The Research Unit on Experimental Syntax and Heritage Languages (RUESHeL) of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin is organising a one-day workshop on genericity on Friday 2 June 2017.
Generic generalisations such as ‘Birds fly’, ‘A cat lands on its feet’ and ‘The dodo is extinct’ allow speakers to talk about kinds of individuals. They are used to convey characteristic properties of kinds -while allowing for exceptions (e.g. not all birds fly)- and to express knowledge about the world including beliefs, stereotypes and prejudices (e.g. women talk more than men). Generics can be seen as one of the building blocks of human cognition, as they allow us to organise our experience of the world, while they are ubiquitous in everyday communication both between adults and with children.
In recent years, we evidence a broad cross-disciplinary interest in the study of genericity, ranging from philosophical and linguistic approaches to psychological and developmental experimental work. These divergent approaches provide different answers to the puzzle of genericity. Thus, encouraging discussions between theoretically-driven and experimentally-driven research can prove particularly fruitful.
More than twenty years after the publication of Carlson and Pelletier’s seminal collective work in The Generic Book (Chicago University Press, 1995), this workshop aims to showcase current approaches to genericity, combining insights and methods from theoretical linguistics and experimental psychology in order to compile the Generic Notebook, where complementary and converging answers to the puzzle of genericity can be annotated.
Invited speakers
Veneeta Dayal
M.Teresa Espinal
Matthew Husband
Napoleon Katsos
Manfred Krifka
Program
Friday 2 June 2017
10.00-10.15 Welcome
10.15-11.15 M.Teresa Espinal (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
“Reference to kinds and to event kinds” [abstract Espinal] [Espinal 2017 presentation]
11.15-12.15 Matthew Husband (Oxford University)
“Number and asymmetric conceptual connections in genericity” [abstract Husband] [Husband 2017 presentation]
12.15-13.45 Lunch break
13.45-14.45 Napoleon Katsos (University of Cambridge)
(joint work with Linnaea Stockall and Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga)
“Exceptionality and strikingness in the acquisition of genericity” [Lazaridou-Chatzigoga, Katsos and Stockall 2017 presentation]
14.45-15.45 Manfred Krifka (Leibniz-ZAS/Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin)
“Generic sentences as quantification over samples”
15.45-16.15 Coffee Break
16.15-17.15 Veneeta Dayal (Rutgers University)
“(In)Definiteness through Genericity” [abstract Dayal] [Dayal 2017 presentation]
18.30 Workshop Dinner at Restaurant 12 Apostel in Berlin-Mitte
The restaurant is less than 5 minutes walk from the workshop venue:
Georgenstraße 2, S-Bahnhof Friedrichstraße, (S-Bahnbögen 177-180), 10117 Berlin Mitte
Workshop location
Room: 3.246
Address: Dorotheenstraße 24, D-10117 Berlin (main entrance: Hegelplatz 2)
For directions: see here.
Organisers
Dimitra Lazaridou-Chatzigoga, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin/University of Cambridge
Artemis Alexiadou, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
For any enquiries please send an email to dl518(at)cam.ac.uk
Registration Open
Places are limited, so please send an email to dl518(at)cam.ac.uk, if you are interested in attending.
Registration will be open until 29/05/2017.
We also ask for a small contribution of 5 euros from those wishing to attend the workshop to be paid in cash on the day.
