SCIO Studievereniging

ACLC Seminar | Markus Steinbach: Is there anything special about special signs? A cross-modal study of a special class of parts of speech in spoken and sign languages
2023-05-12 16:15 - 17:30 (Europe/Amsterdam) | P.C. Hoofthuis, Spuistraat 134, Amsterdam, Nederland
Organized by the Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication! (ACLC)

Speaker: Markus Steinbach
Location: P.C. Hoofthuis
Room: 5.59
Title: Is there anything special about special signs? A cross-modal study of a special class of parts of speech in spoken and sign languages
Abstract: A special class of lexical items frequently used in many different signs languages are so-called special signs, a particularly interesting part of speech that has not yet received much attention in linguistic research (Brennan 1992, Johnston & Schembri 1999, Johnston & Ferrara 2012, Konrad 2011, 2014, Schütte 2014). Special signs, which are sometimes also called multi-channel signs, ‘Gebärdenwendungen’, ‘(sign language) idioms’, or idiomatic signs, form a relatively small open class of conventionalized expressions (approx. 200 signs in German Sign Language, DGS) with unique formal properties different from lexical signs and gestural demonstrations. In addition, the meaning of special signs is flexible and highly context dependent and often translated into spoken languages with the help of complex idiomatic expressions. Based on examples taken from the DGS corpus, we discuss modality-independent and modality-dependent properties of special signs and argue that both their flexible ‘idiomatic’ meaning and their special formal properties show interesting similarities with ideophones in spoken languages (Dingemanse 2012, 2019; Dingemanse & Akita 2019; Barnes et al. 2022). We argue that the defining properties of ideophones discussed in the literature also apply (to a certain degree) to special signs in DGS. One result of this cross-modal comparison is that sign languages just like many spoken languages seem to have a special open class of marked lexical expressions that depict sensory imagery. Unlike ideophones in spoken languages, the depiction with special signs in sign languages is not auditory but visual. And unlike other iconic lexical expressions in sign languages, special signs can be analyzed as ‘idiomatic’ depictive context-dependent expressions with an expressive meaning component.

Borrel 🍻
2023-05-10 20:00 - 23:30 | Café de Gaeper, Staalstraat 4, Amsterdam, Nederland
Lekker borrelon bij Café de Gaeper!

Koningsdag-spelletjesborrel 🎲👑
2023-04-26 17:30 - 21:00 | Diemen
Ga feestelijk de Koningsnacht in tijdens onze Koningsdag-spelletjesborrel! Deze zal om 17:30 aanvangen. 🎲👑
Neem je eigen drankjes en snackjes mee! Het zal plaatsvinden in Diemen, bij Dewi thuis! Stuur ons een berichtje voor de exacte locatie. Tot dan! 👋

ACLC Seminar | Hielke Vriesendorp: Exemplars vs. allophones: the role of lexical frequency and listener experience in sociolinguistic processing
2023-04-21 16:15 - 17:30 | P.C. Hoofthuis, Spuistraat 134, Amsterdam, Nederland
Organized by the Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication! (ACLC)

Speaker: Hielke Vriesendorp
Location: P.C. Hoofthuis
Room: 1.15
Title: Exemplars vs. allophones: the role of lexical frequency and listener experience in sociolinguistic processing
Abstract: Do we recognise a Northern English speaker saying ‘way’ as Northern because we have memories of other times we’ve heard Northern speakers say ‘way’ before, or because we recognise the abstract concept of a monophthongal FACE vowel (/eɪ/ realised as [e:]) in their pronunciation of ‘way’? Work on exemplar theory suggests that the way listeners are able to recognise the social meaning of linguistic variation is because social information is a part of the detailed (episodic) memories of words – exemplars – we use to process speech. However, as new innovations within the theory open up the possibility that listeners may generalise across these exemplar memories to create differently sized or differently abstract representations (hybrid exemplar theory). This raises the question of whether it is detailed exemplars that carry social meaning or more abstract linguistic representations like allophones. I discuss two accent recognition tasks which provide evidence that both are used, but partly depending on listener experience: the findings suggest that all listeners are able to rely on sublexical representations for accent recognition, as accent recognition was far above chance in non-word stimuli. However, it was found that inexperienced listeners of an accent benefited significantly less from hearing real word stimuli rather than non-word stimuli compared to experienced listeners, this suggests that lexical representations are more dominant in sociolinguistic processing for experienced listeners, whilst sub-lexical representations are more dominant in inexperienced listeners who may not have access to similarly strong lexical representations

