LACIM 2024: Grammaticalisation in the Anatolia-Caucasus-Iran-Mesopotamia area

LACIM is a European network of linguists engaged in scientific research on the languages of Anatolia, the Caucasus, Iran and Mesopotamia. We are primarily interested in the interplay of contact and heritage that has forged the region's present-day linguistic ecology, through millennia of interaction. Our research program transcends the boundaries of the different language families represented in the region and aims at an interdisciplinary approach.

Grammaticalization is often defined as "... a process which turns lexemes into grammatical formatives and makes grammatical formatives still more grammatical..." (Lehmann 2002 [1985]:ix). While grammaticalization is generally regarded as a mechanism of linguistic change, its extent can vary according to studies and theoretical frameworks. Over the past four decades, research on grammaticalisation has expanded to include various cross-language theoretical perspectives (Lehmann 1985 [2015], Traugott & Heine 1991, Heine & Hünnemeyer 1991, Bybee et al. 1994, Newmeyer 1998, Haspelmath 1998, 1999, Bisang et al. 2004, Narrog & Heine 2011, Heiko & Heine 2018, Kuteva et al. 2019), and deepen language-specific descriptions and analyses (Narrog & Heine 2018, Bisang & Malchukov 2020).

The main objective of this symposium is to explore in depth the sources and paths of grammaticalisation in the languages of Anatolia-Caucasus-Iran-Mesopotamia, from both a diachronic and synchronic point of view, with a particular emphasis on taking into account areality as broadly as possible. Submissions may include, but are not exclusive to:

• Adpositions turning into cases,

• Verbs turning into auxiliaries,

• Grammaticalization favored by information structure,

• Differential object/subject marking,

• Preverbs,

• Determiners and pronouns,

• Periphrastic constructions,

• Relative clauses,

• Subordinate clauses, etc.

In addition, proposals are encouraged on more global topics related to current approaches to grammaticalization and which offer relevant theoretical or methodological perspectives. These may include hypotheses related to the growing weight of empirical studies in linguistics, or the question of the boundary between grammaticalisation and other types of linguistic change (reanalysis, metaphorical transfer, metonymic transfer, etc.).

Submission procedures

• An abstract of 1000 words maximum including examples included (excluding references). The presentation will be 30 minutes.

• In PDF format,

• Including (1) the title of the proposal and (2) three or four keywords describing the topics of the paper at the top of the proposal,

• Written in English or French,

• To be submitted via https://easyabs.linguistlist.org/conference/LACIM2024/

Submissions are limited to 1 individual and 1 joint abstract per author, or 2 joint abstracts per author.

Please direct any questions to lacim.conference2024@gmail.com.

Schedule

Submission deadline: June 10, 2024

Notification of acceptance: July 10, 2024

Colloquium: December 4-5, 2024

Organizing committee

Victoria Khurshudyan, Inalco, SeDyL, CNRS, IRD
Matteo De Chiara, Inalco, CERMI, CNRS
Samuel Chakmakjian, Inalco, SeDyL, CNRS, IRD
Davide Scarfagna, Inalco, CERMI, CNRS
Milad Shariatmadari, Université Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle, LATTICE, CNRS

Scientific Committee

Anaid Donabedian (Paris)
Geoffrey Haig (Bamberg)
Katherine Hodgson (Cambridge)
Cem Keskin (Potsdam)
Geoffrey Khan (Cambridge)
Agnès Lenepveu- Hotz.Hotz (Strasbourg)
Stefano Manfredi (Paris)
Pollet Samvelian (Paris)
Stavros Skopeteas (Göttingen)
Nina Sumbatova (Moscow)

Guest speakers

In progress

References

1. Bisang, Walter and Malchukov, Andrej (eds.). 2020. Grammaticalization Scenarios from Europe and Asia, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton, v. 1.

2. Bisang, Walter and Malchukov, Andrej (eds.). 2020. Grammaticalization Scenarios from Africa, the Americas, and the Pacific, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton, v. 2.

3. Bisang, Walter, Nikolaus P. Himmelmann & Björn Wiemer (eds.). 2004. What makes grammaticalization? A look from its components and its fringes. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

4. Bybee, Joan, William Pagliuca & Revere D. Perkins. 1994. The evolution of grammar. Tense, aspect, and modality in the languages of the World. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

5. Givón, Talmy. 1979 [2018]. On understanding grammar [1979. Academic Press (revised edition). Benjamins.]

6. Haspelmath, Martin. 1998. Does grammaticalization need reanalysis? Studies in Language 22. 315-351.

7. Haspelmath, Martin. 1999. Why is grammaticalization irreversible? Linguistics, vol. 37, no. 6. pp. 1043-1068.

8. Heiko Narrog & Bernd Heine (eds.). 2018. Grammaticalization from a typological perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

9. Heine, Bernd, Ulrike Claudi &Friederike Hünnemeyer. 1991. Grammaticalization: A Conceptual Framework. University of Chicago Press.

10. Kuteva, Tania, Bernd Heine, Bo Hong, Haiping Long, Heiko Narrog & Seongha Rhee. 2019. World, lexicon of grammaticalization (2nd revised edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

11. Lehmann, Christian. 1985 [2015]. Grammaticalization: Synchronic variation and diachronic change. Lingua e Stile 20. 303-18. [3^rd edition. (Classics in Linguistics 1). Berlin: Language Science Press. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7520796]

12. Narrog, Heiko & Bernd Heine (eds.). 2011. The Oxford handbook of grammaticalization. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

13. Newmeyer, Frederick J. 1998. Language Form and Language Function. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

14. Traugott, Elizabeth & Bernd, Heine (eds.). 1991. Approaches to Grammaticalization. V.1-2. Amsterdam:      Benjamins

Lire l'appel à communications / Read the call for papers