The Department of Chinese Studies at the National University of Singapore will host a Workshop on Recent Approaches to (Non-)Agentivity in Natural Language, May 3-4, 2019. All are welcome to attend.
The notion of agentivity in linguistic research straddles the intersection between syntax, semantics, and conceptual structure. This workshop hopes to open a new window to the topic, bringing together scholars who have recently investigated (non-)agentivity phenomena in different languages from a variety of methodological and theoretical perspectives. Apart from new takes on traditional semantic considerations relating to agentivity such as causation, force initiation, instrument status, etc., finer-grained analysis of events and their participants, as well as the effects of cultural and cognitive factors, are also among the areas that will be explored.
Invited speakers:
(in alphabetical order)
- Juergen Bohnemeyer (University at Buffalo)
- Beth Levin (Stanford University)
- Fabienne Martin (Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin)
- Elisabeth Verhoeven (Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin)
- Phillip Wolff (Emory University)
Organizers:
Tham Shiao Wei
Sponsors:
Support by the National University of Singapore, the Wan Boo Sow Centre for Research on Chinese Culture, and the NUS Department of Chinese Studies is gratefully acknowledged.