Short Course

Intensive Short Course on Presupposition and Accommodation (in Oxley Hall 122)

October 8 - 13, 2006
At The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio USA

Course Description

As an introduction to the material discussed in the Workshop on Presupposition Accommodation, the OSU Pragmatics Initiative is offering a one-week intensive course for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who wish to improve their understanding of this important topic in pragmatics. The course will provide students with the opportunity to explore presupposition and accommodation in each of five academic fields represented at the workshop. The goal of the course is to help students prepare to contribute to scholarship on pragmatics, no matter what scholarly framework they are working in. Students who wish to attend the Workshop on Presupposition Accommodation are encouraged to attend the intensive course. Thanks to support from our sponsors, there is no charge to attend the course. Due to space restrictions, however, participation may be limited. If necessary, priority will be given to students with background in a related field. To enroll for the course, complete the registration form below.

Instructors for the course are faculty specializing in each of the five academic areas:

Formal Semantics and Gricean Pragmatics

taught by Craige Roberts, OSU Linguistics

Philosophy of Language

taught by William Taschek, OSU Philosophy, and Mandy Simons, Carnegie Mellon Philosophy

Psycholinguistics

taught by Shari Speer, OSU Linguistics

Artificial Intelligence

taught by Donna Byron, OSU Computer Science, and John Josephson, OSU Computer Science

The course will take place over five and a half days. Discussions and assigned readings will cover both foundational material and current developments. The schedule for the course will include lecture/discussion sessions from 9:00 to 12:00 and from 2:00 to 5:00 on Sunday Oct. 8 through Thursday Oct. 12, and 9:00 until noon on Friday Oct. 13. All students in the short course are automatically registered to attend the Workshop on Presupposition Accommodation, taking place immediately after the course on October 13,14 and 15.

New: see the Course Schedule

Travel Grants

The National Science Foundation has funded a number of travel fellowships for students and postdocs who wish to attend the course. Fellowship students will be reimbursed for their transportation and housing expenses incurred to attend the course and workshop. Fellowship students are expected to attend the course for the entire week and also the Workshop on Presupposition Accommodation. Application materials for travel grants are included in the registration form packet available below.

Registration Form and Travel Grant Application

To register for the course and to apply for a travel fellowship, complete the application materials below and send them to the organizers either by email or by surface mail to:

Pragmatics Initiative
Dept. of Linguistics
Ohio State University
222 Oxley Hall
1712 Neil Ave.
Columbus Ohio 43210

Registration form (pdf)

Registration form (doc)

Registration form (plaintext)

Important Dates

June 15, 2006	Registration forms from applicants requesting travel fellowships must be received by June 15 to receive full consideration.
July 15, 2006	Notification of acceptance and fellowship status will be sent to applicants
Sept. 1, 2006	Late registration for the course only (without travel assistance) will be accepted until September 1, 2006, subject to space availability.