British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences

Deponency and Morphological Mismatches

Monday, January 16 2006 to Tuesday 17 January 2006

The British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH

PROGRAMME

Convenors
Professor Greville Corbett, FBA, Dr Matthew Baerman, Dr Dunstan Brown, Dr Andrew Hippisley,
Surrey Morphology Group, University of Surrey

Deponency is a mismatch between morphology and syntax which was first described for a class of verbs in Latin, which had the form of passives but functioned as actives. It turns out that such mismatches can be found in many different languages, involving many different grammatical categories. This presents a challenge to our conception of the interface between syntax and morphology. This conference brings together a number of leading scholars to discuss the implications of deponency and related phenomena for linguistic theory. This conference is an outgrowth of the project 'Extended deponency: the right morphology in the wrong place', funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

Student bursaries

Attendance by postgraduate students is encouraged, and to that end the Academy has generously provided funding for up to 6 student bursaries to cover reasonable UK travel expenses, as well as a stipend of £40 to cover other expenses. Application forms can be downloaded from the conference website at http://www.surrey.ac.uk/LIS/MB/Conference-bursary.htm, and should be sent to the conference committee at <deponency@surrey.ac.uk> by December 15, 2005. Awards will be made on the basis of the perceived benefits that attendance will have on the student's academic progress.