Typ*Ex Lab

Registration

Find out about registration, location and accomodation

register here

Please register here, whether you intend to give a presentation or not.

find the rooms

We will meet in the main building of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (UL6).

find accomodation

Hotels in and around Mitte, in walking distance to Humboldt-Universität.

Venue

Where to find the meeting rooms

We are looking forward to welcoming you at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin from 21st to 22nd November 2024.

The workshop takes place here:

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Unter den Linden 6
10099 Berlin

21st November Meeting room 2249A
22nd November Meeting room 2070A

Both rooms are located in the main building (Hauptgebäude UL6)

Program

21st-22nd November 2024

Date	Time	Speaker	Title
21st Nov	9:30-10:00	Registration
21st Nov	10:00-10:10	Welcome and Introduction
21st Nov	10:15-11:15	Key Note: Birgit Hellwig (Universität zu Köln, Germany)	Split Ergativity and larger discourse units in Tima (Niger-Congo, Sudan)
21st Nov	11:15-11:45	Coffee Break
21st Nov	11:45-12:30	Elisabeth Verhoeven (Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Germany)	Is there optional ergativity in Cabécar?
21st Nov	12:30-13:15	Paul M. Noorlander (University of Cambridge, UK)	Optional ergativity in Neo-Aramaic: Tense-aspect, case, cross-referencing and information structure
21st Nov	13:15-14:45	Lunch Break
21st Nov	14:45-15:45	Key Note: András Bárány (The University of Edinburgh, UK)	Information structure, not ergativity: Eastern Khanty differential subject marking
21st Nov	15:45-16:30	Christine Gu (New York University, USA)	Topic vs. Subject in Tibetan ergativity: a syntactic approach
21st Nov	16:30-17:00	Coffee Break
21st Nov	17:00-17:45	Jana Bajorat (Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Germany)	Ergative case assignment in Ika (Chibchan, Colombia)
22nd Nov	10:00-11:00	Key Note: Eva Schultze-Berndt (University of Manchester, UK)	Economy and ergativity: Multiple soft constraints motivating differential agent marking in Jaminjung-Ngaliwurru
22nd Nov	11:00-11:30	Coffee Break
22nd Nov	11:30-12:15	Stavros Skopeteas (Georg-August Universität Göttingen, Germany)	Reflexes of information structure on ergative languages
22nd Nov	12:15-13:00	Masoud Mohammadirad (University of Cambridge, UK)	Ergativity case marking in Hewramî: a corpus study
22nd Nov	13:00-14:30	Lunch Break
22nd Nov	14:30-15:30	Key Note: Roberto Zavala (CIESAS, Mexico)	Coding agency with two cases in Jitotoltec: The effect of Ative vs. Inverse voice
22nd Nov	15:30-16:00	Coffee Break
22nd Nov	16:00-16:45	Claudine Chamoreau (CNRS, IRD; France, Mexico) and Natalia Cáceres Arandia (CNRS, France)	Innovating case in Pesh: death of the ergative case and recycling of a topic marker into case
22nd Nov	16:45-17:30	Discussion and outlook

About

What the workshop is about

It has been reported for several languages that ergative case marking interacts with information structural factors, such as focus, topic, givenness or discourse prominence (Quesada 1999, McGregor & Verstraete, eds. 2010, Schultze-Berndt 2017, Riesberg 2018, Chamoreau 2021, among many others). These phenomena open a range of questions about the relationship between information structure and core syntax. How can the organization of an utterance in discourse-related partitions affect case marking? Two major possibilities arise:

Information structure affects morphology, i.e., particular information structural domains affect the presence/absence of case markers; the question is whether optionality of ergative markers exhibits properties that differ from case optionality in general (see Chappell & Verstraete 2019 for the impact of information structure on case marking).

Information structure affects syntax, i.e., information structure directly affects the choice of syntactic construction, which is reflected in case marking, similar to cases of differential subject marking that arise with non-specific objects showing concomitant effects on the case marking of subjects (Baker 2014, Coon & Preminger 2017).

The present workshop intends to discuss the relevant facts and to shed light on the analytical aspects of the relation between information structure and ergativity.

Invited speakers:

Eva Schulze-Berndt (University of Manchester, UK)

Roberto Zavala Maldonado (CIESAS, Mexico)

Birgit Hellwig (Universität zu Köln, Germany)

András Bárány (The University of Edinburgh, UK)

We invite papers (30+15 min.) on individual languages or cross-linguistic studies:

Either providing analytical insights into the relationship between core syntax and discourse,
Or focusing on the empirical side of optional ergativity with solid studies in corpora, experiments and/or fieldwork.

Contact us

jana.bajorat(at)hu-berlin.de

References

Baker, M. 2014. Types of cross-linguistic variation in case assignment. Picallo, M.C. (ed.) Linguistic Variation in the Minimalist Framework. Oxford: OUP, 36-60. 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198702894.003.0003
Chamoreau C., 2021. Morphological split ergative alignment and syntactic nominative-accusative alignment in Pesh. IJAL 87.4:501-537. 10.1086/715755
Chappell, H., Verstraete, J‐C. 2019. Optional and alternating case marking: Typology and diachrony. Lang Linguist Compass. 13:e12311. 10.1111/lnc3.12311
Coon, J., Preminger, O. 2017. Split ergativity is not about ergativity. Coon, J. et al. eds. The Oxford Handbook of Ergativity. Oxford: OUP, 226-252. 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.013.10
McGregor, W.B., Verstraete, J-C. (eds.) 2010. Optional ergative marking. Lingua 120.7. 10.1016/j.lingua.2009.05.009
Quesada, J., 1999. Ergativity in Chibchan. STUF, 52.1:22-51. 10.1524/stuf.1999.52.1.22
Riesberg, S. 2018. Optional ergative, agentivity and discourse prominence – Evidence from Yali (Trans-New Guinea). Linguistic Typology 22.1, 17-50. 10.1515/lingty-2018-0002
Schultze-Berndt, E., 2017. Interaction of ergativity and information structure in Jaminjung (Australia). Coon, J. et al. eds. The Oxford Handbook of Ergativity. Oxford: OUP, 1089-1113. 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198739371.013.44

Workshop on Ergativity and Information structure