Argument

The Semantics, Pragmatics and Discourse team of the Laboratoire de Recherche sur le Langage is hosting an international conference on the adjective on 31 May and 1 June  2013.

If we compare the research done on the different categories of lexical morphemes, the adjective (followed closely by the adverb) stands out as having received the least attention, despite some major studies bringing into play a variety of perspectives, and several conferences featuring the adjective in the last few years: L’adjectif en français et à travers les langues, 2001, Caen ; Les Adjectifs, 2007, Lille ; Das Adjektiv oder: Was wird wo, wie und wozu "dazugeworfen" ? 2010, Metz ; Adjectives, 2012 Amsterdam.

The objective of our conference, The adjective: Semantic, pragmatic and discursive approaches is to bring together research that will be a useful addition to existing studies. We are particularly interested in contributions in which the adjective is studied through its relation with other units in the construction of meaning and in relationship with underlying communicative intent.

We invite contributions related (but not limited) to the following topics:

• The determination of the noun phrase, addressed through its discursive and pragmatic features, rather than in terms of a grid in which the determiner and the adjective are treated as being two radically different categories. Affinities between certain determiners and the attributive adjective can be explored, or correlations between determiners and the position of the attributive adjective in the noun phrase.
• More generally, the question of how to categorise the adjective, in relation to other grammatical classes of words, and the typology of adjectives, revisited by confronting existing frameworks with observed usage in all its diversity.
• Linearisation phenomena, transcending the strict syntactic question of the position of the attributive adjective to include the predicative function, dislocation and coordination, investigated using approaches that integrate discourse types and pragmatic factors. Focalisation is one such approach that merits exploration.
• Translation issues. In translation, the adjective is involved in various transpositions that aim to preserve original meaning. The translator will turn to techniques such as compensation or entropy and will need to take morphosyntactic false-friends into account. When translating, the position—and the order—of adjectives requires care to avoid calques that belie communicative intent, including the focalisation of the source text.
• The normative perception of the use of adjectives, notably as expressed in guidelines (both contemporary and historical) for various written genres. The integration of pragmatic and discursive factors, allied to concrete communicative issues, can take this topic beyond a priori stylistic and normative considerations.
• The discursive and pragmatic approach applied to the study of the adjective at the morphemic and submorphemic levels, reaching beyond a semantic feature analysis grid to consider notions of focalisation or linearity: for example, morphemic or submorphemic invariance as related to the act of enunciation, the process leading to the pragmatic success of one submorphemic element over another one, the role of verbal interaction in the syntactic implementation of morphemes and submorphemic elements, etc.
• From a historical perspective, the advent and evolution of the awareness of the importance of taking linear and pragmatic phenomena into account when analysing the adjective: for example, the topic of grammaticographies from various language areas or historical periods, in order to trace the development of theoretical linguistic thinking on the above pragmatic and discursive phenomena.

Submissions

• Contributions can relate to French or any other language and we welcome comparative and contrastive perspectives.
• Languages of the conference: French and English
• Length of papers: 20 minutes (+ 10 minutes of discussion)

Submission procedure:

Conference proposals of up to 300 words (plus references) should be sent as follows to ensure anonymity: one file with title and abstract and another file with title, name and affiliation.

• Send to:Friederike Spitzl-Dupic : Friederike.SPITZL-DUPIC@univ-bpclermont.fr
•               Philippe Rapatel : Philippe.RAPATEL@univ-bpclermont.fr.

Calender

• Deadline for submission of proposal: October 15, 2012

• Notification of acceptance: January 15, 2013
• Date of conference: May 31–June 1, 2013
• Deadline for submission of articles for publication to the scientific board: September 31, 2013

Conference registration fees:

• University teachers and researchers: 50 euros
• Students: 20 euros

Scientific Board:

Serge Botet (Université Blaise Pascal / LRL), Didier Bottineau (Université Paris X / CNRS), Jan Goes (Université d’Artois), Michaël Grégoire (Université Blaise Pascal / LRL), Gerda Haßler (Potsdam University / Germany), Franck Lebas (Université Blaise Pascal / LRL), Henning Nølke (Aarhus University / Danemark), Ekaterina V. Rakhilina (Academy of Sciences / Russia), Philippe Rapatel (Université Blaise Pascal / LRL), Audrey Rudel (Université Blaise Pascal / LRL), Richard Ryan (Université Blaise Pascal / LRL), Friederike Spitzl-Dupic (Université Blaise Pascal / LRL)

Organisation:

Wendy Schottman, Audrey Rudel, Nadia Kriajeva, Friederike Spitzl-Dupic, Franck Lebas, Lidia Lebas-Fraczak