Language under Uncertainty
Kyoto University, Japan
January 21-23, 2005
Sponsored by Group 36 in the research project "Towards a Center of Excellence for the Study of Humanities in the Age of Globalization" at Kyoto University (Group Leader: Prof. Yukinori Takubo)
Conference Theme
Speakers frequently make assertions based on partial knowledge, inconclusive evidence, or unreliable sources of information. All languages provide inventories of expressions of uncertainty, of which modals, evidentials and conditionals are typical examples. Both within and across languages, such expressions exhibit great variation in their syntactic and semantic properties, pragmatic conditions on use, and interactions with other grammatical categories such as tenses, discourse particles, and quantifiers. Despite much recent work on their properties and idiosyncrasies, the cross-linguistic study of such expressions is hampered by a lack of agreement on terminological and methodological questions on the one hand, and limitations on the applicability and expressive power of standard logical analysis tools, on the other.
This conference aims to address this situation by bringing together researchers working in areas including (but not limited to):
- the descriptive and typological study of modals, evidentials, and conditionals;
- the syntax and semantics of particular expressions and their interaction with tenses and other grammatical categories;
- the development of new and refined formal analytical tools to meet the needs of linguistic theory.
Some interesting talks relevant to the current project on counterfactuality:
January 22nd 2005
Location: Kyoto University Clock Tower Centennial Hall
The registration begins at 9:40.
Session 3
(Chair: Kazuhiko Fukushima, Kansai Gaidai University)
10:00-10:45 Ana Arregui, University of Ottawa
"When modals meet: backtracking counterfactuals"January 23rd 2005
Location: Kyoto University Clock Tower Centennial Hall
The registration begins at 9:40.
Session 4
(Chair: Hiroshi Mito, Osaka University)
10:45-11:30 Toshiyuki Ogihara, University of Washington
"Japanese Counterfactual Conditionals and Presuppositionality"