Microvariation and microchange in the Scandinavian languages
Short Title: MMSL

Date: 14-May-2024 - 16-May-2024
Location: Kristiansand, Norway
Contact: Heidi Klockmann
Contact Email: [email protected]
Meeting URL: https://synergylinguistics.wordpress.com/conference-microvariation-and-microchange-in-the-scandinavian-languages/

Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics; Linguistic Theories
Language Family(ies): North Germanic

Meeting Description:

We are pleased to announce a workshop on Microvariation and microchange in the Scandinavian languages, which will be hosted at the University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway on May 14th-16th, 2024.

In this workshop, we revisit the Scandinavian languages in light of classic and Minimalist parametric theory, in order to bring to the fore new data and new theories on variation and change. We invite empirical and theoretical contributions that focus on one or more Scandinavian languages in the domains of (morpho-)syntax, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics. Diachronic, comparative or acquisitional perspectives are also welcome.

Invited speakers:
• Marit Julien (Lund University )
• Kari Kinn (University of Bergen)
• Sverre Stausland Johnsen (University of Oslo)
• Heimir Freyr Viðarsson (University of Iceland)

We are happy to announce the program for the workshop Microvariation and microchange in the Scandinavian languages. The program can also be found at this link: https://synergylinguistics.wordpress.com/program-mmsl/

Network meeting announcement: One of the goals of this workshop is to establish a network among generative linguists in the Nordic countries. This network is intended for all generative researchers based in the Nordic countries, not only those who work on Nordic languages, but on any language(s) and in any branch of generative linguistics. To this end, we have scheduled a network meeting on the final day of the workshop (May 16th, 11.30am – 12.15pm, CEST), where we can discuss what form this network might take and its future. The meeting will be held in a hybrid format, in order to make it as accessible to all relevant parties as possible. If you would like to join the meeting virtually, please send an email to [email protected]. You will receive a Zoom link on the week of the meeting.

Day 1 (Tuesday, May 14th, 2024)

8:30 – 9:00 Registration & coffee 
9:00 – 9:15 Opening 
9:15 – 10:15 Kari Kinn (Invited speaker): Microvariation and microchange in Scandinavian heritage languages
10:15 – 10:25 Coffee break
10:25 – 11:05 Øystein Vangsnes: The nanosyntax of Norwegian som
11:05 – 11:45 Karen Hovind & Espen Klævik-Pettersen: Pass-ing for measurement: The Norwegian degree morpheme pass and non-canonical degree questions
11:45 – 12:35 Lunch break
12:35 – 13:15 Maud Westendorp & Björn Lundquist: A symmetric account of asymmetric V2
13:15 – 13:55 Espen Klævik-Pettersen: V-to-T in Norwegian? Evidence for an intermediate verb position in non-V2 embedded clauses
13.55 – 14.00 Micro break
14:00 – 15:00 Heimir Viðarsson (Invited speaker): Embedded V2, V-to-I and the RAH in (Early) Modern Icelandic: Configurationality on the left periphery
15:00 – 15:15 Coffee break
Practical Session
15:15 – 15:45 Alexander Pfaff: Patternization: How to measure syntactic variation?
15:45 – 16:45 Maud Westendorp & Björn Lundquist (hybrid): Nordic Word order Database: Elicited production of syntactic variation and sound-text alignment techniques

Day 2 (Wednesday, May 15th, 2024)

8:45 – 9:00 Registration
9:00 – 10:00 Sverre Stausland (Invited speaker): The source of variation in language
10:00 – 10:40 Klaus Kurki: The V3 particle så in Fenno-Swedish
10:40 – 10:55 Coffee break
10:55 – 11:35 Eva Klingvall, Fabian Beijer, & Fredrik Heinat: Variation in adjectival agreement
11:35 – 12:15 Alexander Pfaff: Weak Adjectives and Articles across Scandinavian
12:15 – 13:15 Lunch break
13:15 – 13:55 Yvonne van Baal, Hedda Solbakken, Ragnhild Eik, & Terje Lohndal: Microvariation in grammatical gender: the loss of feminine across Norwegian dialects
13:55 – 14:35 Charlotte Sant: The neuter and lack of gender in Mainland Scandinavian
14:35 – 14:50 Coffee break
Practical Session
14:50 – 15:00 Øystein Vangsnes: NALS: The Nordic Atlas of Language Structures Journal
15:00 – 16:00 Elena Callegari: Fine-tuning a Large Language Model: A Hands-on-Session
16.00 – 16.30 Discussion

Day 3 (Thursday, May 16th, 2024)

9:00 – 10:00 Marit Julien (Invited speaker): Subject extraction in Mainland Scandinavian
10:00 – 10:10 Coffee break
10:10 – 10:50 Elena Callegari & Ásgrímur Angantýsson: Negative Preposing in Icelandic: How Frequent is it, really?
10:50 – 11:30 Łukasz Jędrzejowski & Ásgrímur Angantýsson: On the syntax and variation of clausal exceptives across Scandinavian. Synchronic and diachronic insights
11:30 – 12:15 Discussion of the network/concluding remarks (hybrid)
12:15 – 13:00 Lunch