Open Vergadering!
2023-04-19 11:00 - 13:00 | P.C. Hoofthuis, Spuistraat 134, Amsterdam, Nederland
Word jij deel van het nieuwe SCIO bestuur? 🙌
De Bestuursaanmelding is geopend tot 8 mei. Wij houden op woensdag 19 april een open vergadering (11:00-13:00)! Zo kun je een kijkje nemen achter de schermen bij SCIO.

Bowlen 🎳
2023-04-11 18:45 - 21:00 | Aloha Bowling & Restaurant, De Ruijterkade 151, Amsterdam
Treed gezellig met SCIO de nieuwe periode in en ga voor die strike! 🎳
Schrijf je nu snel in! ✍️
Op dinsdag 11 april gaan we samen met onze kookcommissie bowlen bij Aloha (De Ruijterkade 151), en SCIO trakteert! (excl. drankjes). Zorg ervoor dat je om 18:45 aanwezig bent.
Bowl-ervaring is geen vereiste. Een kluisje huren kan voor €2,-. Hopelijk tot dan! 👋

SCIO in Dubio: Specialisatie-editie II 📚🤔
2023-04-04 17:00 - 19:00 | P.C. Hoofthuis, Spuistraat 134, Amsterdam, Nederland
Bij deze SCIO in Dubio worden de specialisaties/tracks toegelicht door CLC’ers. Kom op 4 april om 17:00 langs bij PCH 1.05 en laat je inspireren! Dit evenement is verdeeld over twee avonden: dit is de tweede. 🙌
Wij gaan hiervoor pizza halen! Mocht je mee willen eten, vul dan het (nieuwe) formulier in, door hier te klikken. Je kunt daar ook je dieetwensen/allergieën doorgeven. 🍕

Cognitalks: Neuroscience, Cognition, and Beyond!
2023-04-03 19:30 - 22:00 | Pakhuis de Zwijger, Piet Heinkade 179, Amsterdam
Registration is open, click here to reserve your spot!
Organized by Cognito!
CogniTalks is an annual event organized by the student union Cognito of the University of Amsterdam. The event consists of several outstanding neuroscientists who will be sharing their inspiring and relevant research during a 15-minute-talk, covering topics from the biology of language to human consciousness. After the talks, you’ll have the opportunity to ask the speakers questions and maybe even discuss their ideas at the bar of Pakhuis de Zwijger.

Location: Pakhuis de Zwijger, Piet Heinkade 179, Amsterdam.
Time: 19:30 – 22:00

ACLC Seminar | Ivan Yuen: The effect of predictability on the duration of phrase-final syllables and pause
2023-03-31 16:15 - 17:30 | P.C. Hoofthuis, Spuistraat 134, Amsterdam, Nederland
Organized by the Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication! (ACLC)

Speaker: Ivan Yuen
Location: P.C. Hoofthuis
Room: 5.60
Title: The effect of predictability on the duration of phrase-final syllables and pause
Abstract: The abstract can be found here.

