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Detail of contribution

Auteur: Shahin NEMATZADEH

Titre:
Perspective on Complexity (Openening Lecture)


Abstract/Résumé: Recently, there has been a growing interest in complexity. Complexity is a cover concept that can unite several different disciplines. On the one hand it is applied in interdisciplinary subdisciplines of linguistics such as psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics and computational linguistics and in subfields of linguistics like morphology and syntax, in typology and language acquisition, in second language learning and cognitive linguistics. On the other hand it is rooted in other disciplines like biology (Changizi, 2001) and communication science (Shannon,1951). In other words today‘s concept of complexity goes beyond the traditional observations that: 1) languages are complex; 2) and some languages are more complex than other ones. The modern version of complexity in linguistics has been introduced in Trudgill (1986), Anderson (1988), Kusters (2003), Dahl (2004), Givon (2008), Miestamo (2008), Givon & Shibatani (2009), Hawkins (2011) and by the Surrey Morphology Group. This workshop examines the complexity from a number of different perspectives, including neuroscience, clinical linguistics, psycholinguistics, language learning, semantics, syntax, morphology, and historical linguistics. It brings together scholars from six countries who work in these areas to provide an introduction to complexity in language and to raise unanswered questions. References Anderson, H .1988. Center and Periphery: Adoption, diffusion and spread. In Historical Dialectology: Regional and Social, J.Fisiak (ed.), 39-83.Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Changizi, M.A.2001. Universal scaling laws for hierarchical complexity in languages, organisms, behaviors and other combinatorial systems. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 211,277-295. Dahl, O. 2004.The Growth and Maintenance of Linguistic Complexity. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Fenk-Oczlon, G; A. Fenk. 2008. Complexity trade-offs between the subsystems of language. In: M, Miestamo & Others (eds.). Language Complexity, Typology, Contact, Change .Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Givon, T; M. Shibatani. 2009. Syntactic Complexity, Diachrony, Acquisition, Neuro-cognition, Evolution. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Kusters, W .2008. Complexity in linguistic theory, language learning and language change. In: M, Miestamo & Others (eds.). Language Complexity, Typology, Contact, Change. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Miestamo, M & Others (eds.) .Language Complexity, Typology, Contact, Change .Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Trudgill, P. 1986. Dialects in Contact. Oxford: Blackwell.