We are very glad to have the following invited speakers at TABU Dag 2011:
-Barbara H. Partee, Distinguished University Professor Emerita of Linguistics and Philosophy, Department of Linguistics, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA
-Dr. Suzanne Beeke, Head of Research Department, Language and Communication , University College London, United Kingdom
-Peter Mariën, Professor of Neurolinguistics, Department of Neurology, ZNA Middelheim, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
The History of Formal Semantics and Pragmatics: Influences from and to Linguistics and Philosophy
Barbara H. Partee (University of Massachusetts at Amherst)
Formal semantics and pragmatics as they have developed over the last 40+ years have been shaped by fruitful interdisciplinary collaboration among linguists, philosophers, and logicians, among others, and in turn have had noticeable effects on developments in syntax, philosophy of language, computational linguistics, and cognitive science.
In this talk I’ll reflect on developments in semantics in linguistics and philosophy starting in the 1960’s and the growth of formal semantics and formal pragmatics. I’ll touch in passing on innovations and “big ideas” that have shaped the development of formal semantics and its relation to syntax, to pragmatics, and to the philosophy of language over the decades. And I’ll describe some of the ways that advances and debates in formal semantics and pragmatics have been and are connected with foundational issues in linguistic theory, philosophy, and cognitive science.
Since this conference is in the Netherlands, I’ll particularly reflect on the role played in these developments by Dutch linguists, philosophers, logicians, and computer scientists in the venerable “informatika” tradition that traces back to the combination of interests of the great Hans Beth, is reflected in the unique “Gamut” textbook and the Amsterdam Colloquia, and continues with such institutions as FoLLI, JoLLI, and ESSLLI.
References:
-Partee, Barbara H. with Herman L.W. Hendriks. 1997. Montague grammar. In Handbook of Logic and Language, eds. Johan van Benthem and Alice ter Meulen, 5-91. Amsterdam/Cambridge, MA: Elsevier/MIT Press. https://udrive.oit.umass.edu/partee/LOLA01Partee.PDF
-Partee, Barbara H. 2005. Reflections of a formal semanticist as of Feb 2005. http://people.umass.edu/partee/docs/BHP_Essay_Feb05.pdf
-Partee, Barbara H. 2009. Perspectives on Semantics: How philosophy and syntax have shaped the development of formal semantics, and vice versa. In Conference "Russian in Contrast", Special guest lecture. University of Oslo, Oslo. Video and Poster: http://folk.uio.no/atleg/russian_in_contrast ; Power Point presentation: https://udrive.oit.umass.edu/partee/Partee2009Oslo.ppt.pdf
Barbara H. Partee is Distinguished University Professor Emerita of Linguistics and Philosophy at the Department of Linguistics, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA.
Neurolinguistics and Conversation Analysis: Integrating the evidence
Suzanne Beeke (University College London)
Neurolinguistic research has done much to characterise the nature of language impairments that arise as a result of disorders such as aphasia. However, studies tend to base their insights on the analysis of task-based data, and it is common for even spontaneous speech samples to be elicited, via semi-structured interaction with a researcher or clinical professional. This is problematic if we believe that spontaneous speech analysis is an important research method. Research has shown that dialogues of a so-called “institutional” nature (such as those instigated by professionals with an agenda) can be differentiated from truly spontaneous interactions on linguistic features such as utterance length and word selection (Drew and Heritage 1992). In recent years a qualitative, data-driven methodology Conversation Analysis (CA) has provided us with a way to explore the characteristics of spontaneous speech between peers. CA is a systematic procedure for the analysis of recorded, naturally occurring talk produced in everyday human interaction. The principal aim is to discover how speakers understand and respond to each other via turns at talk, and how such turns are organized into sequences of interaction (Schegloff 2007).
What insights can the analysis of everyday conversation offer us? Recently, CA studies of aphasia have concluded that some aphasic language behaviours, far from arising as a direct result of brain damage, may be motivated by the drive to produce an utterance during a conversational turn (Heeschen & Schegloff, 2003; Beeke et al 2007). I will explore this idea by presenting data and findings from the study of conversations of people with non-fluent aphasia. The evidence will be reviewed with respect to two key characteristics of non-fluent aphasic language: telegraphic speech and stereotyped utterances. I will discuss how some utterances, which on the surface appear to be straightforwardly telegrammatic, can be shown to be appropriate grammatical forms for the interactional context in which they are produced. Additionally, I will show how stereotyped phrases which are often dismissed as having little communicative value can be used in conversation to convey meaning and perform social action.
References:
-Beeke, S., Wilkinson, R. and Maxim, J. (2007) Grammar without sentence structure: a conversation analytic investigation of agrammatism. Aphasiology 21(3/4): 256-282.
-Drew, P. and Heritage, J. (1992) Talk at Work: Interaction in Institutional Settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-Heeschen, C. and Schegloff, E. (2003) Aphasic agrammatism as interactional artifact and achievement. In: Charles Goodwin (ed.), Conversation and Brain Damage, 231-282. New York: Oxford University Press.
-Schegloff, E. A. (2007) Sequence Organisation in Interaction: A Primer in CA Volume 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Suzanne Beeke is senior lecturer and head of the Research Department of Language and Communication at University College London, and a qualified speech and language therapist. Her main research interest involves the application of Conversation Analysis (CA) to the study of communication disorders, particularly aphasia, but also dysarthria and dementia. She has written about grammar and prosody as adaptive resources in the conversations of speakers with Broca’s aphasia. She is currently running a conversation-based intervention study for agrammatism, which uses CA principles to increase insight into communication and scaffold the development of strategy use in people with aphasia.
Cerebellar Neurocognition: a New Avenue in Cognitive and Behavioural Neuroscience
Peter Mariën (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)
Traditional neurological tenets posit that the cerebellum coordinates skilled voluntary movements and controls motor tone, posture, and gait. However, neuroanatomical, clinical, and neuroimaging studies conducted over the past decades have convincingly shown that the cerebellum is also crucially implicated in a broad variety of cognitive and affective processes such as language, memory, visuospatial skills, executive functions, thought modulation, and emotional regulation of behaviour and affect. In this contribution an introductory overview is presented of the recently acknowledged concept of “cerebellar neurocognition” with special emphasis on the role of the cerebellum in motor and non-motor language functions.
Many studies have shown that cerebellar involvement in motor speech disorders is not limited to (ataxic) dysarthria but also encompasses mutism and apraxia of speech. At the non-motor level, a variety of linguistic disturbances have been identified after cerbellar lesions such as expressive agrammatism, semantic retrieval deficits, syntactic comprehension difficulties, depressed phonological verbal fluency and even frontal (dynamic) aphasia. Recently, studies on apraxic agraphia and dyslexia have indicated that the cerebellum may also be implicated in the written language network.
In agreement with the findings indicating a topographical organization of the cerebellar structures involved in language pathology the concept of a "lateralized linguistic cerebellum" is briefly discussed. Rather than being the neuroanatomical seat of cognitive and linguistic processes, the cerebellum may be considered to modulate cognitive functions through the feedforward loop of the cortico-ponto-cerebellar system and the feedback loop of the cerebello-thalamo-cortical pathways.
PROF. DR. P. MARIEN is a clinical neurolinguist in the Department of Neurology at ZNA AZ Middelheim Hospital, Antwerp, Belgium. He is Professor in Neurolinguistics, Psycholinguistics and Neurocognitive Disorders at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the University of Ghent. His main area of research is in the field of clinical neurolinguistics and neuropsychology, specifically cerebellar induced neurocognitive disorders.
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