ACLC Seminar | Astrid De Wit: The present perfective paradox across languages
2023-03-24 16:15 - 17:30 | P.C. Hoofthuis, Spuistraat 134, Amsterdam, Nederland
Organized by the Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication! (ACLC)

Speaker: Astrid De Wit
Location: P.C. Hoofthuis
Room: 3.08
Title: The present perfective paradox across languages
Abstract: This talk starts from the observation that, in many genetically and geographically unrelated languages, there is a remarkable restriction on the use of the present tense to refer to dynamic or perfective situations that are happening at the time of speaking – a phenomenon called the ‘present perfective paradox’ (Malchukov 2009; De Wit 2017). With stative and imperfective situations, on the other hand, there are no such alignment problems. In English, for instance, it is ungrammatical to employ the simple present to refer to present-time events (e.g., *Be quiet, I write), whereas present-time states do allow the use of the simple present (e.g., I feel sick). Similar interactions between the present tense and aspect have been attested in language-specific studies of, among others, various Slavic languages, creole languages, Bantu languages, Niger-Congo languages and Japanese. In these languages, the so-called present tense (when combined with perfective/dynamic verbs) is primarily used to report future, past or habitual rather than present-time events.In this presentation, I will analyze the manifestation of this present perfective paradox in English, French, the English-based Surinamese creole language Sranan, and a variety of Slavic languages (Russian, Polish, Czech, and Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian), thereby adopting an epistemic approach to temporal and aspectual categories (e.g. Langacker 1991). The analysis starts from the assumption that there is a cognitive constraint on the alignment of bounded situations in their entirety with the time of speaking, and that this constraint is linguistically reflected in the fact that is difficult to use present perfective constructions with dynamic verbs to report present-time events. On the basis of a detailed study of corpus data and native-speaker elicitations, I argue that languages have developed a variety of strategies to tackle this alignment problem. One solution is to insert a construction that, like the progressive, has the capacity to imperfectivize originally perfective situations. Another solution is to assign a non-present interpretation to present perfective constructions: a past interpretation (‘retrospective strategy’), a future interpretation (‘prospective strategy’), or a habitual/generic interpretation (‘structural strategy’). I will propose a variety of diachronic, contact-related, and cognitive explanations to account for which specific strategy is chosen and for the cross-linguistic variation in this respect.

UvA Data Science Centre | The Societal Impact of AI & Data Science
2023-03-24 10:00 - 12:30 | Het Trippenhuis, Kloveniersburgwal 29, Amsterdam, Nederland
Organized by the UvA Data Science Centre! For more information on the event, click here.
Click here to register! Registration is free and everyone (UvA and non-UvA) is welcome to join!
How does data science inform environmental policy? Why is it important that we value research outputs in a future-proof way? And how can we foster true-to-life and ethical data science? Some important discussions on the way we conduct research are taking place in the world of data science today. Exciting topics that will be addressed by 3 world-leading data scientists on Friday 24 March 2023!

Date: Friday 24 March 2023
Time: 10:00 – 12:30 (doors open at 09:30)
Format: In-person only
Location: Het Trippenhuis, Kloveniersburgwal 29, Amsterdam

ACLC Seminar | Sonja Riesberg: Word order and discourse prominence in western Austronesian symmetrical voice languages
2023-03-17 16:15 - 17:30 | P.C. Hoofthuis, Spuistraat 134, Amsterdam, Nederland
Organized by the Amsterdam Center for Language and Communication! (ACLC)

Speaker: Sonja Riesberg
Location: P.C. Hoofthuis
Room: 5.60
Title: Word order and discourse prominence in western Austronesian symmetrical voice languages
Abstract: the abstract can be found here.

CognitieCafé met Jelle Zuidema 🧠
2023-03-14 19:45 - 21:00 | Café ‘t Gasthuys, Grimburgwal 7, Amsterdam, 1012 GA, Nederland
De definitieve titel en abstract worden nog bekendgemaakt.
Inloop: 19:45-20:00
Locatie: Café ’t Gasthuys (Grimburgwal 7)
Tijdens het Cognitie Café verzamelen wij in een gezellige, informele setting, om te luisteren naar een spreker in het CLC-gerelateerde veld. Voor deze avond: Jelle Zuidema! 🧠
