CFP: Dissecting Morphological Theory 3: Diminutivization, Allomorphy and the Architecture of Grammar

Workshop to be held in conjunction with the 20th International Morphology Meeting, Budapest, 1-4 September 2022, http://www.nytud.hu/imm20/

Workshop website: https://sites.google.com/view/morphologytheories-diminutives
Abstract submission deadline (extended): 16 February 2022
EasyChair submission link: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=dmtd3

Organizers

• Stela Manova, University of Vienna, stela.manova@univie.ac.at 
• Katharina Korecky-Kröll, University of Vienna, katharina.korecky-kroell@univie.ac.at 
• Olga Steriopolo, Leibniz-ZAS Berlin, olgasteriopolo@hotmail.com 

Scientific committee 

• Artemis Alexiadou, Humboldt University & ZAS, Berlin
• Mark Aronoff, Stony Brook University, SUNY
• Boban Arsenijević, University of Graz
• Olivier Bonami, Université de Paris
• Pavel Caha, Masaryk University, Brno
• Guglielmo Cinque, Ca' Foscari University of Venice
• Marijke De Belder, University of Oldenburg
• David Embick, University of Pennsylvania
• Maria Gouskova, New York University
• Laura Grestenberger, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna
• Katharina Korecky-Kröll, University of Vienna
• Lívia Körtvélyessy, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University, Košice
• Stela Manova, University of Vienna
• Ora Matushansky, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique & Paris VIII
• Olga Steriopolo, ZAS, Berlin
• Keren Rice, University of Toronto
• Maria Voeikova, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg
• Martina Wiltschko, ICREA, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona

Description

This workshop is the third of a series of workshops on diminutive morphology and its implications for morphological theory. The workshops are held in conjunction with different international conferences: https://sites.google.com/view/morphologytheories-diminutives. 

Diminutive morphology presents a number of challenges to morphological theory and various issues have been discussed extensively: whether diminutivization is derivation or inflection (Dressler 1989; Scalise 1988; Stump 1993; Manova 2011; Grandi & Körtvélyessy 2015); are diminutive suffixes heads and/or modifiers (Wiltschko and Steriopolo 2007; Steriopolo 2009, 2015, 2016; Gouskova & Bobaljik, to appear); do they attach “low” or “high” in the syntactic tree (De Belder et al. 2014; Cinque 2015); which meanings are associated with diminutive morphology (Dressler & Merlini Barbaresi 1994; Jurafsky 1996) and so on. Nevertheless, there are still issues that have remained unaddressed:

1. Why do some languages have large sets of diminutive affixes, while others have very limited sets? 
2. What is a diminutive allomorph? (Should allomorphs have the same semantic-pragmatic function, e.g. could they have different readings, either positive or negative, depending on the situation? Should allomorphs be associated with the same inflection class? Should allomorphs have the same syntactic function: are they either heads or modifiers or could they be both; could they attach at different “heights” in the syntactic tree, resulting in “high” vs. “low” allomorphs?)
3. How does allomorph selection take place in diminutivization? (Is it based on semantics, on form, on syntactic structure, on linearization, or on extragrammatical information?)
4. Are gender and inflection class encoded in the same way in diminutive and non-diminutive nouns? (If diminutive affixes impose gender and inflection class, what does this mean for our understanding of the morphology-syntax interface?)
5. What architecture of grammar best captures the peculiarities of diminutive morphology? 

(a) Phonology after morphology, i.e. morphologically conditioned phonology (and consequently phonology-free syntax)

(b) Phonology before morphology, i.e. phonologically conditioned morphology (and maybe also syntax)

(c) A mixture of (a) and (b).

The full CFP is attached to this message and can also be accessed at: https://sites.google.com/view/morphologytheories-diminutives/calls-for-papers/dmtd3.

We invite papers that tackle any aspect of diminutive allomorphy within any linguistic theory, including papers on the diachronic development of  allomorphy in diminutive morphology. Contributions that analyze not only selected affixes but also complete diminutive systems and/or relate their findings to the architecture of grammar are particularly welcome.

Abstract submission

2-page anonymous abstracts for 20-minute presentations (plus 10 minutes for discussion) should be submitted via EasyChair: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=dmtd3. Submissions can be modified in EasyChair until 16 February 2022 (click on “View” and then select the necessary update option).

Submission of the same abstract to both the workshop and the IMM20 main session is not allowed. IMM20 submissions are limited to one individual and one joint abstract (or two joint ones) per person. For additional information on abstract submission for the main session, check the IMM20 website: http://www.nytud.hu/imm20/.

Important dates

• Abstract submission deadline (extended): 16 February 2022
• Acceptance notifications: 15 May 2022 (for all sessions of IMM20)
• Conference: 1-4 September 2022