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Mayfest 2025 - Constraints on Meaning

Close-up of a t-shirt, on a man standing in front of a blooming forsythia, which reads "Maryland Semantic Valueball"

Mayfest 2025 - Constraints on Meaning

Linguistics Friday, May 16, 2025 - All day

Each year our department hosts a two-day workshop, Mayfest, focusing on a different aspect of language and linguistic theory. This year's event is on May 16-17, and will investigate "Constraints on Meaning." 

It appears that certain meanings are lexicalized in some languages, but not others, while other meanings are not lexicalized in any language.  What are the universal gaps?  We hope to consider this question with “logical” vocabulary (e.g. quantifiers, connectives, modals, attitude predicates, focus operators).  For observed universals, we can ask why they hold. Are they due to: constraints in the grammar; biases in acquisition; learnability considerations; processing restrictions; pragmatic principles; or other sources?   In at least some cases, restrictions may result from how the semantics interacts with other components of grammar, or with language-external cognitive systems. Our aim is to bring together researchers who are studying constraints on meaning from a wide range of perspectives.

Add to Calendar 05/16/25 00:00:00 05/17/25 23:59:00 America/New_York Mayfest 2025 - Constraints on Meaning

Each year our department hosts a two-day workshop, Mayfest, focusing on a different aspect of language and linguistic theory. This year's event is on May 16-17, and will investigate "Constraints on Meaning." 

It appears that certain meanings are lexicalized in some languages, but not others, while other meanings are not lexicalized in any language.  What are the universal gaps?  We hope to consider this question with “logical” vocabulary (e.g. quantifiers, connectives, modals, attitude predicates, focus operators).  For observed universals, we can ask why they hold. Are they due to: constraints in the grammar; biases in acquisition; learnability considerations; processing restrictions; pragmatic principles; or other sources?   In at least some cases, restrictions may result from how the semantics interacts with other components of grammar, or with language-external cognitive systems. Our aim is to bring together researchers who are studying constraints on meaning from a wide range of perspectives.

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