending order of preference: Word97, RTF,
WordPerfect, PDF, or as text in the body of an e-mail
message.]
>