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Sonderforschungsbereich 538 – Mehrsprachigkeit
Sonderforschungsbereich 538
Mehrsprachigkeit

Foto: UHH/Denstorf

SFB 538

Language Acquisition and Change: Across the Lifespan and across Generations

June 12 – 13, 2008
Gästehaus der Universität, Rothenbaumchaussee 34

Ever since Hermann Paul (1880), it has been suggested repeatedly that first language acquisition is the locus of grammatical change. Formulated in terms of more recent theorizing about diachronic change, the claim is that the language learn­ing child is the principal agent of grammatical reanalysis, since this type of change does not seem to happen in mature grammars. On the other hand, other types of changes do happen across the lifespan; see Sankoff (2004). The changes in question may be due to the acquisition of new knowledge or skills, but they may also result from attrition or loss of skills and perhaps of knowledge. At any rate, the task of explaining diachronic change has been shifted to a large extent to studies of language acquisi­tion and attri­tion. From this it follows that the plaus­ibility of any scenario suggested as an explana­tion of grammatical change needs to be tested against what is known about the me­chan­isms of language development and courses of development itself.  

The purpose of this workshop is to bring together a small group of researchers from different subfields of developmental linguistics, e.g. bilingual acquisition, including child second language acquisition, language attrition, and diachronic change. They will be invited to present and discuss issues of common interest, focusing on syntax, morphology, and phonology.

Invited Speakers

  • Cristina Flores (Universidade do Minho, Braga)
  • Mary A. Kato (Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Unicamp)
  • David Lightfoot (National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C.)
  • Gillian Sankoff (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia)
  • Fred Weerman (Universiteit van Amsterdam)

Programme (PDF)

Abstract Booklet (PDF)

Venue

Gästehaus der Universität
Rothenbaumchaussee 34
20146 Hamburg
http://www.uni-hamburg.de/services/gaestehaus/index_e.html

Workshop Fee

  • Regular: 15 EUR
  • Reduced fee postgraduates/unwaged: 10 EUR
  • Reduced fee students: 5 EUR

Organizing Committee

  • Martin Elsig
  • Jürgen M. Meisel (Chair)
  • Barbara Miertsch
  • Esther Rinke

Contact

  • Martin Elsig ( martin_elsig"AT"msn.com)
  • Tel.: 040 - 428 38 - 6894040 - 428 38 - 6894