International Conference on External Possession and Related Noun Incorporation Phenomena, Eugene, OR, Sept. 7-10, 1997

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This international conference brings together expert scholars to investigate a set of language structures referred to as External Possession and certain Noun Incorporation phenomena found around the world. These constructions have been largely relegated to "esoteric idiosyncrasies" of particular languages, but they in fact challenge most proposed theories of syntax. This is because features of the sentences involved fail to correspond with supposed features of the verbs involved in those very sentences. Thus, these constructions constitute limiting cases for any adequate theory of syntax and natural language. The conference will include expert scholars in syntax, lexicon, verb structure, semantics, and psycholinguistics, in an effort to get as holistic and comprehensive a view of the phenomena as possible. Scholars have been explicitly chosen who we believe can talk and listen well together across the major theoretical divides in the field. Additionally, scholars who have explored these constructions in a wide range of languages (Native North, Central, South American; IndoEuropean including Romance, Germanic, and Slavic; African including Nilotic, Bantu; Australian; Cinitic among others), and who can talc about particular data in depth, will be included. The conference will be held at the University of Oregon from September 7 through 10, 1997. Following the conference, an edited volume will disseminate significant findings. This will be the first volume on external possession phenomena, and will contain substantive articles bearing on theoretical advances in the understanding of verbal argument structure, syntax, typology, language processing, and cognition. In bringing together field data on the one hand, with theoretical and psychological models which do not yet account for them on the other, the project will help set the stage for new research agendas in both psycholinguistics and theoretical linguistics.