IWSPM2024: International Workshop on the Syntax of Predication and
Modification 2024
Meeting Dates: 16-17 November, 2024
Venue: Ichigaya Campus, Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan
Web Site: https://sites.google.com/view/iwspm2024/home
Predication is a relation between predicates and their subjects, or, more
generally, arguments for which they select. Predication plays an important
part in natural language syntax. Modification is a device enriching the
information conveyed by a constituent, which is carried out by adding an
element to that constituent (standardly via adjunction). Both predication and
modification come in a wide variety of forms. Attempts to generalize over
predication and modification face a number of important questions, e.g., about
optionality, the category of the subject and the syntactic mechanism by which
predicates and modifiers are related to their ‘significant others’. The
division of labor between predication and modification is not always clear-cut
: thus, depictive secondary predication and relativization appear to straddle
the boundaries between predication and modification. Detailed investigations
of the various constructions relevant to predication and modification enhance
our understanding of natural-language syntax and its interface with meaning (
both semantics and pragmatics).
Research questions to be addressed in the workshop include, but are not
limited to:
1. What factors differentiate between predication and modification in
syntactic terms?
2. Is it possible to reduce the distinction between predication and
modification to some syntactically definable notions, such as complementation,
specification, adjunction, dedicated (lexical/functional) heads?
3. Are there dedicated syntactic structures for predication and modification,
and if so, what are they rooted in?
4. Do the syntactic structures assigned to predication and modification vary
cross-linguistically, and if so, what underlies the variations?
5. Are there any diachronic data that tell us whether, and if so, how the
syntax of predication and modification has evolved over time?
6. Are there any syntactic constructions that can be ambiguous between
predication and modification, and if so, what underlies this ambiguity and how
can it be diagnosed?
7. Are there distinct structural relations involved in modification, and if so
, what determines their distribution and how can it be diagnosed?
This workshop will foster fruitful dialogue between researchers through
analyses of a selection of construction types involving predication and
modification, from a wide range of languages and analytical perspectives.
Keynote Speakers: Marcel den Dikken (Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics
, Budapest) and Mamoru Saito (Notre Dame Seishin University, Okayama)
Important Dates
Call Deadline: 31 July 2024
Notification of Acceptance: 7 September 2024
Meeting Dates: 16-17 November 2024
Registration for Participants: Pre-registration is required. There will be no
registration fee.
Call for Papers:
We invite submissions of abstracts for 25-minute presentations (followed by 10
-minute discussions) on any topic in the syntax of predication and
modification and/or its interface with semantics. We especially welcome
submissions addressing questions from a formal syntactic perspective.
Abstracts may not exceed two pages (A4 with 2.5 cm margin or US letter with 1
inch margins on all sides), including examples, references and tables/figures.
Fonts should be no smaller than 12 points. The top of the first page should
include the title of the paper and, on a separate text line, up to 5 keywords.
Abstracts should be submitted in PDF via the workshop webpage.
Abstract submission webpage: https://forms.gle/BUs2peJmrY6gwjBW8