1st Conference of doctoral students of the SFL laboratory (ColDoc SFL 2023)

Complexity in linguistics

28th and 29th June 2023

The video presentation of the conference in LSF is available at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBQMOkoSycs

The notion of complexity has been debated in grammar since antiquity (Colombat et al., 2019). Indeed, we generally differentiate the simple sentence from the complex sentence according to the different syntactic processes of formation (i.e., coordination, subordination) and the property of complexity has been mostly attributed to subordinate sentences. Subsequently, the notion of complexity has been adopted in many scientific fields, ranging from the natural sciences to humanities and social sciences. In most cases, complexity is characterised by the relationships that exist among the elements of a system and by the hierarchical organisations that these relationships generate (Bulté & Housen, 2012; Dahl, 2004; Givón, 2009; Heylighen, 2007; Miestamo, 2008; Rescher, 1998; Simon, 1962).

As for linguistics, complexity has been widely studied in several linguistic sub-fiedls, especially in the last twenty years, including typological, formalist and functionalist approaches, language acquisition research (both for L1 and L2), and both spoken and signed languages. Thus, research in linguistics, across all linguistic theories, has provided new insights into this linguistic notion (Ackerman & Malouf, 2013; Chomsky, 1957, 1991, 1995; Dahl, 2004; Givón, 2009; Hawkins, 1994, 2004; Jakubowicz, 2003, 2011; Miestamo, 2008, 2017; Mobbs, 2008; Newmeyer & Prieston, 2014; Roberts & Roussou, 2003; Sampson, Gil & Trudgill, 2009; Trotzke & Zwart ).

This event is the first edition of the doctoral students' conference (ColDoc) of the SFL laboratory (Structures Formelles du Langage, UMR 7023, Université Paris 8). Its aim is to give doctoral students and young researchers the opportunity to present their research on the cross-cutting theme of complexity in linguistics. The conference is open to all research topics represented within the SFL laboratory: phonology (including its interfaces), syntax and semantics, Deaf Studies (including sign language studies), acquisition and psycholinguistics, interactional dynamics and multimodality.

The call for papers is open to doctoral students and young researchers in language sciences from French and international universities. Papers and posters should address the theme of complexity with respect to one or more of the following research areas integrating different dimensions of theoretical or experimental linguistic research.

• Acquisition and psycholinguistics
  
• Deaf Studies (including sign language studies)
• Interactional dynamics and multimodality
• Phonology (including its interfaces)
  
• Syntax and semantics

The focus of the papers should be on experimental and/or theoretical methods that help us to better understand different forms of linguistic complexity.

The final programme will be available here in late May.

We are pleased to announce that each of the two days of the conference will be introduced by a lecture given by researchers who are experts on complexity in linguistics:

- 28 June: Dr. Emiliano ZACCARELLA, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig (DE).

- 29 June: Dr. Florence BAILLS, Institut für Linguistik - Phonetik, University of Cologne, Cologne (DE).

Conference venue: Maison de la Recherche, Université Paris 8, Vincennes - Saint-Denis, 2 rue de la Liberté, 93200, Saint-Denis.

How to get there?

Line 13, stop University of Saint-Denis ; bus 255, stop Saint Denis - Université

Please visit: https://www.univ-paris8.fr/Acces-et-plans

Organising committee:

Adrien Dadone, Bianca De Paolis, Daniel Gavris, Christelle Gérard, Clément Kamissoko, Sarah Michel, Siaka Sangare, Mauro Viganò and Marion Blondel

Scientific Committee:

Claire Beyssade, Marion Blondel, Joaquim Brandão de Carvalho, Patricia Cabredo, Fanny Catteau, Carlo Cecchetto, Saveria Colonna, Annie-Claude Demagny, Noam Faust, Brigitte Garcia, Charlotte Hauser, Justyna Lulkowska, Ora Matushansky, Léa Nash, Marie Perini, Céline Pozniak, Michela Russo, Marie-Anne Sallandre, Elena Soare, Marzena Watorek.

References

Ackerman, F., Malouf, R. (2013). Morphological organization: The low conditional entropy conjecture. Language 89, pp.429-464.

Bulté, B., Housen, A., (2012). Defining and operationalising L2 complexity. In A. Housen, F. Kuiken, I Vedder, (ed). Dimensions of L2 Performance and Proficiency. Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency in SLA. Amsterdam, Benjamins, pp.21-46.

Chomsky, N. (1957). Syntactic structures. The Hague, Mouton.

Chomsky, N. (1991). Some Notes on Economy of Derivation and Representation. In R. Freidin (ed) Principles and Parameters in Comparative Grammar, Current Studies in Linguistics Series No. 20. Cambridge: MIT Press, pp. 417–454.

Chomsky, N. (1995). The minimalist program. Cambridge MA, MIT Press.

Colombat, B., Fournier, J-M., Puech, C. (2019). Histoire des idées sur le langage et les langues. Paris, Klincksieck.

Dahl, Ö., (2004). The growth and maintenance of linguistic complexity. Amsterdam/Philadelphia, Benjamins.

Do-Hurinville Danh-Thành et Dao Huy-Linh (dir.). (2017). La complexité et la comparaison des langues, ÉLA. Études de linguistique appliquée, n°185.

Givon, T. (2009). The genesis of syntactic complexity: Diachrony, ontogeny, neuro-cognition, evolution. Amsterdam, Benjamins.

Hawkins, J. (1994). A performance theory of order and constituency. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Hawkins, J. (2004). Efficiency and complexity in grammars. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Heylighen, F. (2007). Five questions on Complexity. In C. Gershenson (ed.) Complexity: 5 questions, Automatic Press / VIP, 2007.

Jakubowicz, C. (2003). Computational complexity and the acquisition of functional categories by French-speaking children with SLI. Linguistics 41, pp. 175–211.

Jakubowicz, C. (2011). Measuring derivational complexity: New evidence from typically developing and SLI learners of L1 French. Lingua 121, pp. 339–51.

Rescher, N. (1998). Complexity. A Philosophical Overview. New Brunswick and London: Transaction Publishers.

Simon, H, A. (1962). The Architecture of complexity. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 106, No. 6, pp. 467-482.

Mobbs, I. (2008). ‘Functionalism’: The design of the language faculty and (disharmonic) typology. Thèse non publiée. University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

Miestamo, M. (2008). « Grammatical complexity in cross-linguistic perspective » In M Miestamo, K. Sinnemäki, F. Karlsson (dir.), Language complexity: typology, contact, change. Amsterdam/Philadelphia, Benjamins, pp. 23-41.

Miestamo, M. (2017). Linguistic diversity and complexity. Lingue e Linguaggio, 26, pp. 227–53.

Newmeyer, F.J. & Preston, L.B. (2014). Measuring Grammatical Complexity, Oxford University Press.

Roberts, I., & Roussou, A. (2003). Syntactic change: A minimalist approach to grammaticalization. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Sampson, G., Gil, D. & Trudgill, P. (eds). (2009). Language complexity as an evolving variable. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Trotzke, A., & Zwart, J-W. (2014). The complexity of narrow syntax: Minimalism, representational economy and simplest Merge. In F. Newmeyer and L. Preston (eds) Measuring grammatical complexity. Oxford, Oxford University Press, pp. 128–47.