Workshop on Variation and Universals in Language

Crecchio, 9-11 June 2017

In this workshop, we want to bring together different ideas about how to deal with typological evidence (in formal grammar). What is the best way to describe language variation in grammatical terms? What is the precise relation between Greenbergian and Chomskyan universals? (Is “none” really the only answer?) How do we deal with individual apparent ‘counterexamples’? What about implicational universals? And what about statistical tendencies? For which of such empirical issues do we hold the grammar responsible and which other kinds of cognitive or other factors might also play a role? More info