Since Rizzi’s (1997) original syntactic exploration of the sentential left periphery, the complexity of the domain at a clause’s edge has received attention from linguists studying syntax, semantics and prosody. However, study of the cross-linguistic variety in clause boundaries, clause typing, and the information-structural use of peripheral positions has only scratched the surface.
This workshop seeks to bring together linguists working on the “left edge” of the sentence from a variety of theoretical backgrounds. We hope to facilitate dialogue between discourse theorists, semanticists, syntacticians, phonologists, and phoneticians to come to a better understanding of what is going on just above (syntactically) or just before (phonologically) the traditional IP domain.
Topics that the workshop will cover include but are not limited to: clause typing, complementation, discourse constraints on argument structure, information structure, and word order change as they pertain to the left periphery, sentence-initial positions, and the CP domain.
We invite applications for individual participants in three scheduled panels:
Submission details – Deadline: March 15 April 1
We invite proposals for additional panels on any aspect of clause boundaries or the left periphery. Panels will be allotted 1 hour, and should focus on discussion among 3–4 participants. An open discussion with attendees will follow.
Submission details – Deadline: April 1
Cornell University, esc53@cornell.edu
Sarah Courtney
Cornell University, sgc47@cornell.edu
Cara DiGirolamo
Cornell University, cmd279@cornell.edu