Grammar change is affected by many interacting factors, from how we learn and use languages to their social functions. Learning about how grammar changes can help us understand all these factors.
The raw materials in studying grammar change are corpora: collections of texts annotated with grammatical information. By building models and combining them with corpus data, we can uncover the underlying causes of historical changes. However, current corpora are limited in what they can reveal: some are too small, some are poorly annotated, and English is over represented. Central challenges are how to build better corpus resources, and how to better use the resources we have.
This interdisciplinary workshop will address this challenge, bringing together experts in cutting-edge techniques (grammatical theory, natural language processing, mathematical modelling) from linguistics, physics, and cognitive science, to share ideas, develop best practices, and identify scope for developing better resources and new models.
Registration: Registration is now open. Please use the 'Registration' tab on the left. There is no fee to attend this event.
Conference Dinner: A dinner for speakers and delegates will be held on 4 June at Hotel Du Vin and the cost is £45. If you would like to attend the dinner you should indicate this when registering. Once you have submitted the workshop registration you must also visit this link to pay the fee for the meal, which will confirm your place at the dinner. (Note: to simplify expenses claims, we have badged this as a "conference fee". There is no conference fee to pay if you do not wish to participate in the dinner.)
Speakers: The following is a list of the confirmed speakers so far.
- Henri Kauhanen (Konstanz, Germany)
- Folgert Karsdorp (Meertens Institute, Netherlands)
- Beatrice Santorini (Pennsylvania, USA)
- Hedvig Skirgård (MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany)
- George Walkden (Konstanz, Germany)
- Joel Wallenberg (York, UK)
- Eva Zehentner (Zurich, Switzerland)
Venue: The conference will be held in two different venues as follows:
- 4 June – Room G.05, 50 George Square
- 5 June – Room G.03, Bayes Centre
Please see venue details in information box at the bottom of this page.
If you require any additional information, please email sopa.events@ed.ac.uk
Organisers: Richard Blythe, Juan Guerrero Montero, Dan Lassiter and Robert Truswell.
Sponsors: We are grateful to the following sponsors for supporting this workshop:
- British Academy Talent Development Award.
- Angus McIntosh Centre for Historical Linguistics
