Andean Aymara

Workshop: Mood and modality in the indigenous languages of the Americas

Leiden University, March 25-26 2010

The categories of mood and modality find extremely diverse realizations across languages (e.g.Palmer 2001). Consequently, there is no unanimity which notions these two categories actually comprise. The increasing availability of data on Indigenous American languages makes it now possible to take a fresh look at the categories of mood and modality. Which modal categories are expressed in these languages? How are they connected to each other and to other categories like tense and aspect within a language? This workshop aims at gaining an insight into these questions. Are mood and modality useful categories at all for subsuming the concepts expressed in the languages of the Americas?

Since we are interested in finding out how the categories of mood and modality are realized in South American languages, we take the scope of these categories to be quite broad. Distinctions of mood could be concerned with contrasting declarative and interrogative speech acts, or a realis-irrealis distinction, while modality could be concerned with concepts like permission and obligation, ability, and expressions of epistemic modality, for example in terms of degree of certainty.

Abstracts are invited for presentations from 20 up to 45 minutes. There will be 10 minutes of discussion time after each talk. Please indicate on your abstract how long you intend to speak. Any topic related to modality in the indigenous languages of the Americas is welcome.

Examples of possible topics are:

• Which modal categories are expressed in the languages of the Americas, and how?

• Do these languages show a pervasive contrast between possibility and necessity within the modal category, like European languages?

• How are different types of modality related to other verbal categories, such as tense and aspect?

• How do modal categories evolve historically?

Please send your abstract to Martine Bruil before 15 January 2010. We hope to be able to accept all abstracts, but in case there are too many, we will let you know by 30 January about acceptance.: m.bruil@hum.leidenuniv.nl. If you have any further questions, feel free to contact any of the organizers:

Neele Müller: n.muller@let.ru.nl / Sonja Gipper: sonja.gipper@mpi.nl / Willem Adelaar: w.f.h.adelaar@hum.leidenuniv.nl /Martine Bruil: m.bruil@hum.leidenuniv.nl

Reference: Palmer, F.R. (2001) Mood and modality. Second edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.